MCS-201

Programming in C
Indira Gandhi National Open University
School of Computer and Information
Sciences (SOCIS)
and Python

An introduction to C 1
 MCS-201

BLOCK 1 AN INTRODUCTION TO C
UNIT 1 Programming Fundamentals 5
UNIT 2 Data Types, Operators And Expressions 33
UNIT 3 Decision And Loop Control Statements 60
UNIT 4 Arrays And Strings 84

BLOCK 2 FUNCTIONS, STRUCTURES, POINTERS

AND FILE HANDLING IN C
UNIT 5 Functions 117
UNIT 6 Structures And Unions 139
UNIT 7 Pointers 155
UNIT 8 File Handling 177

BLOCK 3 INTRODUCTION TO PYTHON

PROGRAMMING
UNIT 9 Introduction To Python 199
UNIT 10 Data Structures And Control Statements In 213
Python
UNIT 11 Functions And Files Handling In Python 279
UNIT 12 Modules And Packages 300

BLOCK 4 ADVANCED FEATURES IN PYTHON

UNIT 13 Classes In Python 317
UNIT 14 Exception Handling In Python Programming 339
UNIT 15 Python-Advance Concepts 350
UNIT 16 Data Access Using Python 361
COURSE INTRODUCTION
This course introduces you the two most powerful programming languages
i.e. C and Python. After completing this course you will be able to perform
programming in both C and Python, the two are chosen to provide you the
flavour of both conventional and modern programming. You will appreciate
that both programming languages are equally powerful.
To build the carrier path the skill of programming can be a fun and profitable
way, but before starting the learning of this skill, one should be clear about
the choice of programming language. Before learning any programming
language, one should figure out which language suits best to the learner.
This course makes you to compare the functionalities of both C and Python
programming language, which may help the learners to analyse and generate
a lot of opinions about their choice of programming language, from the
comparison of C and Python, you will find that Python is an high-
level, general-purpose, interpreted programming language. It is dynamically
typed and garbage-collected, and supports multiple programming paradigms
like structured (particularly, procedural,) object-oriented, and functional
programming, and due to its comprehensive standard library Python is often
described as a "batteries included" language.
Python programming is widely used in Artificial Intelligence, Machine
Learning, Neural Networks and many other advanced fields of Computer
Science. Ideally, It is designed for rapid prototyping of complex applications.
Python has interfaces with various Operating system calls and libraries,
which are extensible to C, C++ or Java. Many large companies like NASA,
Google, YouTube, Bit Torrent, etc. uses the Python programming language
for the execution of their valuable projects.
This course gives you an exposure to both programming languages i.e. C and
Python, based on your requirement you can choose your option to build your
carrier in programming.
BLOCK INTRODUCTION
This block is on Introduction to C programming language.

Problem-solving skills are recognized as an integral component of computer

programming and in this block the primary focus of this course is to teach the
basic programming constructs of C language. Emphasis is placed on
developing the student's ability to apply problem-solving strategies to design
algorithms and to implement these algorithms in a structured procedural
programming language. This course includes a laboratory componentalso
where in which the student gets the hands on experience.Basically one must
explore possible avenues to a solution one by one until s/he comes across a
right path to an optimized and efficient solution. In general, as one gains
experience in solving problems, one develops his/her own techniques and
strategies, though they are often intangible.
This block consists of 4 units and is organized as follows:
Unit- 1 provides an overview of problem solving techniques, algorithm
design, top – down design and basic C language features

Unit -2outlines the overview of the various datatypes, operators and

expressions in C.
Unit – 3 provides an overview of the decision and control loop statements in
C language.
Unit - 4 introduces you the concept of the Arrays and String-handling in the
C programs.

Happy Programming!!
 Indira Gandhi
National Open University MCS-201
School of Computer and
Information Sciences PROGRAMMING IN
C AND PYTHON

Block

1
AN INTRODUCTION TO C
UNIT 1
Programming Fundamentals

UNIT 2
Data Types, Operators and Expressions

UNIT 3
Decision and Loop Control Statements

UNIT 4
Arrays and Strings
Programme / Course Design Committee
Prof. Sanjeev K. Aggarwal, IIT, Kanpur
Prof. V.V. Subrahmanyam
Prof. M. Balakrishnan, IIT , Delhi Director
SOCIS, IGNOU, New Delhi
Prof Harish Karnick, IIT, Kanpur Prof P. Venkata Suresh
SOCIS, IGNOU, New Delhi
Prof. C. Pandurangan, IIT, Madras
Dr. Shashi Bhushan
Dr. Om Vikas, Sr. Director, MIT Associate Professor
SOCIS, IGNOU, New Delhi
Prof P. S. Grover, Sr. Consultant, Shri Akshay Kumar
Prof. (Retd.) S.K. Gupta Associate Professor
IIT, Delhi SOCIS, IGNOU, New Delhi

Prof. T.V. Vijay Kumar Shri M. P. Mishra

Dean, Associate Professor
School of Computer & System Sciences, SOCIS, IGNOU, New Delhi
JNU, New Delhi Dr. Sudhansh Sharma
Prof. Ela Kumar, Asst. Professor
Dean, Computer Science & Engg SOCIS, IGNOU, New Delhi
IGDTUW, Delhi
Prof. Gayatri Dhingra
GVMITM, Sonipat, Haryana
Mr. Milind Mahajani
Vice President
Impressico Business Solutions
Noida UP

Block Preparation Team

Prof P. S. Grover (Content Editor) Ms. Priti Sehgal
(Sr Consultant Dept. of Computer Science
SOCIS, IGNOU) Keshav Mahavidyalya
University of Delhi
Ms. Charu Devgon
Dept. of Computer Science Prof. V.V. Subrahmanyam
A N Dev College SOCIS, IGNOU
University of Delhi
Shri S.S. Rana
Ms. Namita Gupta New Delhi Language
Dept. of Computer Science Editors
Maharaja Agrasen Institute Prof Sunaina Kumar,
of Technology SOH, IGNOU
Delhi
Course Coordinator : Dr. Sudhansh Sharma
(Units 1 to 4 are adapted from MCS-011 Problem Solving and Programming)

Block Production Team

March, 2021

Indira Gandhi National Open University, 2021

ISBN-

All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced in any form, by mimeograph or any other means,
without permission in writing from the Indira Gandhi National Open University.

Further information on the Indira Gandhi National Open University courses may be obtained from the
University’s office at Maidan Garhi, New Delhi-110 068.
 Programming
UNIT 1 PROGRAMMING FUNDAMENTALS Fundamentals

Structure
1.0 Introduction
1.1 Objectives
1.2 Problem - Solving Techniques
1.2.1 Steps for Problem - Solving
1.2.2 Using Computer as a Problem-Solving Tool
1.3 Basics of Algorithms
1.3.1 Definition
1.3.2 Features of Algorithm
1.3.3 Criteria to be followed by an Algorithm
1.3.4 Top-Down Design
1.4 Flowcharts
1.4.1 Basic Symbols used in Flowchart Design
1.5 Program and a Programming Language
1.6 Structured Programming Concepts
1.7 C Programming Language
1.7.1 History of C Programming Language
1.7.2 Salient Features of C
1.8 Writing a C Program
1.9 Compiling a C Program
1.9.1 The C Compiler
1.9.2 Syntax and Semantic Errors
1.10 Link and Run the C Program
1.10.1 Run the C Program through the Menu
1.10.2 Run from an Executable File
1.10.3 Linker Errors
1.10.4 Logical and Runtime Errors
1.11 Diagrammatic Representation ofC Program Execution Process
1.12 Summary
1.13 Solutions / Answers
1.14 Further Readings

1.0 INTRODUCTION
In our daily life, we routinely encounter and solve problems. We pose
problems that we need or want to solve. For this, we make use of available
resources, and solve them. Some categories of resources include: the time and 5
An Introduction to C efforts of yours and others; tools; information; and money. Some of the
problems that you encounter and solve are quite simple.But some others may
be very complex.
In this unit we introduce you to the concepts of problem-solving, especially as
they pertain to computer programming.
The problem-solving is a skill and there are no universal approaches one can
take to solving problems. Basically one must explore possible avenues to a
solution one by one until s/he comes across a right path to a solution. In
general, as one gains experience in solving problems, one develops one’s own
techniques and strategies, though they are often intangible. Problem-solving
skills are recognized as an integral component of computer programming. It is
a demand and intricate process which is equally important throughout the
project life cycle especially – study, designing, development, testing and
implementation stages. The computer problem solving process requires:
 Problem anticipation
 Careful planning
 Proper thought process
 Logical precision
 Problem analysis
 Persistence and attention.

At the same time it requires personal creativity, analytic ability and expression.
The chances of success are amplified when the problem solving is approached
in a systematic way and satisfaction is achieved once the problem is
satisfactorily solved. The problems should be anticipated in advance as far as
possible and properly defined to help the algorithm definition and development
process.
Computer is a very powerful tool for solving problems. It is a symbol-
manipulating machine that follows a set of stored instructions called a
program. It performs these manipulations very quickly and has memory for
storing input, lists of commands and output. A computer cannot think in the
way we associate with humans. When using the computer to solve a problem,
you must specify the needed initial data, the operations which need to be
performed (in order of performance) and what results you want for output. If
any of these instructions are missing, you will get either no results or invalid
results. In either case, your problem has not yet been solved. Therefore, several
steps need to be considered before writing a program. These steps may free
you from hours of finding and removing errors in your program (a process
called debugging). It should also make the act of problem solving with a
computer a much simpler task.
All types of computer programs are collectively referred to as software.
Programming languages are also part of it. Physical computer equipment such
as electronic circuitry, input/output devices, storage media etc. comes under
hardware. Software governs the functioning of hardware. Operations
6 performed by software may be built into the hardware, while instructions
executed by the hardware may be generated in software. The decision to Programming
Fundamentals
incorporate certain functions in the hardware and others in the software is
made by the manufacturer and designer of the software and hardware. Normal
considerations for this are: cost, speed, memory required, adaptability and
reliability of the system. Set of instructions of the high level language used to
code a problem to find its solution is referred to as Source Program. A
translator program called a compiler or interpreter, translates the source
program into the object program. This is the compilation or interpretation
phase. All the testing of the source program as regards the correct format of
instructions is performed at this stage and the errors, if any, are printed. If there
is no error, the source program is transformed into the machine language
program called Object Program. The Object Program is executed to perform
calculations. This stage is the execution phase. Data, if required by the
program, are supplied now and the results are obtained on the output device.
The complete process is shown in fig 1.1 below:

Source Compiler / Object Data,

Program Interpreter Program if
required

Results

Fig 1.1: Conversion of Source Program to Object Program

1.1 OBJECTIVES
After going through this unit, you should be able to:
 apply problem solving techniques;
 define an algorithm and its features;
 design flowcharts;
 Define a program;
 Understand the history of C programming language;
 Compile a C program;
 Identify the syntax errors;
 Run a C program; and
 Understand what are run time and logical errors.

1.2 PROBLEM - SOLVING TECHNIQUES

Problem solving is a creative process which defines systematization and
mechanization. There are a number of steps that can be taken to raise the level
of one’s performance in problem solving.
7
An Introduction to C 1.2.1 Steps for Problem - Solving
A problem-solving technique follows certain steps in finding the solution to a
problem. Let us look into the steps one by one:
Problem definition phase
The success in solving any problem is possible only after the problem has been
fully understood. That is, we cannot hope to solve a problem, which we do not
understand. So, the problem understanding is the first step towards the solution
of the problem. In problem definition phase, we must emphasize what must be
done rather than how is it to be done. That is, we try to extract the precisely
defined set of tasks from the problem statement. Inexperienced problem
solvers too often gallop ahead with the task of problem - solving only to find
that they are either solving the wrong problem or solving just one particular
problem.
Getting started on a problem

There are many ways of solving a problem and there may be several solutions.
So, it is difficult to recognize immediately which path could be more
productive. Sometimes you do not have any idea where to begin solving a
problem, even if the problem has been defined. Such block sometimes occurs
because you are overly concerned with the details of the implementation even
before you have completely understood or worked out a solution. The best
advice is not to get concerned with the details. Those can come later when the
intricacies of the problem has been understood.
The use of specific examples
To get started on a problem, we can make use of heuristics i.e., the rule of
thumb. This approach will allow us to start on the problem by picking a
specific problem we wish to solve and try to work out the mechanism that will
allow solving this particular problem. It is usually much easier to work out the
details of a solution to a specific problem because the relationship between the
mechanism and the problem is more clearly defined. This approach of focusing
on a particular problem can give us the foothold we need for making a start on
the solution to the general problem.
Similarities among problems
One way to make a start is by considering a specific example. Another
approach is to bring the experience to bear on the current problem. So, it is
important to see if there are any similarities between the current problem and
the past problems which we have solved. The more experience one has the
more tools and techniques one can bring to bear in tackling the given problem.
But sometimes, it blocks us from discovering a desirable or better solution to
the problem. A skill that is important to try to develop in problem - solving is
the ability to view a problem from a variety of angles. One must be able to
metaphorically turn a problem upside down, inside out, sideways, backwards,
forwards and so on. Once one has developed this skill it should be possible to
get started on any problem.
8
Working backwards from the solution Programming
Fundamentals
In some cases we can assume that we already have the solution to the problem
and then try to work backwards to the starting point. Even a guess at the
solution to the problem may be enough to give us a foothold to start on the
problem. We can systematize the investigations and avoid duplicate efforts by
writing down the various steps taken and explorations made. Another practice
that helps to develop the problem solving skills is, once we have solved a
problem, to consciously reflect back on the way we went about discovering the
solution.

1.2.2 Using Computer as a Problem - Solving Tool

The computer is a resource - a versatile tool - that can help you solve some of
the problems that you encounter. A computer is a very powerful general-
purpose tool. Computers can solve or help to solve many types of problems.
There are also many ways in which a computer can enhance the effectiveness
of the time and effort that you are willing to devote to solving a problem. Thus,
it will prove to be well worth the time and effort you spend to learn how to
make effective use of this tool.
In this section, we discuss the steps involved in developing a program.
Program development is a multi-step process that requires you to understand
the problem, develop a solution, write the program, and then test it. This
critical process determines the overall quality and success of your program. If
you carefully design each program using good structured development
techniques, your programs will be efficient, error-free, and easy to maintain.
The following are the steps in detail:
1. Develop an Algorithm and a Flowchart.
2. Write the program in a computer language (for example say C
programming language).
3. Enter the program using some editor.
4. Test and debug the program.
5. Run the program, input data, and get the results.

