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digitalmars.D - Why does char[] of one character become a char?

reply David L. Davis <David_member pathlink.com> writes:
Below is the start of some code I'm porting from VB6 to D, it's a pretty simple
propercase() function for use on names and addresses mainly. Anyway I can't
figure out why where char[] sStr = " kingpin for a day! "; and I do for...next
loop thru with this code, where sStr[i] = toupper(sStr[i]); that I get an error
from dmd v0.90?  (char[] == char FALSE, but I'm passing in char[], and char[] ==
char[] which is TRUE)

Thanks in advance for any help, and / or pointers. :))

//=================
//Code starts here
//=================
import std.c.stdio; //toupper(char[] sStr);
//import std.ctype; // toupper(dchar char);
import std.string;

const int PC_ALL = 1;

// Wish in, out, and inout could be all caps, or at
// least allow either an all lowercase or uppercase version.
char[] propercase
( 
in char[] sStr, 
in int ioption
)
{
const char WHITESPACE = '\x20';

int   i                 = 0; 
int   iSpecialCharCount = 0;

//Currently ioption is being ignored.
if ( sStr.length > 0 ) 
{
/*
Initial pass - only capitalizes the very 1st character,
not very useful if you ask me.
*/
sStr = capitalize( tolower( strip( sStr ) ) );

for ( i = 0; i < sStr.length; i++ )
{

if (sStr[i] == WHITESPACE) iSpecialCharCount = 1;

/*
The toupper() function seems to treat a parameter of a
"D String of one character" as if it's a char only
(why should char[0] be the same as a char?). 
*/ 
if (iSpecialCharCount != 0) 
{
/*
Errors:
1) "function toupper (char[]s) does not match argument types (char)
2) "cannot implicitly convert char[] to char"  
--------------------------------------------------------------------

sStr[i] = toupper( sStr[i] );
*/

/*
Error: even when I cast it, it doesn't work.
1) "cannot implicitly convert char[] to char" 
-------------------------------------------------------------
sStr[i] = toupper( cast(char[])sStr[i] );
*/

iSpecialCharCount = 0;
} // end-for

printf("Char=%c\n", sStr[i]);    

} // end-for

} // end-if


int isroman
(
in char[] sSubStr,
in int    iPos
)
{
const char[] ROMAN = "IVXLCDMivxlcdm";

return find( ROMAN, sSubStr[iPos] );

}


return sStr;

} // end-function propercase

int main()
{
char[] sStr = " kingpin for a day! ";

printf("Start...\n");
printf("ProperCase=%.*s\n", (propercase(sStr, 1)));
printf("End...\n");
return 0;
}
May 24 2004
next sibling parent reply Andy Friesen <andy ikagames.com> writes:
David L. Davis wrote:


 Below is the start of some code I'm porting from VB6 to D, it's a pretty simple
 propercase() function for use on names and addresses mainly. Anyway I can't
 figure out why where char[] sStr = " kingpin for a day! "; and I do for...next
 loop thru with this code, where sStr[i] = toupper(sStr[i]); that I get an error
 from dmd v0.90?  (char[] == char FALSE, but I'm passing in char[], and char[]
==
 char[] which is TRUE)


a[n] is a single element, not an array.  If you need it to be an array, 
use a[n .. n + 1] to create a one-element-long slice of the string.

This suggests that toupper(char) needs to be added to Phobos, though.


 Thanks in advance for any help, and / or pointers. :))


Try indenting your code once and awhile? ;)

  -- andy
May 24 2004
parent David L. Davis <David_member pathlink.com> writes:
In article <c8t8tc$2tbb$1 digitaldaemon.com>, Andy Friesen says...

a[n] is a single element, not an array.  If you need it to be an array, 
use a[n .. n + 1] to create a one-element-long slice of the string.

This suggests that toupper(char) needs to be added to Phobos, though.

Try indenting your code once and awhile? ;)

  -- andy


Thanks Andy, Stephan, and Norbert for your quick replys.

I'd like to point out that I was aware the a single array element would be pass
as a char in C/C++, but somehow I thought that char[] was an object (a D String
of sorts) since it knows it's own length (as if it were a Class Object). So with
that in mind, I thought passing a array of characters that only had one element
into a D toupper() function that allows an array of characters as a parameter,
that it should work. Anyways, Thanks for pointing to me that D is still C in
many ways. :)

* Stephan and Norbert: I'll try the foreach(,;)...loop with varible.dup within
my code, cause it does look cleaner and easier to read (and it's better than a
for...loop).

* Andy: I always indent my code, but since I posted it thru the Web, and I guess
because I used space to indent with and not tabs (a programming habit of my
where I like using spaces over tabs)...it all disappeared. :P But thanks for
pointing out anyway. Also I think the a toupper(char) would be very helpful to
have in the Phobos Standard Library. (I hope it makes it in before D v1.0 :) )
May 24 2004
prev sibling parent reply Stephan Wienczny <wienczny web.de> writes:
If I do understand what you mean, the compiler is correct ;-)

A char[] is an array of type char.
Have a look at the documentation about arrays:
http://www.digitalmars.com/d/arrays.html

Let me try to give you an example of how you can write the function in D:

import std.ctype;

char[] prop (in char[] s)
{
	bit last_whitespace = true;	
	
	foreach(int i, char c; s)
	{
		if (isspace(c))
		{
			last_whitespace = true;
			continue;
		}else if (last_whitespace)
		{
			last_whitespace = false;
			c = toupper(c);
		}
	}
	return s;
}
May 24 2004
parent Norbert Nemec <Norbert.Nemec gmx.de> writes:
Don't forget "copy on write":

Stephan Wienczny wrote:


 If I do understand what you mean, the compiler is correct ;-)
 
 A char[] is an array of type char.
 Have a look at the documentation about arrays:
 http://www.digitalmars.com/d/arrays.html
 
 Let me try to give you an example of how you can write the function in D:
 
 import std.ctype;
 
 char[] prop (in char[] s)
 {


        s = s.dup;  // copy on write: otherwise the original string
                    // might be overwritten.


 bit last_whitespace = true;
 
 foreach(int i, char c; s)
 {
 if (isspace(c))
 {
 last_whitespace = true;
 continue;
 }else if (last_whitespace)
 {
 last_whitespace = false;
 c = toupper(c);
 }
 }
 return s;
 }


A more intelligent version would defer the .dup until it really is
necessary.
May 24 2004