1.3 BASICS OF ALGORITHMS

The first step in the program development is to devise and describe a precise
plan of what you want the computer to do. This plan, expressed as a sequence
of operations, is called an algorithm. An algorithm is just an outline or idea
behind a program something resembling C or Pascal, but with some statements
in English rather than within the programming language. It is expected that one
could translate each pseudo-code statement to a small number of lines of actual
code, easily and mechanically.

9
An Introduction to C 1.3.1 Definition
An algorithm is a finite set of steps defining the solution of a particular
problem. An algorithm is expressed in pseudocode - something resembling C
language or Pascal, but with some statements in English rather than within the
programming language. Developing an efficient algorithm requires lot of
practice and skill. It must be noted that an efficient algorithm is one which is
capable of giving the solution to the problem by using minimum resources of
the system such as memory and processor’s time. Algorithm is a language
independent, well structured and detailed. It will enable the programmer to
translate into a computer program using any high-level language.

1.3.2 Features of Algorithm

Following features should be present in an algorithm:
Proper understanding of the problem
For designing an efficient algorithm, the expectations from the algorithm
should be clearly defined so that the person developing the algorithm can
understand the expectations from it. This is normally the outcome of the
problem definition phase.
Use of procedures / functions to emphasize modularity
To assist the development, implementation and readability of the program, it is
usually helpful to modularize (section) the program. Independent functions
perform specific and well defined tasks. In applying modularization, it is
important to watch that the process is not taken so far to a point at which the
implementation becomes difficult to read because of fragmentation. The
program then can be implemented as calls to the various procedures that will
be needed in the final implementations.

Choice of variable names

Proper variable names and constant names can make the program more
meaningful and easier to understand. This practice tends to make the program
more self documenting. A clear definition of all variables and constants at the
start of the procedure / algorithm can also be helpful. For example, it is better
to use variable day for the day of the weeks, instead of the variable a or
something else.
Documentation of the program
Brief information about the segment of the code can be included in the
program to facilitate debugging and providing information. A related part of
the documentation is the information that the programmer presents to the user
during the execution of the program. Since, the program is often to be used by
persons who are unfamiliar with the working and input requirements of the
program, proper documentation must be provided. That is, the program must
specify what responses are required from the user. Care should also be taken to
avoid ambiguities in these specifications. Also the program should “catch”
10
incorrect responses to its requests and inform the user in an appropriate Programming
Fundamentals
manner.

1.3.3 Criteria to be followed by an Algorithm

The following is the criteria to be followed by an algorithm:
 Input: There should be zero or more values which are to be supplied.
 Output: At least one result is to be produced.
 Definiteness: Each step must be clear and unambiguous.
 Finiteness: If we trace the steps of an algorithm, then for all cases, the
algorithm must terminate after a finite number of steps.
 Effectiveness: Each step must be sufficiently basic that a person using
only paper and pencil can in principle carry it out. In addition, not only
each step is definite, it must also be feasible.

Example 1.1
Let us try to develop an algorithm to compute and display the sum of two
numbers
1. Start
2. Read two numbers a and b
3. Calculate the sum of a and b and store it in sum
4. Display the value of sum
5. Stop

Example 1.2
Let us try to develop an algorithm to compute and print the average of a set of
data values.
1. Start
2. Set the sum of the data values and the count to zero.
3. As long as the data values exist, add the next data value to the sum and
add 1 to the count.
4. To compute the average, divide the sum by the count.
5. Display the average.
6. Stop
Example 1.3
Write an algorithm to calculate the factorial of a given number.
1. Start
2. Read the number n
3. [Initialize]
i 1 , fact  1
4. Repeat steps 4 through 6 until i = n
11
An Introduction to C 5. fact  fact * i
6. i  i + 1
7. Print fact
8. Stop

Example 1.4
Write an algorithm to check that whether the given number is prime or not.
1. Start
2. Read the number num
3. [Initialize]
i 2 , flag  1
4. Repeat steps 4 through 6 until i < num or flag = 0
5. rem  num mod i
6. if rem = 0 then
flag 0
else
i i + 1
7. if flag = 0 then
Print Number is not prime
Else
Print Number is prime
8. Stop

1.3.4 Top Down Design

Once we have defined the problem and have an idea of how to solve it, we can
then use the powerful techniques for designing algorithms. Most of the
problems are complex or large problems and to solve them we have to focus on
to comprehend at one time, a very limited span of logic or instructions. A
technique for algorithm design that tries to accommodate this human limitation
is known as top-down design or stepwise refinement.
Top down design provides the way of handling the logical complexity and
detail encountered in computer algorithm. It allows building solutions to
problems in step by step. In this way, specific and complex details of the
implementation are encountered only at the stage when sufficient groundwork
on the overall structure and relationships among the various parts of the
problem.Before the top down design can be applied to any problem, we must at
least have the outlines of a solution. Sometimes this might demand a lengthy
and creative investigation into the problem while at another time the problem
description may in itself provide the necessary starting point for the top-down
design. Top-down design suggests taking the general statements about the
solution one at a time, and then breaking them down into a more precise
subtask / sub-problem. These sub-problems should more accurately describe
how the final goal can be reached. The process of repeatedly breaking a task
12
down into a subtask and then each subtask into smaller subtasks must continue
until the sub-problem can be implemented as the program statement. With each Programming
Fundamentals
spitting, it is essential to define how sub-problems interact with each other. In
this way, the overall structure of the solution to the problem can be maintained.
Preservation of the overall structure is important for making the algorithm
comprehensible and also for making it possible to prove the correctness of the
solution.

Figure 1.2: Schematic breakdown of a problem into subtasks as employed in

top down design

Let us see how to represent the algorithm in a graphical form using a flowchart
in the following section.

1.4 FLOWCHARTS
The next step after the algorithm development is the flowcharting. Flowcharts
are used in programming to diagram the path in which information is
processed through a computer to obtain the desired results. Flowchart is a
graphical representation of an algorithm. It makes use of symbols which are
connected among them to indicate the flow of information and processing. It
will show the general outline of how to solve a problem or perform a task. It is
prepared for better understanding of the algorithm.

13
An Introduction to C 1.4.1 Basic Symbols used in flowchart design

Start/Stop

DECISION MAKING
(Branching)

Input/
Output

Lines or arrows represent the direction of

the flow of control.

Connector (connect one part of the

flowchart to another)

Process, Instruction

Comments, Explanations, Definitions

Additional Symbols Related to more advanced programming

Preparation (may be used with “do Loops” )

Refers to separate flowchart

Example 1.5

The flowchart for the Example 1.1 is shown below:

Start

Read a,b

Sum = a +b

Print sum

14
Stop
 Programming
Fundamentals

Example 1.6

The flowchart for the Example 1.3 (to find factorial of a given number) is
shown low:
Start

Read n

i= 1
fact= 1

is i
<= n?
No

Yes
i = i+1

Print
fact = fact*i fact

Stop

Example 1.7:

The flowchart for Example 1.4 is shown below:

15
An Introduction to C

Start

Read num

i=2
flag = 1

no
is
i<num?

yes

no
is
flag = 0?

yes

rem =
num mod i

no
is rem
!= 0?

yes

i=i+1 flag = 0

no
Print is flag
“number is = 1?
not prime”

yes

Print
“Number
stop is prime

16
Check Your Progress 1 Programming
Fundamentals

1. Differentiate between flowchart and algorithm.

……………………………………………………………………………………...
……………………………………………………………………………………...
……………………………………………………………………………………...
……………………………………………………………………………………...
……………………………………………………………………………………...
2. Compute and print the sum of a set of data values.
……………………………………………………………………………………...
……………………………………………………………………………………...
……………………………………………………………………………………...
……………………………………………………………………………………...
……………………………………………………………………………………...
3. Write the following steps are suggested to facilitate the problem solving process
using computer.
……………………………………………………………………………………...
……………………………………………………………………………………...
……………………………………………………………………………………...
……………………………………………………………………………………...
……………………………………………………………………………………...
4. Draw an algorithm and flowchart to calculate the roots of quadratic equation
Ax^2 + Bx + C = 0.
……………………………………………………………………………………...
……………………………………………………………………………………...
……………………………………………………………………………………...
……………………………………………………………………………………...
……………………………………………………………………………………...

1.5 PROGRAM AND PROGRAMMING

LANGUAGE
A language is a mode of communication between two people. It is necessary
for those two people to understand the language in order to communicate. But
even if the two people do not understand the same language, a translator can
help to convert one language to the other, understood by the second person.
Similar to a translator is the mode of communication between a user and a
computer is a computer language. One form of the computer language is
understood by the user, while in the other form it is understood by the 17
An Introduction to C computer. A translator (or compiler) is needed to convert from user’s form to
computer’s form. Like other languages, a computer language also follows a
particular grammar known as the syntax.
In this unit we will introduce you the basics of programming language C.

We have seen in the earlier section’s that a computer has to be fed with a
detailed set of instructions and data for solving a problem. Such a procedure
which we call an algorithm is a series of steps arranged in a logical sequence.
Also we have seen that a flowchart is a pictorial representation of a sequence
of instructions given to the computer. It also serves as a document explaining
the procedure used to solve a problem. In practice it is necessary to express an
algorithm using a programming language. A procedure expressed in a
programming language is known as a computer program.

Computer programming languages are developed with the primary objective of

facilitating a large number of people to use computers without the need for
them to know in detail the internal structure of the computer. Languages are
designed to be machine-independent. Most of the programming languages
ideally designed, to execute a program on any computer regardless of who
manufactured it or what model it is.
Programming languages can be divided into two categories:
i) Low Level Languages or Machine Oriented Languages: The language
whose design is governed by the circuitry and the structure of the machine
is known as the Machine language. This language is difficult to learn and
use. It is specific to a given computer and is different for different
computers i.e. these languages are machine-dependent. These languages
have been designed to give a better machine efficiency, i.e. faster program
execution. Such languages are also known as Low Level Languages.
Another type of Low-Level Language is the Assembly Language. We will
code the assembly language program in the form of mnemonics. Every
machine provides a different set of mnemonics to be used for that machine
only depending upon the processor that the machine is using.

ii) High Level Languages or Problem Oriented Languages: These

languages are particularly oriented towards describing the procedures for
solving the problem in a concise, precise and unambiguous manner. Every
high level language follows a precise set of rules. They are developed to
allow application programs to be run on a variety of computers. These
languages are machine-independent. Languages falling in this category are
FORTRAN, BASIC, PASCAL etc. They are easy to learn and programs
may be written in these languages with much less effort. However, the
computer cannot understand them and they need to be translated into
machine language with the help of other programs known as Compilers or
Translators.

18
 Programming
1.6 C PROGRAMMINGLANGUAGE Fundamentals

Prior to writing C programs, it would be interesting to find out what really is C

language, how it came into existence and where does it stand with respect to
other computer languages. We will briefly outline these issues in the following
section.

1.6.1 History of C Programming Language

C is a programming language developed at AT&T’s Bell Laboratory of USA

in 1972. It was designed and written by Dennis Ritchie. As compared to other
programming languages such as Pascal, C allows a precise control of input and
output.
Now let us see its historical development. The late 1960s were a turbulent era
for computer systems research at Bell Telephone Laboratories. By 1960, many
programming languages came into existence, almost each for a specific
purpose. For example COBOL was being used for Commercial or Business
Applications, FORTRAN for Scientific Applications and so on. So, people
started thinking why could not there be a one general purpose language.
Therefore, an International Committee was set up to develop such a language,
which came out with the invention of ALGOL60. But this language never
became popular because it was too abstract and too general. To improve this, a
new language called Combined Programming Language (CPL) was developed
at CambridgeUniversity. But this language was very complex in the sense that
it had too many features and it was very difficult to learn. Martin Richards at
CambridgeUniversity reduced the features of CPL and developed a new
language called Basic Combined Programming Language (BCPL). But
unfortunately it turned out to be much less powerful and too specific. Ken
Thompson at AT & T’s Bell Labs, developed a language called B at the same
time as a further simplification of CPL. But like BCPL this was also too
specific. Ritchie inherited the features of B and BCPL and added some features
on his own and developed a language called C. C proved to be quite compact
and coherent. Ritchie first implemented C on a DEC PDP-11 that used the
UNIX Operating System.
For many years the de facto standard for C was the version supplied with the
UNIX version 5 operating system. The growing popularity of microcomputers
led to the creation of large number of C implementations. At the source code
level most of these implementations were highly compatible. However, since
no standard existed there were discrepancies. To overcome this situation,
ANSI established a committee in 1983 that defined an ANSI standard for the C
language.
1.6.2 Salient features of C

C is a general purpose, structured programming language. Among the two

types of programming languages discussed earlier, C lies in between these two
categories. That’s why it is often called a middle level language. It means that
it combines the elements of high level languages with the functionality of 19
An Introduction to C assembly language. It provides relatively good programming efficiency (as
compared to machine oriented language) and relatively good machine
efficiency as compared to high level languages). As a middle level language, C
allows the manipulation of bits, bytes and addresses – the basic elements with
which the computer executes the inbuilt and memory management functions. C
code is very portable, that it allows the same C program to be run on machines
with different hardware configurations. The flexibility of C allows it to be used
for systems programming as well as for application programming.

C is commonly called a structured language because of structural similarities to

ALGOL and Pascal. The distinguishing feature of a structured language is
compartmentalization of code and data. Structured language is one that divides
the entire program into modules using top-down approach where each module
executes one job or task. It is easy for debugging, testing, and maintenance if a
language is a structured one. C supports several control structures such as
while, do-while and for and various data structures such as strucs, files,
arrays etc. as would be seen in the later units. The basic unit of a C program is
a function - C’s standalone subroutine. The structural component of C makes
the programming and maintenance easier.
Check Your Progress 2
1. “A Program written in Low Level Language is faster.” Why?
……………………………………………………………………………………...
……………………………………………………………………………………...
……………………………………………………………………………………...
……………………………………………………………………………………...
……………………………………………………………………………………...
2. What is the difference between high level language and low level
language?
……………………………………………………………………………………...
……………………………………………………………………………………...
……………………………………………………………………………………...
……………………………………………………………………………………...
……………………………………………………………………………………...
3. Why is C referred to as middle level language?
……………………………………………………………………………………...
……………………………………………………………………………………...
……………………………………………………………………………………...
……………………………………………………………………………………...
……………………………………………………………………………………...
……………………………………………………………………………………...

20 ……………………………………………………………………………………...
 Programming
1.7 STRUCTURE OF A C PROGRAM Fundamentals

As we have already seen, to solve a problem there are three main things to be
considered. Firstly, what should be the output? Secondly, what should be the
inputs that will be required to produce this output and thirdly, the steps of
instructions which use these inputs to produce the required output. As stated
earlier, every programming language follows a set of rules; therefore, a
program written in C also follows predefined rules known as syntax. C is a
case sensitivelanguage. All C programs consist of one or more functions. One
function that must be present in every C program is main(). This is the first
function called up when the program execution begins. Basically, main()
outlines what a program does. Although main is not given in the keyword
list,it cannot be used for naming a variable. The structure of a C program is
illustrated in Figure.1.3 where functions func1() through funcn() represent user
defined functions.

Preprocessor directives
Global data declarations
main ( ) /* main function*/
{
Declaration part;
Program statements;
}

/*User defined functions*/

func1( )
{
…………
}

func2 ( )
{
…………
}
.
funcn ( )
{
…………
}
Figure. 1.3: Structure of a C Program.

A Simple C Program
From the above sections, you have become familiar with, a programming
language and structure of a C program. It’s now time to write a simple C
program. This program will illustrate how to print out the message “This is a C
program”.
Example 1.8: Write a program to print a message on the screen.
/*Program to print a message*/

#include<stdio.h> /* header file*/ 21

An Introduction to C main() /* main function*/
{
printf("This is a C program\n"); /* output statement*/
}

Though the program is very simple, a few points must be noted.

Every C program contains a function called main(). This is the starting point
of the program. This is the point from where the execution begins. It will
usually call other functions to help perform its job, some that we write and
others from the standard libraries provided.
#include <stdio.h> is a reference to a special file called stdio.h which contains
information that must be included in the program when it is compiled. The
inclusion of this required information will be handled automatically by the
compiler. You will find it at the beginning of almost every C program.
Basically, all the statements starting with # in a C program are called
preprocessor directives. These will be considered in the later units. Just
remember, that this statement allows you to use some predefined functions
such as, printf(), in this case.
main() declares the start of the function, while the two curly brackets { }
shows the start and finish of the function. Curly brackets in C are used to group
statements together as a function, or in the body of a loop. Such a grouping is
known as a compound statement or a block. Every statement within a function
ends with a terminator semicolon (;).
printf(“This is a C program\n”); prints the words on the screen. The text to
be printed is enclosed in double quotes. The \n at the end of the text tells the
program to print a newline as part of the output. That means now if we give a
second printf statement, it will be printed in the next line.
Comments may appear anywhere within a program, as long as they are placed
within the delimiters /* and */. Such comments are helpful in identifying the
program’s principal features or in explaining the underlying logic of various
program features.
While useful for teaching, such a simple program has few practical uses. Let us
consider something rather more practical. Let us look into the example given
below, the complete program development life cycle.
Example 1.9
Develop an algorithm, flowchart and program to add two numbers.
Algorithm
1. Start
2. Input the two numbers a and b
3. Calculate the sum as a+b
4. Store the result in sum
5. Display the result
6. Stop.
22
Flowchart Programming
Fundamentals

START

INPUT
a, b

Sum = a + b

PRINT
Sum

STOP

Figure 1.4: Flow chart to add two numbers

Program

#include<stdio.h>

main()
{
int a,b,sum; /* variables declaration*/

printf(“\n Enter the values for a and b: \n”);

scanf(“%d, %d”, &a, &b);

sum=a+b;

printf("\nThe sum is %d",sum); /*output statement*/

}

OUTPUT

Enter the values of a and b:

23
The sum is 5

In the above program considers two variables a and b. These variables are
declared as integers (int), it is the data type to indicate integer values. Next
statement is the printf statement meant for prompting the user to input the
values of aand b. scanf is the function to intake the values into the program
provided by the user. Next comes the processing / computing part which
computes the sum. Again the printf statement is a bit different from the first
program; it includes a format specifier (%d). The format specifier indicates the 23
An Introduction to C kind of value to be printed. We will study about other data types and format
specifiers in detail in the following units. In the printf statement above, sum is
not printed in double quotes because we want its value to be printed. The
number of format specifiers and the variable should match in the printf
statement.
At this stage, don’t go much in detail. However, in the following units you will
be learning all these details.

1.8 WRITING A C PROGRAM

A C program can be executed on platforms such as DOS, UNIX etc. DOS
stores C program with a file extension .c. Program text can be entered using
any text editor such as EDIT or any other. To edit a file called testprog.c using
edit editor, gives:
C:> edittestprog.c
If you are using Turbo C, then Turbo C provides its own editor which can be
used for writing the program. Just give the full pathname of the executable file
of Turbo C and you will get the editor in front of you. For example:
C:> turboc\bin\tc
Here, tc.exe is stored in bin subdirectory of turboc directory. After you get the
menu just type the program and store it in a file using the menu provided. The
file automatically gets the extension of .c.
UNIX also stores C program in a file with extension is .c. This identifies it as
a C program. The easiest way to enter your text is using a text editor like vi,
emacs or xedit. To edit a file called testprog.c using vi,
$ vi testprog.c
The editor is also used to make subsequent changes to the program

1.9 COMPILING A C PROGRAM

After you have written the program the next step is to save the program in a
file with extension . c . This program is in high-level language. But this
language is not understood by the computer. So, the next step is to convert the
high-level language program (source code) to machine language (object code).
This task is performed by a software or program known as a compiler. Every
language has its own compiler that converts the source code to object code.
The compiler will compile the program successfully if the program is
syntactically correct; else the object code will not be produced. This is
explained pictorially in Figure 1.5.

High Level Machine

Translator Language
Language (Compiler)
Source Program
Object
Program
Code Code
Figure 1.5: Process of Translation
24
1.9.1 The C Compiler Programming
Fundamentals
If you are working on UNIX platform, then if the name of the program file is
testprog.c, to compile it, the simplest method is to type
cc testprog.c
This will compile testprog.c, and, if successful, will produce a executable file
called a.out. If you want to give the executable file any other, you can type
cc testprog.c -o testprog
This will compile testprog.c, creating an executable file testprog.
If you are working with TurboC on DOS platform then the option for
compilation is provided on the menu. If the program is syntactically correct
then this will produce a file named as testprog.obj. If not, then the syntax
errors will be displayed on the screen and the object file will not be produced.
The errors need to be removed before compiling the program again. This
process of removing the errors from the program is called as the debugging.

1.9.2 Syntax and Semantic Errors

Every language has an associated grammar, and the program written in that
language has to follow the rules of that grammar. For example in English a
sentence such a “Shyam, is playing, with a ball”. This sentence is
syntactically incorrect because commas should not come the way they are in
the sentence.
Likewise, C also follows certain syntax rules. When a C program is compiled,
the compiler will check that the program is syntactically correct. If there are
any syntax errors in the program, those will be displayed on the screen with the
corresponding line numbers.Let us consider the following program.
Example 1.10: Write a program to print a message on the screen.

/* Program to print a message on the screen*/

#include <stdio.h
main( )
{
printf(“Hello, how are you\n”)

Let the name of the program be test.c .If we compile the above program as it is
we will get the following errors:
Error test.c 1:No file name ending
Error test.c 5: Statement missing ;
Error test.c 6: Compound statement missing }
Edit the program again, correct the errors mentioned and the corrected version
appears as follows:
#include <stdio.h>
main( )
{ 25
An Introduction to C printf (“Hello, how are you\n”);
}

Apart from syntax errors, another type of errors that are shown while
compilation are semantic errors. These errors are displayed as warnings. These
errors are shown if a particular statement has no meaning. The program does
compile with these errors, but it is always advised to correct them also, since
they may create problems while execution. The example of such an error is
that say you have declared a variable but have not used it, and then you get a
warning “code has no effect”. These variables are unnecessarily occupying the
memory.
Check Your Progress 3
1. What is the basic unit of a C program?
……………………………………………………………………………………...
……………………………………………………………………………………...
……………………………………………………………………………………...
……………………………………………………………………………………...
……………………………………………………………………………………...

2. “The program is syntactically correct”. What does it mean?

……………………………………………………………………………………...
……………………………………………………………………………………...
……………………………………………………………………………………...
……………………………………………………………………………………...
……………………………………………………………………………………...

3. Indicate the syntax errors in the following program code:

include <stdio.h>
main( )
[
printf(“hello\n”);
]
……………………………………………………………………………………...
……………………………………………………………………………………...
……………………………………………………………………………………...
……………………………………………………………………………………...
……………………………………………………………………………………..

1.10 LINK AND RUN THE C PROGRAM

After compilation, the next step is linking the program. Compilation produces
26 a file with an extension .obj. Now this .obj file cannot be executed since it
contains calls to functions defined in the standard library (header files) of C Programming
Fundamentals
language. These functions have to be linked with the code you wrote. C comes
with a standard library that provides functions that perform most commonly
needed tasks. When you call a function that is not the part of the program you
wrote, C remembers its name. Later the linker combines the code you wrote
with the object code already found in the standard library. This process is
called linking. In other words, Linker is a program that links separately
compiled functions together into one program. It combines the functions in the
standard C library with the code that you wrote. The output of the linker in an
executable program i.e., a file with an extension .exe.

1.10.1 Run the C Program Through the Menu

When we are working with TurboC in DOS environment, the menu in the GUI
that pops up when we execute the executable file of TurboC contains several
options for executing the program:
i) Link , after compiling
ii) Make, compiles as well as links
iii) Run

All these options create an executable file and when these options are used we
also get the output on user screen. To see the output we have to shift to user
screen window.

1.10.2 Run From an Executable File

An .exe file produced by can be directly executed.

UNIX also includes a very useful program called make. Make allows very
complicated programs to be compiled quickly, by reference to a configuration
file (usually called makefile). If your C program is a single file, you can
usually use make by simply typing –
make testprog
This will compile testprog.c as well as link your program with the standard
library so that you can use the standard library functions such as printf and put
the executable code in testprog.

In case of DOS environment , the options provided above produce an

executable file and this file can be directly executed from the DOS prompt just
by typing its name without the extension. That is if the name of the program is
test.c, after compiling and linking the new file produced is test.exe only if
compilation and linking is successful.
This can be executed as:
c>test
1.10.3 Linker Errors
If a program contains syntax errors then the program does not compile, but it
may happen that the program compiles successfully but we are unable to get
the executable file, this happens when there are certain linker errors in the 27
An Introduction to C program. For example, the object code of certain standard library function is
not present in the standard C library; the definition for this function is present
in the header file that is why we do not get a compiler error. Such kinds of
errors are called linker errors. The executable file would be created
successfully only if these linker errors are corrected.

1.10.4 Logical and Runtime Errors

After the program is compiled and linked successfully we execute the program.
Now there are three possibilities:
1) The program executes and we get correct results,
2) The program executes and we get wrong results, and
3) The program does not execute completely and aborts in between.

The first case simply means that the program is correct. In the second case, we
get wrong results; it means that there is some logical mistake in our program.
This kind of error is known as logical error. This error is the most difficult to
correct. This error is corrected by debugging. Debugging is the process of
removing the errors from the program. This means manually checking the
program step by step and verifying the results at each step. Debugging can be
made easier by a tracer provided in Turbo C environment. Suppose we have to
find the average of three numbers and we write the following code:
Example 1.11:Write a C program to compute the average of three
numbers
/* Program to compute average of three numbers *?
#include<stdio.h>
main( )
{
int a,b,c,sum,avg;
a=10;
b=5;
c=20;
sum = a+b+c;
avg = sum / 3;
printf(“The average is %d\n”, avg);
}
OUTPUT
The average is 8.

The exact value of average is 8.33 and the output we got is 8. So we are not
getting the actual result, but a rounded off result. This is due to the logical
error. We have declared variable avgas an integer but the average calculated is
a real number, therefore only the integer part is stored in avg. Such kinds of
errors which are not detected by the compiler or the linker are known as
logical errors.
The third kind of error is only detected during execution. Such errors are
known as run time errors. These errors do not produce the result at all, the
program execution stops in between and the run time error message is flashed
28 on the screen. Let us look at the following example:
Example 1.12: Write a program to divide a sum of two numbers by their Programming
Fundamentals
difference

/* Program to divide a sum of two numbers by their difference*/

#include <stdio.h>

main( )
{

int a,b;
float c;

a=10;
b=10;

c = (a+b) / (a-b);
printf(“The value of the result is %f\n”,c);
}

The above program will compile and link successfully, it will execute till the
first printf statement and we will get the message in this statement, as soon as
the next statement is executed we get a runtime error of “Divide by zero” and
the program halts. Such kinds of errors are runtime errors.

1.11 DIAGRAMMATIC REPRESENTATION OF C

PROGRAM EXECUTION PROCESS
The following figure 1.6 shows the diagrammatic representation of the
program execution process.

WRITE A C PROGRAM

COMPILE THE PROGRAM

DEBUG SYNTAX
ERRORS (IF ANY), SAVE
AND RECOMPILE

LINK THE PROGRAM

EXECUTE THE POGRAM

TEST AND VERIFY THE

RESULTS

Figure 1.6: Program Execution Process

29
An Introduction to C Check Your Progress 4
1. What is the extension of an executable file?
……………………………………………………………………………………...
……………………………………………………………………………………...
……………………………………………………………………………………...
……………………………………………………………………………………...
……………………………………………………………………………………...
2. What is the need for linking a compiled file?
……………………………………………………………………………………...
……………………………………………………………………………………...
……………………………………………………………………………………...
……………………………………………………………………………………...
……………………………………………………………………………………...
3. How do you correct the logical errors in the program?
……………………………………………………………………………………...
……………………………………………………………………………………...
……………………………………………………………………………………...
……………………………………………………………………………………...
……………………………………………………………………………………...

1.12 SUMMARY
To solve a problem different problem - solving tools are available that help in
finding the solution to problem in an efficient and systematic way. Steps
should be followed to solve the problem that includes writing the algorithm
and drawing the flowchart for the solution to the stated problem. Top down
design provides the way of handling the logical complexity and detail
encountered in computer algorithm. It allows building solutions to problems in
a stepwise fashion. In this way, specific and complex details of the
implementation are encountered only at the stage when sufficient groundwork
on the overall structure and relationships among the carious parts of the
problem. We present C language - a standardized, industrial-strength
programming language known for its power and portability as an
implementation vehicle for these problem solving techniques using computer.
In this unit, you have learnt about a program and a programming language.
You can now differentiate between high level and low level languages. You
can now define what is C, features of C. You have studied the emergence of C.
You have seen how C is different, being a middle level Language, than other
High Level languages. The advantage of high level language over low level
language is discussed.
30
You have seen how you can convert an algorithm and flowchart into a C Programming
Fundamentals
program. We have discussed the process of writing and storing a C program in
a file in case of UNIX as well as DOS environment.
You have learnt about compiling and running a C program in UNIX as well as
on DOS environment. We have also discussed about the different types of
errors that are encountered during the whole process, i.e. syntax errors,
semantic errors, logical errors, linker errors and runtime errors. You have also
learnt how to remove these errors. You can now write simple C programs
involving simple arithmetic operators and the printf( ) statement. With these
basics, now we are ready to learn the C language in detail in the following
units.

1.13 SOLUTIONS / ANSWERS

Check Your Progress 1
1. The process to devise and describe a precise plan (in the form of sequence
of operations) of what you want the computer to do, is called an
algorithm. An algorithm may be symbolized in a flowchart or
pseudocode.
2. 1. Start
2. Set the sum of the data values and the count of the data values to zero.
3. As long as the data values exist, add the next data value to the sum
and add 1 to the count.
4. Display the average.
5. Stop
3. The following steps are suggested to facilitate the problem solving process:
a) Define the problem
b) Formulate a mathematical model
c) Develop an algorithm
d) Design the flowchart
e) Code the same using some computer language
f) Test the program
Check Your Progress 2
1. A program written in Low Level Language is faster to execute since it
needs no conversion while a high level language program need to be
converted into low level language.
2. Low level languages express algorithms on the form of numeric or
mnemonic codes while High Level Languages express algorithms in the
using concise, precise and unambiguous notation. Low level languages are
machine dependent while High level languages are machine independent.
Low level languages are difficult to program and to learn, while High
31
An Introduction to C level languages are easy to program and learn. Examples of High level
languages are FORTRAN, Pascal and examples of Low level languages
are machine language and assembly language.
3. C is referred to as middle level language as with C we are able to
manipulate bits, bytes and addresses i.e. interact with the hardware
directly. We are also able to carry out memory management functions.
Check Your Progress 3
1. The basic unit of a C program is a C function.
2. It means that program contains no grammatical or syntax errors.
3. Syntax errors:
a) # not present with include
b) {brackets should be present instead of [ brackets.
Check Your Progress 4
1. The extension of an executable file is .exe.
2. The C program contains many C pre-defined functions present in the C
library. These functions need to be linked with the C program for
execution; else the C program may give a linker error indicating that the
function is not present.
3. Logical errors can be corrected through debugging or self checking.

1.14 FURTHER READINGS

1. How to solve it by Computer, 5th Edition, R G Dromey, PHI, 1992.

2. Introduction to Computer Algorithms, Second Edition, Thomas H. Cormen, MIT
press, 2001.
3. Fundamental Algorithms, Third Edition, Donald E Knuth, Addison-Wesley,
1997.
4. C Programming Language, Kernighan & Richie, PHI Publication.
5. Programming with C, Second Edition, Byron Gottfried, Tata Mc Graw Hill,
2003.
6. The C Complete Reference, Fourth Editon, Herbert Schildt, Tata Mc Graw Hill,
2002.
7. Programming with ANSI and Turbo C, Ashok N. Kamthane, Pearson Education
Asia, 2002.
8. Computer Science A Structured Programming Approach Using C, Second
Edition, Behrouza A. Forouzan, Richard F. Gilberg, Brooks/Cole, Thomson
Learning, 2001.

32
 Data Types,
UNIT 2 DATA TYPES, OPERATORS AND Operators and
Expressions
EXPRESSIONS

Structure
2.0 Introduction
2.1 Objectives
2.2 C Language Character Set
2.3 Identifiers and Keywords
2.3.1 Rules for Forming Identifiers
2.3.2 Keywords
2.4 Data Types and Storage
2.5 Data Type Qualifiers
2.6 Variables
2.7 Declaring Variables
2.8 Initializing Variables
2.9 Constants
2.9.1 Integer Constants
2.9.2 Floating Point Constants
2.9.3 Character Constants
2.9.4 String Constants
2.10 Symbolic Constants and Others
2.11 Expressions and Operators – An Introduction
2.12 Assignment Statements
2.13 Arithmetic Operators
2.14 Relational Operators
2.15 Logical Operators
2.16 Comma and Conditional Operators
2.17 Type Cast Operator
2.18 Size of Operator
2.19 C Shorthand
2.20 Priority of Operators
2.21 Summary
2.22 Solutions / Answers
2.23 Further Readings

2.0 INTRODUCTION
As every natural language has a basic character set, computer languages also
have a character set, rules to define words. Words are used to form
statements. These in turn are used to write the programs.
Computer programs usually work with different types of data and need a way
to store the values being used. These values can be numbers or characters. C 33
An Introduction to C language has two ways of storing number values—variables and
constants—with many options for each. Constants and variables are the
fundamental elements of each program. Simply speaking, a program is
nothing else than defining them and manipulating them.

A variable is a data storage location that has a value that can change during
program execution. In contrast, a constant has a fixed value that can’t change.
This unit is concerned with the basic elements used to construct simple C
program statements. These elements include the C character set, identifiers
and keywords, data types, constants, variables and arrays, declaration and
naming conventions of variables.

2.1 OBJECTIVES
After going through this unit, you will be able to:
 define identifiers, data types and keywords in C;
 know name the identifiers as per the conventions;
 describe memory requirements for different types of variables;
 define constants, symbolic constants and their use in programs.write and
evaluate arithmetic expressions;
 express and evaluate relational expressions;
 write and evaluate logical expressions;
 write and solve compute complex expressions (containing arithmetic, relational
and logical operators), and
 use simple conditions using conditional operators.

2.2 C LANGUAGE CHARACTER SET

When you write a program, you express C source files as text lines
containing characters from the character set. When a program executes in the
target environment, it uses characters from the character set. These character
sets are related, but need not have the same encoding or all the same
members.
Every character set contains a distinct code value for each character in the
basic C character set. A character set can also contain additional characters
with other code values. The C language character set has alphabets, numbers,
and special characters as shown below:
1. Alphabets including both lowercase and uppercase alphabets - A-Z and
a-z.
2. Numbers 0-9
3. Special characters include:
; : { , ‘ “ |
} > < / \ ~ _
[ ] ! $ ? * +
= ( ) - % # ^ @ & .

34
 Data Types,
2.3 IDENTIFIERS AND KEYWORDS Operators and
Expressions

Identifiers are the names given to various program elements such as

constants, variables, function names and arrays etc. Every element in the
program has its own distinct name but one cannot select any name unless it
conforms to valid name in C language. Let us study first the rules to define
names or identifiers.

2.3.1 Rules for Forming Identifiers

Identifiers are defined according to the following rules:
1. It consists of letters and digits.
2. First character must be an alphabet or underscore.
3. Both upper and lower cases are allowed. Same text of different case is not
equivalent, for example: TEXT is not same as text.
4. Except the special character underscore (_), no other special symbols can
be used.
For example, some valid identifiers are shown below:
Y
X123
_XI
temp
tax_rate

For example, some invalid identifiers are shown below:

123 First character to be alphabet
“X.” . not allowed
order-no Hyphen not allowed
error flag Blank space not allowed

2.3.2 Keywords
Keywords are reserved words which have standard, predefined meaning in C.
They cannot be used as program-defined identifiers.
The list of keywords in C language are as follows:
char while do typedef auto
int if else switch case
printf double struct break static
long enum register extern return
union const float short unsigned
continue for signed void default
goto sizeof volatile

Note: Generally all keywords are in lower case although uppercase of same
names can be used as identifiers.

35
An Introduction to C
2.4 DATA TYPES AND STORAGE
To store data inside the computer we need to first identify the type of data
elements we need in our program. There are several different types of data,
which may be represented differently within the computer memory. The data
type specifies two things:
1. Permissible range of values that it can store.
2. Memory requirement to store a data type.

C Language provides four basic data types viz. int, char, float and double.
Using these, we can store data in simple ways as single elements or we can
group them together and use different ways (to be discussed later) to store
them as per requirement. The four basic data types are described in the
following table 2.1:
Table 2.1: Basic Data Types
DATA TYPE TYPE OF DATA MEMORY RANGE
int Integer 2 Bytes  32,768 to 32,767
char character 1 Byte  128 to 128
float Floating point 4 bytes 3.4e  38 to 3.4e +38
number
double Floating point 8 bytes 1.7e  308 to 1.7e + 308
number with higher
precision

Memory requirements or size of data associated with a data type indicates the
range of numbers that can be stored in the data item of that type.

2.5 DATA TYPE QUALIFIERS

Short, long, signed, unsigned are called the data type qualifiers and can be
used with any data type. A short int requires less space than int and long int
may require more space than int. If int and short int takes 2 bytes, then long
int takes 4 bytes.
Unsigned bits use all bits for magnitude; therefore, this type of number can
be larger. For example signed int ranges from –32768 to +32767 and
unsigned int ranges from 0 to 65,535. Similarly, char data type of data is
used to store a character. It requires 1 byte. Signed char values range from –
128 to 127 and unsigned char value range from 0 to 255. These can be
summarized as follows:
Data type Size (bytes) Range
Short int or int 2 32768 to 32,767
Long int 4 2147483648 to 2147483647
Signed int 2 32768 to 32767
Unsigned int 2 0 to 65535
Signed char 1 128 to 127
Unsigned char 1 0 to 255

36
 Data Types,
2.6 VARIABLES Operators and
Expressions

Variable is an identifier whose value changes from time to time during

execution. It is a named data storage location in your computer’s memory. By
using a variable’s name in your program, you are, in effect, referring to the
data stored there. Each variable in C has a specific type, which determines the
size and layout of the variable's memory; the range of values that can be
stored within that memory; and the set of operations that can be applied to
the variable. Note that a value must be assigned to the variables at some point
of time in the program which is termed as assignment statement. The variable
can then be accessed later in the program. If the variable is accessed before it
is assigned a value, it may give garbage value. The data type of a variable
doesn’t change whereas the value assigned to can change. All variables have
three essential attributes:
 the name
 the value
 the memory, where the value is stored.

2.7 DECLARING VARIABLES

Before any data can be stored in the memory, we must assign a name to these
locations of memory. For this we make declarations. Declaration associates a
group of identifiers with a specific data type. All of them need to be declared
before they appear in program statements, else accessing the variables results
in junk values or a diagnostic error. The syntax for declaring variables is as
follows:
data- type variable-name(s);

For example,
int a;
short int a, b;
int c, d;
long c, f;
float r1, r2;

2.8 INITIALISING VARIABLES

Variable initialization means assigning a value to the variable. Initial values
can be assigned to them in two ways:
a) Within a Type Declaration
The value is assigned at the declaration time.
For example,

int a = 10;
float b = 0.4 e –5;
char c = ‘a’;
37
An Introduction to C
b) Using Assignment Statement
The values are assigned just after the declarations are made.
For example,
int a;
float b;
char c;

a = 10;
b = 0.4 e –5;
c = ‘a’;

Check Your Progress 1

1) Identify keywords and valid identifiers among the following:
hello function day-of-the-week
student_1 max_value “what”
1_student int union
……………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………
2) Declare variables roll no, total_marks and percentage with appropriate
datatypes.
……………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………

3) How many byte(s) are assigned to store for the following?

a) Unsigned character b) Unsigned integer c) Double

……………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………

2.9 CONSTANTS
A constant is an identifier whose value cannot be changed throughout the
execution of a program whereas the variable value keeps on changing. In C
there are four basic types of constants. They are:
1. Integer constants
38
2. Floating point constants Data Types,
Operators and
3. Character constants Expressions
4. String constants

Integer and Floating Point constants are numeric constants and represent
numbers.
Rules to form Integer and Floating Point Constants
 No comma or blankspace is allowed in a constant.
 It can be preceded by – (minus) sign if desired.
 The value should lie within a minimum and maximum permissible range
decided by the word size of the computer.

2.9.1 Integer Constants

Further, these constant can be classified according to the base of the numbers
as:
1. Decimal integer constants
These consist of digits 0 through 9 and first digit should not be 0.

For example,
1 443 32767
are valid decimal integer constants.

2. Invalid Decimal integer Constants

12 ,45 , not allowed
1 010 Blankspace not allowed
10 – 10 – not allowed
0900 The first digit should not be a zero

3. Octal integer constants

These consist of digits 0 through 7. The first digit must be zero in order to
identify the constant as an octal number.

Valid octal integer constants are:

0 01 0743 0777

Invalid octal integer constants are:

743 does not begin with 0
0438 illegal character 8
0777.77 illegal char

4. Hexadecimal integer constants

To specify a hexadecimal integer constant, start the hexadecimal
sequence with a 0 followed by the character X (or x ). Follow
the X or x with one or more hexadecimal characters (the digits 0 to 9 and
the upper or lowercase letters A to F). The value of a hexadecimal
constant is computed in base 16 (the letters A to F have the values 10 to
15, respectively).
39
An Introduction to C Valid Hexadecimal integer constants are:
0X0 0X1 0XF77 0xABCD

Invalid Hexadecimal integer constants are:

0BEF x is not included
0x.4bff illegal char (.)
0XGBC illegal char G

Unsigned integer constants: Exceed the ordinary integer by magnitude of 2,

they are not negative. A character U or u is postfix to the number to make it
unsigned.
Long Integer constants: These are used to exceed the magnitude of ordinary
integers and are appended by L.
For example,
50000U decimal unsigned
1234567889L decimal long
0123456L octal long
0777777U octal unsigned

2.9.2 Floating Point Constants

A floating-point constant consists of:

 Decimal integer
 Decimal point
 Decimal fraction
 e or E and a signed integer exponent (optional)
 Type suffix: f or F or l or L (optional)

Either decimal integer or decimal fraction (but not both) can be omitted.
Either decimal point or letter e (or E) with a signed integer exponent (but not
both) can be omitted. These rules allow conventional and scientific
(exponent) notations.
Negative floating constants are taken as positive constants with an unary
operator minus (-) prefixed. If there is a need for a floating-point constant
that exceeds these limits, user should add l or L suffix, making the constant
a long double type.
Here are some examples:

0. // is equal to 0.0
-1.23 // is equal to -1.23
23.45e6 // is equal to 23.45 X 106
2e-5 //is equal to 2.0 X 10-5
3e+10 //is equal to 3.0 X 1010
.09E34 //is equal to 0.09 X 1034

2.9.3 Character Constants

This constant is a single character enclosed in apostrophes (‘ ’) .

40
For example, some of the character constants are shown below: Data Types,
Operators and
‘A’, ‘x’, ‘3’, ‘$’ Expressions

‘\0’ is a null character having value zero.

Character constants have integer values associated depending on the

character set adopted for the computer. ASCII character set is in use which
uses 7-bit code with 27 = 128 different characters. The digits 0-9 have ASCII
values of 48-57, upper case alphabets from ‘A’ to ‘Z’ have ASCII values
from 65 to 90 and lower case alphabets ‘a’ to ‘z’ have ASCII values from 97
to 122.

Escape Sequence
Many programming languages support a concept called Escape Sequence.
When a character is preceded by a backslash (\), it is called an escape
sequence and it has a special meaning to the compiler. For example, \n in the
following statement is a valid character and it is called a new line character in
C language.

2.9.4 String Constants

It consists of sequence of characters enclosed within double quotes. For
example,
“red” “Blue Sea” “41213*(I+3)”

2.10 SYMBOLIC CONSTANTS AND OTHERS

Symbolic Constant is a name that substitutes for a sequence of characters or a
numeric constant, a character constant or a string constant. When program is
compiled each occurrence of a symbolic constant is replaced by its
corresponding character sequence. The syntax is as follows:
#define name text

where name implies symbolic name in caps.

text implies value or the text.

Examples:

#define printf print

#define MAX 100
#define TRUE 1
#define FALSE 0
#define SIZE 10
#define PI 3.141592

The # character is used for preprocessor commands. A preprocessor is a

system program, which comes into action prior to Compiler, and it replaces
the replacement text by the actual text. This will allow correct use of the
statement printf.

41
An Introduction to C Advantages of using Symbolic Constants are:
 They can be used to assign names to values.
 Replacement of value has to be done at one place and wherever the name
appears in the text it gets the value by execution of the preprocessor.
This saves time. if the symbolic constant appears 20 times in the
program; it needs to be changed at one place only.

Enumerated Data Type

An enumerated type is used to specify the possible values of an object from a
predefined list. Elements of the list are called enumeration constants. The
main use of enumerated types is to explicitly show the symbolic names, and
therefore the intended purpose, of objects whose values can be represented
with integer values. Objects of enumerated type are interpreted as objects of
type signed int , and are compatible with objects of other integral types.

The compiler automatically assigns integer values to each of the enumeration

constants, beginning with 0. The following example declares an enumerated
object background_color with a list of enumeration constants:
enum colors {black,red,blue,green,white} background_color;

Later in the program, a value can be assigned to the object

background_color :
background_color = white;
In this example, the compiler automatically assigns the integer values as
follows: black = 0, red = 1, blue = 2, green = 3, and white = 4. Alternatively,
explicit values can be assigned during the enumerated type definition:
enum colors { black = 5, red = 10, blue, green = 7, white = green+2 };
Here, black equals the integer value 5, red = 10, blue = 11, green = 7,
and white = 9. Note that blue equals the value of the previous constant (red )
plus one, and green is allowed to be out of sequential order.
Because the ANSI C standard is not strict about assignment to enumerated
types, any assigned value not in the predefined list is accepted without
complaint.
Typedef in C Language
typedef keyword is used to assign a new name to a type. This is used just to
prevent us from writing more.
For example, if we want to declare some variables of type unsigned int, we
have to write unsigned int in a program and it can be quite hectic for some of
us. So, we can assign a new name of our choice for unsigned
int using typedef which can be used anytime we want to use unsigned int in a
program.
typedef current_name new_name;
typedef unsigned in uint;
uint j,k;
42
Now, we can write uint in the whole program instead of unsigned int. The Data Types,
Operators and
above code is the same as writing: Expressions
unsigned int j,k;
For example,

#include<stdio.h>
int main()
{
typedef unsigned in uint;
uint j=5, k=9;
printf(“j= %d\n”,j);
printf(“k= %d\n”,k);
return 0;
}
Check Your Progress 2
1) Write a preprocessor directive statement to define a constant PI having
the value 3.14.
……………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………
2) Classify the examples into Integer, Character and String constants.
‘A’ 0147 0xEFH
077.7 “A” 26.4
“EFH” ‘\r’ abc
……………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………
3) Name different categories of constants C programming language.
……………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………

43
An Introduction to C
2.11 EXPRESSIONS AND OPERATORS - AN
INTRODUCTION

In the previous sections’ we have learnt variables, constants, datatypes and

how to declare them in C programming. The next step is to use those
variables in expressions. For writing an expression we need operators along
with variables. An expression is a sequence of operators and operands that
does one or a combination of the following:
 specifies the computation of a value
 designates an object or function
 generates side effects.

An operator performs an operation (evaluation) on one or more operands. An

operand is a subexpression on which an operator acts.

This unit focuses on different types of operators available in C including the

syntax and use of each operator and how they are used in C.
A computer is different from calculator in a sense that it can solve logical
expressions also. Therefore, apart from arithmetic operators, C also contains
logical operators. Hence, logical expressions are also discussed in the
following sections.

2.12 ASSIGNMENT STATEMENT

In the previous unit, we have seen that variables are basically memory
locations and they can hold certain values. But, how to assign values to the
variables? C provides an assignment operator for this purpose. The function
of this operator is to assign the values or values in variables on right hand
side of an expression to variables on the left hand side.
The syntax of the assignment expression is as follows:
variable = constant / variable/ expression;

The data type of the variable on left hand side should match the data type of
constant/variable/expression on right hand side with a few exceptions where
automatic type conversions are possible. Some examples of assignment
statements are as follows:
b =a; /* b is assigned the value of a */
b=5; /* b is assigned the value 5*/
b = a+5; /* b is assigned the value of expr a+5 */
The expression on the right hand side of the assignment statement can be:
 an arithmetic expression;
 a relational expression;
 a logical expression;
 a mixed expression.

44
The above mentioned expressions are different in terms of the type of Data Types,
Operators and
operators connecting the variables and constants on the right hand side of the Expressions
variable. Arithmetic operators, relational operators and logical operators are
discussed in the following sections.
For example,

int a;
float b,c ,avg, t;
avg = (b+c) / 2; /*arithmetic expression */
a = b && c; /*logical expression*/
a = (b+c) && (b<c); /* mixed expression*/

2.13 ARITHMETIC OPERATORS

The basic arithmetic operators in C are the same as in most other computer
languages, and correspond to our usual mathematical/algebraic symbolism.
The following arithmetic operators are present in C:

Operator Meaning

+ Addition
- Subtraction
* Multiplication
/ Division
% Modular Division

Some of the examples of algebraic expressions and their C notation are given below:

Expression C notation
b* g (b *g) / d
d

a3+cd (a*a*a) + (c*d)

The arithmetic operators are all binary operators i.e. all the operators have
two operands. The integer division yields the integer result. For example, the
expression 10/3 evaluates to 3 and the expression 15/4 evaluates to 3. C
provides the modulus operator, %, which yields the reminder after integer
division. The modulus operator is an integer operator that can be used only
with integer operands. The expression x%y yields the reminder after x is
divided by y. Therefore, 10%3 yields 1 and 15%4 yields 3. An attempt to
divide by zero is undefined on computer system and generally results in a
run- time error. Normally, Arithmetic expressions in C are written in straight-
line form. Thus ‘a divided by b’ is written as a/b.
The operands in arithmetic expressions can be of integer, float, double type.
In order to effectively develop C programs, it will be necessary for you to
understand the rules that are used for implicit conversion of floating point
and integer values in C.

45
An Introduction to C They are mentioned below:
 An arithmetic operator between an integer and integer always yields an
integer result.
 Operator between float and float yields a float result.
 Operator between integer and float yields a float result.
If the data type is double instead of float, then we get a result of double data
type.
For example,

Operation Result

5/3 1

5.0/3 1.6666666667

5/3.0 1.6666666667

5.0/3.0 1.6666666667

Parentheses can be used in C expression in the same manner as algebraic

expression For example,
a*(b + c)

It may so happen that the type of the expression and the type of the variable
on the left hand side of the assignment operator may not be same. In such a
case the value for the expression is promoted or demoted depending on the
type of the variable on left hand side of = (assignment operator). For
example, consider the following assignment statements:
int i;
float b;
i = 4.6;
b = 20;

In the first assignment statement, float (4.6) is demoted to int. Hence i gets
the value 4. In the second assignment statement int (20) is promoted to float,
b gets 20.0. If we have a complex expression like:
float a, b, c;
int s;
s = a * b / 5.0 * c;

Where some operands are integers and some are float, then int will be promoted or
demoted depending on left hand side operator. In this case, demotion will take place
since s is an integer.

The rules of arithmetic precedence are as follows:

1. Parentheses are at the “highest level of precedence”. In case of nested
parenthesis, the innermost parentheses are evaluated first.

46
 For example, Data Types,
( ((3+4)*5)/6 ) Operators and
Expressions
The order of evaluation is given below:

( ( (3+4) * 5) / 6 )

1 2 3

2. Multiplication, Division and Modulus operators are evaluated next. If an

expression contains several multiplication, division and modulus
operators, evaluation proceeds from left to right. These three are at the
same level of precedence.

For example,
5*5+6*7
The order of evaluation is given below.

5*5+6*7

1 2
3

3. Addition, subtraction are evaluated last. If an expression contains several

addition and subtraction operators, evaluation proceeds from left to right.
Or the associativity is from left to right.

For example,

8/5-6+5/2
The order of evaluation is given below.

8/5-6+5/2

1 3 4 2

Apart from these binary arithmetic operators, C also contains two unary
operators referred to as increment (++) and decrement (--) operators, which
we are going to be discussed below:
The two-unary arithmetic operators provided by C are:
 Increment operator (++)
 Decrement operator (- -)

The increment operator increments the variable by one and decrement

operator decrements the variable by one. These operators can be written in
two forms i.e. before a variable or after a variable. If an increment /
decrement operator is written before a variable, it is referred to as
47
An Introduction to C preincrement / predecrement operators and if it is written after a variable, it
is referred to as post increment / postdecrement operator.
For example,
a++ or ++a is equivalent to a = a+1 and
a-- or - -a is equivalent to a = a -1

The importance of pre and post operator occurs while they are used in the
expressions. Preincrementing (Predecrementing) a variable causes the
variable to be incremented (decremented) by 1, then the new value of the
variable is used in the expression in which it appears. Postincrementing
(postdecrementing) the variable causes the current value of the variable is
used in the expression in which it appears, then the variable value is
incremented (decrement) by 1.
The explanation is given in the table below:
Expression Explanation
++a Increment a by 1, then use the new value of a
a++ Use value of a, then increment a by 1
--b Decrement b by 1, then use the new value of b
b-- Use the current value of b, then decrement by 1
The precedence of these operators is right to left. Let us consider the
following examples:

int a = 2, b=3;
int c;
c = ++a – b- -;
printf (“a=%d, b=%d,c=%d\n”,a,b,c);

OUTPUT

a = 3, b = 2, c = 0.

Since the precedence of the operators is right to left, first b is evaluated, since
it is a post decrement operator, current value of b will be used in the
expression i.e. 3 and then b will be decremented by 1.Then, a preincrement
operator is used with a, so first a is incremented to 3. Therefore, the value of
the expression is evaluated to 0.
Let us take another example,
int a = 1, b = 2, c = 3;
int k;
k = (a++)*(++b) + ++a - --c;
printf(“a=%d,b=%d, c=%d, k=%d”,a,b,c,k);
OUTPUT
a = 3, b = 3, c = 2, k = 6
The evaluation is explained below:
k = (a++) * (++b)+ ++a - --c
= (a++) * (3) + 2 - 2 step1
= (2) * (3) + 2 - 2 step2
= 6 final result

48
Check Your Progress 3 Data Types,
Operators and
Expressions
1. Give the C expressions for the following algebraic expressions:

i) a*4c2 - d
m+n

ii) ab - (e+f)4
c
……………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………
2. Give the output of the following C code:
main()
{
int a=2,b=3,c=4;
k = ++b + --a*c + a;
printf(“a= %d b=%d c=%d k=%d\n”,a,b,c,k);
}
…………………………………………………………………………….
…………………………………………………………………………….
…………………………………………………………………………….
…………………………………………………………………………….
…………………………………………………………………………….
3. Point out the error:
exp = a**b;
……………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………

2.14 RELATIONAL OPERATORS

Executable C statements either perform actions (such as calculations or input

or output of data) or make decision. Using relational operators we can
compare two variables in the program. The C relational operators are
summarized below, with their meanings. Pay particular attention to the
equality operator; it consists of two equal signs, not just one. This section
introduces a simple version of C’s if control structure that allows a program
to make a decision based on the result of some condition. If the condition is
true then the statement in the body of if statement is executed else if the
condition is false, the statement is not executed. Whether the body statement
49
An Introduction to C is executed or not, after the if structure completes, execution proceeds with
the next statement after the if structure. Conditions in the if structure are
formed with the relational operators which are summarized in the Table 2.2.

Table 2.2: Relational Operators in C

Relational Operator Condition Meaning

== x==y x is equal to y

!= x!=y x is not equal to y

< x<y x is less than y

<= x<=y x is less than or equal to y

> x>y x is greater than y

>= x>=y x is greater or equal to y

Relational operators usually appear in statements which are inquiring about

the truth of some particular relationship between variables. Normally, the
relational operators in C are the operators in the expressions that appear
between the parentheses.
For example,
i) if (thisNum < minimumSoFar) minimumSoFar = thisNum
ii) if (job == Teacher) salary == minimumWage
iii) if (numberOfLegs != 8) thisBug = insect
iv) if (degreeOfPolynomial < 2) polynomial = linear
Let us see a simple C program given below containing the if statement (will
be introduced in detail in the next unit). It displays the relationship between
two numbers read from the keyboard.
/*Program to find relationship between two numbers*/
#include <stdio.h>
main()
{
int a, b;
printf(“Please enter two integers: ”);
scanf (“%d%d”, &a, &b);
if (a <= b)
printf(“ %d <= %d\n”,a,b);
else
printf(“%d > %d\n”,a,b);
}
OUTPUT
Please enter two integers: 12 17
12 <= 17
We can change the values assigned to a and b and check the result.

50
 Data Types,
2.15 LOGICAL OPERATORS Operators and
Expressions

Logical operators in C, as with other computer languages, are used to

evaluate expressions which may be true or false. Expressions which involve
logical operations are evaluated and found to be one of two values: true or
false. So far we have studied simple conditions. If we want to test multiple
conditions in the process of making a decision, we have to perform simple
tests in separate IF statements (will be introduced in detail in the next unit). C
provides logical operators that may be used to form more complex conditions
by combining simple conditions.
The logical operators are listed below:
Operator Meaning
&& Logical AND
|| Logical OR
! Logical NOT

Thus logical operators (AND and OR) combine two conditions and logical
NOT is used to negate the condition i.e. if the condition is true, NOT negates
it to false and vice versa.Let us consider the following is:
i) Suppose the grade of the student is ‘B’ only if his marks lie within the
range 65 to 75,if the condition would be:
if((marks >=65) && (marks <= 75))
printf (“Grade is B\n”);

ii) Suppose we want to check that a student is eligible for admission if his
PCM is greater than 85% or his aggregate is greater than 90%, then,

if((PCM >=85) ||(aggregate >=90))

printf (“Eligible for admission\n”);

Logical negation (!) enables the programmer to reverse the meaning of the
condition. Unlike the && and || operators, which combines two conditions
(and are therefore Binary operators), the logical negation operator is a unary
operator and has one single condition as an operand. Let us consider an
example:
if!(grade==’A’)
printf (“the next grade is %c\n”, grade);
The parentheses around the condition grade==A are needed because the
logical operator has higher precedence than equality operator. The truth table
of the logical AND (&&), OR (||) and NOT (!) are given below.
These table show the possible combinations of zero (false) and nonzero (true)
values of x (expression1) and y (expression2) and only one expression in case
of NOT operator. The following table 2.3 is the truth table for && operator.

51
An Introduction to C Table 2.3: Truth table for && operator
x y x&&y
zero zero 0
Non zero zero 0
zero Non zero 0
Non zero Non zero 1

The following table 2.4 is the truth table for || operator.

Table 2.4: Truth table for || operator

x y x || y
zero zero 0

Non zero zero 1

zero Non zero 1

Non zero Non zero 1

The following table 2.5 is the truth table for ! operator.

Table 2.5: Truth table for ! operator

x !x
zero 1
Non zero 0

The following table 2.6 shows the operator precedence and associativity

Table 2.6: (Logical operators precedence and associativity)

Operator Associativity
! Right to left

&& Left to right

|| Left to right

2.16 COMMA AND CONDITIONAL OPERATORS

Conditional Operator
C provides an called as the conditional operator (?:) or else called as ternary
operator which is closely related to the if/else structure. The conditional
operator is C’s only ternary operator - it takes three operands. The operands
together with the conditional operator form a conditional expression. The first
operand is a condition, the second operand represents the value of the entire
conditional expression it is the condition is true and the third operand is the
value for the entire conditional expression if the condition is false.

52
The syntax is as follows: Data Types,
Operators and
(condition)? (expression1): (expression2); Expressions

If condition is true, expression1 is evaluated else expression2 is evaluated.

Expression1/Expression2 can also be further conditional expression i.e. the
case of nested if statement (will be discussed in the next unit).
Let us see the following examples:
i) x= (y<20) ? 9: 10;
This means, if (y<20), then x=9 else x=10;
ii) printf (“%s\n”, grade>=50? “Passed”: “failed”);
The above statement will print “passed” grade>=50 else it will print
“failed”
iii) (a>b) ? printf (“a is greater than b \n”): printf (“b is greater than a \n”);
If a is greater than b, then first printf statement is executed else second printf
statement is executed.
Comma Operator
A comma operator is used to separate a pair of expressions. A pair of
expressions separated by a comma is evaluated left to right, and the type and
value of the result are the value of the type and value of the right operand. All
side effects from the evaluation of the left operand are completed before
beginning evaluation of the right operand. The left side of comma operator is
always evaluated to void. This means that the expression on the right hand
side becomes the value of the total comma-separated expression. For
example,
x = (y=2, y - 1);
first assigns y the value 2 and then x the value 1. Parenthesis is necessary
since comma operator has lower precedence than assignment operator.
Generally, comma operator (,) is used in the for loop (will be introduced in
the next unit)
For example,
for(i= 0,j= n;i<j; i++,j--)
{
printf(“A”);
}
In this example for is the looping construct (discussed in the next unit). In
this loop, i = 0 and j = n are separated by comma (,) and i++ and j—are
separated by comma (,). The example will be clear to you once you have
learnt for loop (will be introduced in the next unit).
Essentially, the comma causes a sequence of operations to be performed.
When it is used on the right hand side of the assignment statement, the value
assigned is the value of the last expression in the comma-separated list.
53
An Introduction to C Check Your Progress 4
1. Given a=3, b=4, c=2, what is the result of following logical expressions:
(a < --b) && (a==c)
……………………………………………………………………………..
……………………………………………………………………………..
……………………………………………………………………………..
……………………………………………………………………………..
……………………………………………………………………………..
2. Give the output of the following code:
main()
{
int a=10, b=15,x;
x = (a<b)?++a:++b;
printf(“x=%d a=%d b=%d\n”,x,a,b);
}
……………………………………………………………………………..
……………………………………………………………………………..
……………………………………………………………………………..
……………………………………………………………………………..
…………………………………………………………………………….
3. What is the use of comma operator?
……………………………………………………………………………..
……………………………………………………………………………..
……………………………………………………………………………..
……………………………………………………………………………..
…………………………………………………………………………….

2.17 TYPE CAST OPERATOR

We have seen in the previous sections and last unit that when constants and
variables of different types are mixed in an expression, they are converted to
the same type. That is automatic type conversion takes place. The following
type conversion rules are followed:
1. All chars and short ints are converted to ints. All floats are converted to
doubles.
2. In case of binary operators, if one of the two operands is a long double,
the other operand is converted to long double,

54
 else if one operand is double, the other is converted to double, Data Types,
Operators and
else if one operand is long, the other is converted to long, Expressions

else if one operand is unsigned, the other is converted to

unsigned,
C converts all operands “up” to the type of largest operand (largest in terms
of memory requirement for e.g. float requires 4 bytes of storage and int
requires 2 bytes of storage so if one operand is int and the other is float, int
is converted to float).
All the above mentioned conversions are automatic conversions, but what if
int is to be converted to float. It is possible to force an expression to be of
specific type by using operator called a cast. The syntax is as follows:

(type) expression

where type is the standard C data type. For example, if you want to make sure
that the expression a/5 would evaluate to type float you would write it as

( float ) a/5

cast is an unary operator and has the same precedence as any other unary
operator. The use of cast operator is explained in the following example:

main()
{
int num;
printf(“%f %f %f\n”, (float)num/2, (float)num/3, float)num/3);
}

Tha cast operator in this example will ensure that fractional part is also
displayed on the screen.

2.18 SIZE OF OPERATOR

C provides a compile-time unary operator called sizeof that can be used to
compute the size of any object. The expressions such as:
sizeof object and sizeof(type name)
result in an unsigned integer value equal to the size of the specified object or
type in bytes. Actually the resultant integer is the number of bytes required to
store an object of the type of its operand. An object can be a variable or array
or structure. An array and structure are data structures provided in C,
introduced in latter units. A type name can be the name of any basic type like
int or double or a derived type like a structure or a pointer.
For example,
sizeof(char) = 1bytes
sizeof(int) = 2 bytes

55
An Introduction to C
2.19 C SHORTHAND
C has a special shorthand that simplifies coding of certain type of assignment
statements. For example: a = a+2;
can be written as: a += 2;
The operator +=tells the compiler that a is assigned the value of a + 2;
This shorthand works for all binary operators in C. The general form is:
variable operator = variable / constant / expression;
These operators are listed below:
Operators Examples Meaning
+= a+=2 a=a+2
-= a-=2 a=a-2
= a*=2 a = a*2
/= a/=2 a=a/2
%= a%=2 a=a%2
Operators Examples Meaning
&&= a&&=c a=a&&c
||= a||=c a=a||c

2.20 PRIORITY OF OPERATORS

Since all the operators we have studied in this unit can be used together in an
expression, C uses a certain hierarchy to solve such kind of mixed
expressions. The hierarchy and associatively of the operators discussed so far
is summarized in Table 2.7. The operators written in the same line have the
same priority. The higher precedence operators are written first.
Table 2.7: Precedence of the operators

Operators Associativity
() Left to right
! ++ -- (type) sizeof Right to left
/% Left to right
+- Left to right
< <= > >= Left to right
== != Left to right
&& Left to right
|| Left to right
?: Right to left
= += -= *= /= %= &&= ||= Right to left
, Left to right

56
Check Your Progress 5 Data Types,
Operators and
1. Give the output of the following C code: Expressions

main( )
{
int a,b=5;
float f;
a=5/2;
f=(float)b/2.0;
(a<f)? b=1:b=0;
printf(“b = %d\n”,b);
}
……………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………
2. What is the difference between && and &. Explain with an example.
……………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………
3. Use of Bit Wise operators makes the execution of the program.
……………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………

2.21 SUMMARY
To summarize we have learnt certain basics, which are required to learn a
computer language and form a basis for all languages. Character set includes
alphabets, numeric characters, special characters and some graphical
characters. These are used to form words in C language or names or
identifiers. Variable are the identifiers, which change their values during
execution of the program. Keywords are names with specific meaning and
cannot be used otherwise.

57
An Introduction to C We had discussed four basic data types - int, char, float and double. Some
qualifiers are used as prefixes to data types like signed, unsigned, short, and
long.
The constants are the fixed values and may be either Integer or Floating point
or Character or String type. Symbolic Constants are used to define names
used for constant values. They help in using the name rather bothering with
remembering and writing the values.
In this unit, we discussed about the different types of operators, namely
arithmetic, relational, logical present in C and their use. In the following
units, you will study how these are used in C’s other constructs like control
statements, arrays etc. This unit also focused on type conversions. Type
conversions are very important to understand because sometimes a
programmer gets unexpected results (logical error) which are most often
caused by type conversions in case user has used improper types or if he has
not type cast to desired type.
C is referred to as a compact language which is because lengthy expressions
can be written in short form. Conditional operator is one of the examples,
which is the short form of writing the if/else construct (next unit). Also
increment/decrement operators reduce a bit of coding when used in
expressions.
Since logical operators are used further in all types of looping constructs and
if/else construct (in the next unit), they should be thoroughly understood.

2.22 SOLUTIONS / ANSWERS

Check Your Progress 1
1. Keywords: int, union
Valid Identifiers: hello, student_1, max_value
2. int rollno;
float total_marks, percentage;
3. a) 1 byte b) 2 bytes c) 8 bytes
Check Your Progress 2
1. # define PI 3.14
2. Integer constant: 0147
Character constants: ’A’, ‘\r’
String constants: ”A”, “EFH”
Check Your Progress 3
1. C expression would be
i) ((a*4*c*c)-d)/(m+n)

58
ii) a*b-(e+f)*4/c
2. The output would be: Data Types,
Operators and
a=1 b=4 c=4 k=10 Expressions

3. There is no such operator as **.

Check Your Progress 4
1. The expression is evaluated as under:
(3 < - -4) && (3== 2)
(3 < 3) && (3==2)
0 && 0
0
Logical false evaluates to 0 and logical true evaluates to 1.
2. The output would be as follows:
x=11, a=11, b=16
3. Comma operator causes a sequence of operators to be performed.
Check Your Progress 5
1. Here a will evaluate to 2 and f will evaluate to 2.5 since type cast
operator is used in the latter so data type of b changes to float in an
expression. Therefore, output would be b=1.
2. && operator is a logical and operator and & is a bit wise and operator.
Therefore, && operator always evaluates to true or false i.e 1 or 0
respectively while & operator evaluates bit wise so the result can be any
value. For example:
2 && 5 => 1(true)
2 & 5 => 0(bit-wise anding)
3. Use of Bit Wise operators makes the execution of the program faster.

2.23 FURTHER READINGS

1. The C Programming Language, Kernighan & Ritchie, PHI Publication.
2. Computer Science A structured programming approach using C,
Behrouza A. Forouzan, Richard F. Gilberg, Second Edition,
Brooks/Cole, Thomson Learning, 2001.
3. Programming with C, Gottfried, Second Edition, Schaum Outlines,Tata
Mc Graw Hill, 2003.

59
An Introduction to C
UNIT 3 DECISION AND LOOP CONTROL
STATEMENTS

Structure
3.0 Introduction
3.1 Objectives
3.2 Decision Control Statements
3.2.1 The if Statement
3.2.2 The switch Statement
3.3 Loop Control Statements
3.3.1 The while Loop
3.3.2 The do-while Statement
3.3.3 The for Loop
3.3.4 The Nested Loop
3.4 The Goto Statement
3.5 The Break Statement
3.6 The Continue Statement
3.7 Summary
3.8 Solutions / Answers
3.9 Further Readings

3.0 INTRODUCTION
A program consists of a number of statements to be executed by the
computer. Not many of the programs execute all their statements in
sequential order from beginning to end as they appear within the program. A
C program may require that a logical test be carried out at some particular
point within the program. One of the several possible actions will be carried
out, depending on the outcome of the logical test. This is called Branching.
In the Selection process, a set of statements will be selected for execution,
among the several sets available. Suppose, if there is a need of a group of
statements to be executed repeatedly until some logical condition is satisfied,
then looping is required in the program. These can be carried out using
various control statements.
These Control statements determine the “flow of control” in a program and
enable us to specify the order in which the various instructions in a program
are to be executed by the computer. Normally, high level procedural
programming languages require three basic control statements:
 Sequence instruction
 Selection/decision instruction
 Repetition or Loop instruction
60
 Decision and Loop
Sequence instruction means executing one instruction after another, in the Control Statements
order in which they occur in the source file. This is usually built into the
language as a default action, as it is with C. If an instruction is not a control
statement, then the next instruction to be executed will simply be the next one
in sequence.
Selection means executing different sections of code depending on a specific
condition or the value of a variable. This allows a program to take different
courses of action depending on different conditions. C provides three
selection structures.
 if
 if…else
 switch

Repetition/Looping means executing the same section of code more than once. A
section of code may either be executed a fixed number of times, or while some
condition is true. C provides three looping statements:
 while
 do…while
 for

This unit introduces you the decision and loop control statements that are
available in C programming language along with some of the example
programs.

3.1 OBJECTIVES
After going through this unit you will be able to:
 work with different control statements;
 know the appropriate use of the various control statements in
programming;
 transfer the control from within the loops;
 use the goto, break and continue statements in the programs; and
 write programs using branching, looping statements.

3.2 DECISION CONTROL STATEMENTS

In a C program, a decision causes a one-time jump to a different part of the
program, depending on the value of an expression. Decisions in C can be
made in several ways. The most important is with the if...else statement,
which chooses between two alternatives. This statement can be used without
the else, as a simple if statement. Another decision control statement, switch,
creates branches for multiple alternative sections of code, depending on the
value of a single variable.

61
An Introduction to C
3.2.1 The if Statement
It is used to execute an instruction or sequence/block of instructions only if a
condition is fulfilled. In if statements, expression is evaluated first and then,
depending on whether the value of the expression (relation or condition) is
“true” or “false”, it transfers the control to a particular statement or a group
of statements.

Different forms of implementation if-statement are:

 Simple if statement
 If-else statement
 Nested if-else statement
 Else if statement

Simple if statement
It is used to execute an instruction or block of instructions only if a condition
is fulfilled.

The syntax is as follows:

if(condition)
statement;

where condition is the expression that is to be evaluated. If this condition is

true, statement is executed. If it is false, statement is ignored (not executed)
and the program continues on the next instruction after the conditional
statement.
This is shown in the Figure 3.1 given below:

Figure 3.1: Simple if statement

62
 Decision and Loop
If we want more than one statement to be executed, then we can specify a Control Statements
block of statements within the curly bracets { }. The syntax is as follows:
if(condition)
{
block of statements;
}

Example 3.1
Write a program to calculate the net salary of an employee, if a tax of 15% is
levied on his gross-salary if it exceeds Rs. 10,000/- per month.

/*Program to calculate the net salary of an employee */

#include<stdio.h>
main()
{
float gross_salary, net_salary;

printf(“Enter gross salary of an employee\n”);

scanf(“%f ”,&gross_salary );

if(gross_salary <10000)
net_salary= gross_salary;
if(gross_salary >= 10000)
net_salary = gross_salary- 0.15*gross_salary;

printf(“\nNet salary is Rs.%.2f\n”, net_salary);

}

OUTPUT

Enter gross salary of an employee

9000
Net salary is Rs.9000.00

Enter gross salary of any employee

10000
Net salary is Rs. 8500.00

If … else statement
If…else statement is used when a different sequence of instructions is to be
executed depending on the logical value (True / False) of the condition
evaluated.
Its form used in conjunction with if and the syntax is as follows:
if(condition)
Statement _1;
else
Statement_ 2;
statement_3;
63
An Introduction to C Or

if(condition)
{
Statements_1_Block;
}
else
{
Statements_2_Block;
}
Statements _3_Block;

If the condition is true, then the sequence of statements

(Statements_1_Block) executes; otherwise the Statements_2_Block following
the else part of if-else statement will get executed. In both the cases, the
control is then transferred to Statements_3 to follow sequential execution of
the program.
This is shown in figure 5.2 given below:

Figure 3.2: If…else statement

64 Let us consider a program to illustrate if…else statement,

 Decision and Loop
Example 3.2 Control Statements

Write a program to print whether the given number is even or odd.

/* Program to print whether the given number is even or odd*/

#include<stdio.h>
main()
{
int x;
printf(“Enter a number:\n”);
scanf("%d",&x);
if(x % 2 == 0)
printf(“\nGiven number is even\n”);
else
printf(“\nGiven number is odd\n”);
}
OUTPUT
Enter a number: 6
Given number is even
Enter a number 7
Given number is odd
Conditional expression using Ternary Operator (?:)
There is another way to express an if-else statement is by introducing the ?:
(ternary operator). In a conditional expression the ?: operator has only one
statement associated with the if and the else. The syntax is

variable = expresssion1 ? expression2: expression3;

Example:

#include<stdio.h>
main()
{
int x=2;
int y;
y = (x >= 6) ? 6 : x;
printf(“y = %d”,y);
return 0;
}

OUTPUT : y = 2

Nested if…else statement

In nested if… else statement, an entire if…else construct is written within
either the body of the if statement or the body of an else statement. The
syntax is as follows:
if(condition_1)
{
65
An Introduction to C if(condition_2)
{
Statements_1_Block;
}

else
{
Statements_2_Block;
}
}

else
{
Statements_3_Block;
}
Statement_4_Block;

Here, condition_1 is evaluated. If it is false then Statements_3_Block is

executed and is followed by the execution of Statements_4_Block, otherwise
if condition_1 is true, then condition_2 is evaluated. Statements_1_Block is
executed when condition_2 is true otherwise Statements_2_Block is executed
and then the control is transferred to Statements_4_Block.

This is shown in the figure 3.3 given in the next page:

Figure 3.3: Nested if…else statement

66
 Decision and Loop
Let us consider a program to illustrate Nested if…else statement, Control Statements

Example 3.3

Write a program to calculate an Air ticket fare after discount, given the
following conditions:
 If passenger is below 14 years then there is 50% discount on fare
 If passenger is above 50 years then there is 20% discount on fare
 If passenger is above 14 and below 50 then there is 10% discount on
fare.

/* Program to calculate an Air ticket fare after discount */

#include<stdio.h>
main()
{
int age;
float fare;
printf("\n Enter the age of passenger:\n");
scanf("%d",&age);
printf("\n Enter the Air ticket fare\n");
scanf("%f",&fare);
if(age<14)
fare=fare-0.5*fare;
else
if(age<=50)
{
fare=fare-0.1*fare;
}
else
{
fare=fare-0.2*fare;
}
printf("\n Air ticket fare to be charged after discount is %.2f",fare);
return 0;
}
OUTPUT
Enter the age of passenger 12
Enter the Air ticket fare 2000.00
Air ticket fare to be charged after discount is 1000.00
Else if statement
To show a multi-way decision based on several conditions, we use the else if
statement. This works by cascading of several comparisons. As soon as one
of the conditions is true, the statement or block of statements following them
is executed and no further comparisons are performed.
The syntax is as follows:
if(condition_1)
{
Statements_1_Block;
67
An
n Introduction to C }
else if(ccondition_2))
{
S
Statements_2 2_Block;
}
------------
elsee if(condition_n)
{
Statements_ _n_Block;
}
else
Statemeents_x;

Here, the coonditions aree evaluated ini order fromm top to botttom. As soonn as
any conditiion evaluatess to true, theen the statem
ment associatted with the given
g
condition iss executed aand control iss transferredd to Statemen
nts_x skippinng the
rest of the conditions
c foollowing it.

But if all coonditions evaluate false, then the staatement follo

owing final else
e is
executed foollowed by thhe executionn of Statements_x.
This is show
wn in the figgure 5.4 giveen below:

Figure 3..4: Else if staatement

Let us conssider a progrram to illustrrate Else if sttatement,

68
 Decision and Loop
Example 3.4 Control Statements

Write a program to award grades to students depending upon the criteria

mentioned below:
 Marks less than or equal to 50 are given “D” grade
 Marks above 50 but below 60 are given “C” grade
 Marks between 60 to 75 are given “B” grade
 Marks greater than 75 are given “A” grade.
/* Program to award grades */
#include<stdio.h>
main()
{
int result;
printf("Enter the total marks of a student:\n");
scanf("%d",&result);
if(result <= 50)
printf("Grade D\n");
else if(result <= 60)
printf("Grade C\n");
else if(result <= 75)
printf("Grade B\n");
else
printf("Grade A\n");
}

OUTPUT
Enter the total marks of a student:
80
Grade A

Check Your Progress 1

1. Find the output for the following program:
#include<stdio.h>
main()
{
int a=1, b=1;
if(a==1)
if(b==0)
printf(“Hi”);
else
printf(“Bye”);
}

…………………………………………………………………………….
…………………………………………………………………………….
…………………………………………………………………………….
…………………………………………………………………………….
…………………………………………………………………………….
69
An Introduction to C 2. Find the output for the following program:
#include<stdio.h>
main()
{
int a,b=0;
if(a=b=1)
printf("hello");
else
printf("world");
return 0;
}
…………………………………………………………………………….
…………………………………………………………………………….
…………………………………………………………………………….
…………………………………………………………………………….
…………………………………………………………………………….
3.2.2 The Switch Statement
Its objective is to check several possible constant values for an expression,
something similar to what we had studied in the earlier sections, with the
linking of several if and else if statements. When the actions to be taken
depending on the value of control variable, are large in number, then the use
of control structure Nested if…else makes the program complex. There
switch statement can be used. Its form is the following:
switch(expression){
case expression 1:
block of instructions1
break;
case expression 2:
block of instructions2
break;
.
.
default:
default block of instructions
}
It works in the following way: switch evaluates expression and checks if it is
equivalent to expression1. If it is, it executes block of instructions 1 until it
finds the break keyword, moment at finds the control will go to the end of
the switch. If expression was not equal to expression 1 it will check whether
expression is equivalent to expression 2. If it is, it will execute block of
instructions 2 until it finds the break keyword.

Finally, if the value of expression has not matched any of the previously
specified constants (you may specify as many case statements as values you
want to check), the program will execute the instructions included in the
default: section, if it exists, as it is an optional statement.

70
 Decision and Loop
Let us consider a program to illustrate Switch statement, Control Statements

Example 3.5
Write a program that performs the following, depending upon the choice
selected by the user.
i). calculate the square of number if choice is 1
ii). calculate the square-root of number if choice is 2 and 4
iii). calculate the cube of the given number if choice is 3
iv). otherwise print the number as it is

main()
{
int choice,n;
printf(“\n Enter any number:\n “);
scanf(“%d”,&n);
printf(“Choice is as follows:\n\n”);
printf(“1. To find square of the number\n”);
printf(“2. To find square-root of the number\n”);
printf(“3. To find cube of a number\n”);
printf(“4. To find the square-root of the number\n\n”);
printf(“Enter your choice:\n”);
scanf(“%d”,&choice);
switch(choice)
{
case 1: printf(“The square of the number is %d\n”,n*n);
break;
case 2:
case 4: printf(“The square-root of the given number is %f”,sqrt(n));
break;
case 3: printf(“ The cube of the given number is %d”,n*n*n);
default: printf(“The number you had given is %d”,n);
break;
}
}

OUTPUT
Enter any number: 4

Choice is as follows:
1. To find square of the number
2. To find square-root of the number
3. To find cube of a number
4. To find the square-root of the number

Enter your choice: 2

The square-root of the given number is 2
In this section we had discussed and understood various decision control
statements. Next section explains you the various loop control statements in
C.
71
An Introduction to C
3.3 LOOP CONTROL STATEMENTS
Loop control statements are used when a section of code may either be
executed a fixed number of times, or while some condition is true. C gives
you a choice of three types of loop statements, while, do- while and for.
 The while loop keeps repeating an action until an associated condition
returns false. This is useful where the programmer does not know in
advance how many times the loop will be traversed.
 The do while loop is similar, but the condition is checked after the loop
body is executed. This ensures that the loop body is run at least once.
 The for loop is frequently used, usually where the loop will be traversed
a fixed number of times.

3.3.1 The While Loop

When in a program a single statement or a certain group of statements are to
be executed repeatedly depending upon certain test condition, then while
statement is used. The syntax is as follows:
while(test condition)
{
body_of_the_loop;
}

Here, test condition is an expression that controls how long the loop keeps
running. Body of the loop is a statement or group of statements enclosed in
braces and are repeatedly executed till the value of test condition evaluates to
true. As soon as the condition evaluates to false, the control jumps to the first
statement following the while statement. If condition initially itself is false,
the body of the loop will never be executed. While loop is sometimes called
as entry-control loop, as it controls the execution of the body of the loop
depending upon the value of the test condition. This is shown in the figure
5.5 given below:

Figure 3.5: The while loop statement

72
 Decision and Loop
Let us consider a program to illustrate while loop, Control Statements

Example 3.6
Write a program to calculate the factorial of a given input natural number.

/* Program to calculate factorial of given number */

#include<stdio.h>
#include<math.h>
main()
{
int x;
long int fact = 1;
printf(“Enter any number to find factorial:\n”); /*read the number*/
scanf(“%d”,&x);
while(x > 0)
{
fact = fact*x; /* factorial calculation*/
x=x-1;
}
printf(“Factorial is %ld”,fact);
}

OUTPUT

Enter any number to find factorial: 4

Factorial is 24

Here, condition in while loop is evaluated and body of loop is repeated until
condition evaluates to false i.e., when x becomes zero. Then the control is
jumped to first statement following while loop and print the value of factorial.

3.3.2 The do...while Loop

There is another loop control structure which is very similar to the while
statement – called as the do.. while statement. The only difference is that the
expression which determines whether to carry on looping is evaluated at the
end of each loop. The syntax is as follows:
do
{
statement(s);
} while(test condition);

In do-while loop, the body of loop is executed at least once before the
condition is evaluated. Then the loop repeats body as long as condition is
true. However, in while loop, the statement doesn’t execute the body of the
loop even once, if condition is false. That is why do-while loop is also called
exit-control loop. This is shown in the figure 3.6 given below.

73
An Introduction to C

Figure 3.6: The do…while statement

Let us consider a program to illustrate do..while loop,

Example 3.7
Write a program to print first ten even natural numbers.

/* Program to print first ten even natural numbers */

#include<stdio.h>
main()
{
int i=0;
int j=2;
do {
printf(“%d”,j);
j =j+2;
i=i+1; } while(i<10); }

OUTPUT
2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20

3.3.3 The for Loop

for statement makes it more convenient to count iterations of a loop and
works well where the number of iterations of the loop is known before the
loop is entered. The syntax is as follows:
for(initialization; test condition; increment or decrement)
{
Statement(s);
}
74
 Decision and Loop
The main purpose is to repeat statement while condition remains true, like the Control Statements
while loop. But in addition, for provides places to specify an initialization
instruction and an increment or decrement of the control variable instruction. So
this loop is specially designed to perform a repetitive action with a counter.
The for loop as shown in figure 5.7, works in the following manner:

1. Initialization is executed. Generally it is an initial value setting for a

counter variable. This is executed only once.
2. Condition is checked, if it is true the loop continues, otherwise the loop
finishes and statement is skipped.
3. Statement(s) is/are executed. As usual, it can be either a single
instruction or a block of instructions enclosed within curly brackets { }.
4. Finally, whatever is specified in the increment or decrement of the
control variable field is executed and the loop gets back to step 2.

Figure 3.7: The for statement

Let us consider a program to illustrate for loop,

Example 3.8
Write a program to print first n natural numbers.

75
An Introduction to C /* Program to print first n natural numbers */

#include<stdio.h>
main()
{
int i,n;
printf(“Enter value of n \n”);
scanf(“%d”,&n);
printf(“\nThe first %d natural numbers are :\n”, n);
for(i=1;i<=n;++i)
{
printf(“%d”,i);
}
}
OUTPUT

Enter value of n
6
The first 6 natural numbers are:
123456

The three statements inside the braces of a for loop usually meant for one
activity each, however any of them can be left blank also. More than one
control variables can be initialized but should be separated by comma.

Various forms of loop statements can be:

a) for(;condition;increment/decrement)
body;
A blank first statement will mean no initialization.
b) for(initialization;condition;)
body;
A blank last statement will mean no running increment/decrement.
c) for(initialization;;increment/decrement)
body;
A blank second conditional statement means no test condition to control
the exit from the loop. So, in the absence of second statement, it is
required to test the condition inside the loop otherwise it results in an
infinite loop where the control never exits from the loop.

d) for(;;increment/decrement)
body;
Initialization is required to be done before the loop and test condition is
checked inside the loop.
e) for(initialization;;)
body;
Test condition and control variable increment/decrement is to be done
inside the body of the loop.

76
 Decision and Loop
(f) for(;condition;) Control Statements
body;
Initialization is required to be done before the loop and control variable
increment/decrement is to be done inside the body of the loop.
g) for(;;;)
body;
Initialization is required to be done before the loop, test condition and
control variable increment/decrement is to be done inside the body of the
loop.
3.3.4 The Nested Loops
C allows loops to be nested, that is, one loop may be inside another. The
program given below illustrates the nesting of loops.
Let us consider a program to illustrate nested loops,
Example 3.9
Write a program to generate the following pattern given below:
1
1 2
1 2 3
1 2 3 4

/* Program to print the pattern */

#include<stdio.h>
main()
{
int i,j;
for(i=1;i<=4;++i)
{
printf("%d\n",i);
for(j=1;j<=i;++j)
printf("%d\t",j);
}
}

Here, an inner for loop is written inside the outer for loop. For every value of
i, j takes the value from 1 to i and then value of i is incremented and next
iteration of outer loop starts ranging j value from 1 to i.
Check Your Progress 2
1. Predict the output :
#include <stdio.h>
main()
{
int i;
for(i=0;i<=10;i++)
printf("%d",i);
return 0;
}
77
An Introduction to C …………………………………………………………………………….
…………………………………………………………………………….
…………………………………………………………………………….
…………………………………………………………………………….
…………………………………………………………………………….
2. What is the output?

#include<stdio.h>
main()
{
int i;
for(i=0;i<3;i++)
printf("%d ",i);
}
…………………………………………………………………………….
…………………………………………………………………………….
…………………………………………………………………………….
3. What is the output for the following program?

#include<stdio.h>
main()
{
int i=1;
do
{
printf(“%d”,i);
}while(i=i-1);
}
…………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………
4. Give the output of the following:
#include<stdio.h>
main()
{
int i=3;
while(i)
{
int x=100;
printf(“\n%d..%d”,i,x);
x=x+1;
i=i+1;
}
}
…………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………
78
 Decision and Loop
3.4 THE goto STATEMENT Control Statements

The goto statement is used to alter the normal sequence of program

instructions by transferring the control to some other portion of the program.
The syntax is as follows:
goto label;

Here, label is an identifier that is used to label the statement to which control
will be transferred. The targeted statement must be preceded by the unique
label followed by colon.

label: statement;

Although goto statement is used to alter the normal sequence of program

execution but its usage in the program should be avoided. The most common
applications are:
i). To branch around statements under certain conditions in place of use
of if- else statement,
ii). To jump to the end of the loop under certain conditions bypassing the
rest of statements inside the loop in place of continue statement,
iii). To jump out of the loop avoiding the use of break statement.

goto can never be used to jump into the loop from outside and it should be
preferably used for forward jump.

Situations may arise, however, in which the goto statement can be useful. To
the possible extent, the use of the goto statement should generally be avoided.

Let us consider a program to illustrate goto and label statements.

Example 3.10
Write a program to print first 10 even numbers

/* Program to print 10 even numbers */

#include<stdio.h>
main()
{
int i=2;
while(1)
{
printf(“%d ”,i);
i=i+2;
if(i>=20)
goto outside;
}
outside : printf(“over”);
}

OUTPUT
2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 over
79
An Introduction to C
3.5 THE break STATEMENT
Sometimes, it is required to jump out of a loop irrespective of the conditional
test value. Break statement is used inside any loop to allow the control jump
to the immediate statement following the loop. The syntax is as follows:
break;

When nested loops are used, then break jumps the control from the loop
where it has been used. Break statement can be used inside any loop i.e.,
while, do-while, for and also in switch statement.

Let us consider a program to illustrate break statement.

Example 3.11
Write a program to calculate the first smallest divisor of a number.

/*Program to calculate smallest divisor of a number */

#include<stdio.h>
main()
{
int div,num,i;
printf(“Enter any number:\n”);
scanf(“%d”,&num);
for(i=2;i<=num;++i)
{
if((num % i) == 0)
{
printf(“Smallest divisor for number %d is %d”,num,i);
break;
}
}
}
OUTPUT
Enter any number:
9
Smallest divisor for number 9 is 3

In the above program, we divide the input number with the integer starting
from 2 onwards, and print the smallest divisor as soon as remainder comes
out to be zero. Since we are only interested in first smallest divisor and not all
divisors of a given number, so jump out of the for loop using break statement
without further going for the next iteration of for loop.
Break is different from exit. Former jumps the control out of the loop while
exit stops the execution of the entire program.

3.6 THE continue STATEMENT

Unlike break statement, which is used to jump the control out of the loop, it
is sometimes required to skip some part of the loop and to continue the
execution with next loop iteration. Continue statement used inside the loop
80 helps to bypass the section of a loop and passes the control to the beginning
 Decision and Loop
of the loop to continue the execution with the next loop iteration. The syntax Control Statements
is as follows:
continue;

Let us see the program given below to know the working of the continue
statement.

Example 3.12
Write a program to print first 20 natural numbers skipping the numbers
divisible by 5.

/* Program to print first 20 natural numbers skipping the numbers divisible by 5 */

#include<stdio.h>
main()
{
int i;
for(i=1;i<=20;++i)
{
if((i % 5) == 0)
continue;
printf(“%d ”,i);
}
}

OUTPUT

1 2 3 4 6 7 8 9 11 12 13 14 16 17 18 19

Here, the printf statement is bypassed each time when value stored in i is divisible
by 5.

Check Your Progress 3

1. How many times will hello be printed by the following program?
#include<stdio.h>
main()
{
int i = 5;
while(i)
{
i=i-1;
if(i==3)
continue;
printf(“\nhello”);
}
}
……………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………
2. Give the output of the following program segment:
#include<stdio.h>
main() 81
An Introduction to C {
int num,sum;
for(num=2,sum=0;;)
{
sum = sum + num;
if(num > 10)
break;
num=num+1;
}
printf("%d",sum);
}
…………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………
3. What is the output for the following program?

#include<stdio.h>
main()
{
int i, n = 3;
for(i=3;n<=20;++n)
{
if(n%i == 0)
break;
if(i == n)
printf(“%d\n”,i);
}
}
…………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………

3.7 SUMMARY
A program is usually not limited to a linear sequence of instructions. During
its process it may require to repeat execution of a part of code more than once
depending upon the requirements or take decisions. For that purpose, C
provides control and looping statements. In this unit, we had seen the
different looping statements provided by C language namely while,
do…while and for.
Using break statement, we can leave a loop even if the condition for its end is
not fulfilled. It can be used to end an infinite loop, or to force it to end before
its natural end. The continue statement causes the program to skip the rest of
the loop in the present iteration as if the end of the statement block would
have reached, causing it to jump to the following iteration.

Using the goto statement, we can make an absolute jump to another point in
the program. You should use this feature carefully since its execution ignores
any type of nesting limitation. The destination point is identified by a label,
82
 Decision and Loop
which is then used as argument for the goto instruction. A label is made of a Control Statements
valid identifier followed by a colon (:).

3.8 SOLUTIONS / ANSWERS

Check Your Progress 1
1 Bye

2 hello

Check Your Progress 2

1 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

2 012

3 1

4 3..100
2..100
1..100
…..
…..
…...
till infinity

Check Your Progress 3

1 4 times

2 65

3 3

3.9 FURTHER READINGS

1. The C programming language, Brain W. Kernighan, Dennis M. Ritchie,
PHI.
2. Programming with C, Second Edition, Byron Gottfried, Tata McGraw
Hill, 2003.
3. C,The Complete Reference, Fourth Edition, Herbert Schildt, Tata
McGraw Hill,
4. 2002.
5. Computer Science: A Structured Programming Approach Using C,
Second Edition, Behrouz A. Forouzan, Richard F. Gilberg,
Brooks/Cole Thomas Learning, 2001.
6. The C Primer, Leslie Hancock, Morris Krieger, Mc Graw Hill, 1983.

83
An Introduction to C
UNIT 4 ARRAYS AND STRINGS

Structure
4.0 Introduction
4.1 Objectives
4.2 Array Declaration
4.2.1 Syntax of Array Declaration
4.2.2 Size Specification
4.3 Array Initialization
4.3.1 Initialization of Array Elements in the Declaration
4.3.2 Character Array Initialization
4.4 Subscript
4.5 Processing the Arrays
4.6 Multi-Dimensional Arrays
4.6.1 Multi-Dimensional Array Declaration
4.6.2 Initialization of Two-Dimensional Arrays
4.7 Introduction to Strings
4.8 Declaration and Initialization of Strings
4.9 Display of Strings Using Different Formatting Techniques
4.10 Array of Strings
4.11 String Functions and Applications
4.12 Summary
4.13 Solutions / Answers
4.14 Further Readings

4.0 INTRODUCTION
C language provides four basic data types - int, char, float and double. We
have learnt about them in Unit 2. These basic data types are very useful; but
they can handle only a limited amount of data. As programs become larger and
more complicated, it becomes increasingly difficult to manage the data.
Variable names typically become longer to ensure their uniqueness. And, the
number of variable names makes it difficult for the programmer to concentrate
on the more important task of correct coding. Arrays provide a mechanism for
declaring and accessing several data items with only one identifier, thereby
simplifying the task of data management.
Many programs require the processing of multiple, related data items that have
common characteristics like list of numbers, marks in a course, or enrolment
numbers. This could be done by creating several individual variables. But this
is a hard and tedious process. For example, suppose you want to read in five
numbers and print them out in reverse order. You could do it the hard way as:
84
main n() Arrays and Strings
{
int al,a2,a3,a4,a5
a ;
scannf(“%d %d %d% %d %d”,&a1,&a2,&a3,& &a4,&a5);
printtf(“%d %d %d% %d %d”',a5,a4,a3,a2,a1);
}

Doess it look goood if the probblem is to read in 100 orr more relateed data itemss
and print
p them inn reverse ordder? Of courrse, the soluttion is the usse of the reguular
variaable names a1,
a a2 and so o on. But to remember eeach and every variable aand
perfoorm the operrations on thhe variables is
i not only teedious a job and
disaddvantageouss too. One coommon orgaanizing technnique is to usse arrays in
suchh situations. An
A array is a collectionn of similar kkind of data elements
e stoored
in addjacent memmory locationns and are referred to by a single arraay-name. In the
case of C, you have to declarre and define array befoore it can be used.
Decllaration and definition teell the compiiler the namee of the array, the type oof
eachh element, annd the size orr number off elements. To
T explain it, let us consiider
to store marks off five studennts. They cann be stored using
u five vaariables as
folloows:
int ar1,
a ar2, ar3, ar4, ar5;

Noww, if we wantt to do the saame thing foor 100 studennts in a classs then one wiill
find it difficult too handle 1000 variables. This
T can be obtained by using an arrray.
An array
a declaraation uses itss size in [] brrackets. For above exam
mple, we can
definne an array as:
a
int ar[100];
a

wherre ar is definned as an arrray of size 1000 to store m

marks of inteeger data-typpe.
Each h element off this collectiion is called an array-eleement and ann integer vallue
calleed the subscrript is used to
t denote inddividual elemments of the array. An arr
arrayy is the colleection of 2000 consecutive memory loocations refeerred as below:

2001 2003 22000

Figurre 4.1: Repreesentation of an Array

In th
he above figuure, as each integer value occupies 2 bytes, 200 bytes
b were
alloccated in the memory.
m
Thiss unit explainns the use off arrays, typees of arrays, declaration and
initiaalization witth the help of examples ini the first feew sections and
a later on
focuuses on stringg handling inn C program mming languaage.

4.1 OBJECTIVES
S
Afteer going through this unitt you will bee able to:
 declare and use arrays of
o one dimennsion;
 initialize arrrays; 85
An Introduction to C
 use subscripts to access individual array elements;
 write programs involving arrays;
 do searching and sorting;
 handle multi-dimensional arrays;
 define, declare and initialize a string;
 discuss various formatting techniques to display the strings; and
 discuss various built-in string functions and their use in manipulation of
strings.

4.2 ARRAY DECLARATION

Before discussing how to declare an array, first of all let us look at the
characteristic features of an array.

 Array is a data structure storing a group of elements, all of which are of

the same data type.
 All the elements of an array share the same name, and they are
distinguished from one another with the help of an index.
 Random access to every element using a numeric index(subscript).
 A simple data structure, used for decades, which is extremely useful.
 Abstract Data type(ADT) list is frequently associated with the array data
structure.

The declaration of an array is just like any variable declaration with additional
size part, indicating the number of elements of the array. Like other variables,
arrays must be declared at the beginning of a function.

The declaration specifies the base type of the array, its name, and its size or
dimension. In the following section we will see how an array is declared:

4.2.1 Syntax of Array Declaration

Syntax of array declaration is as follows:

data-type array_name[constant-size];
Data-type refers to the type of elements you want to store
Constant-size is the number of elements

The following are some of declarations for arrays:

int char[80];
float farr[500];
static int iarr[80];
char charray[40];

There are two restrictions for using arrays in C:

 The amount of storage for a declared array has to be specified at compile
time before execution. This means that an array has a fixed size.
86
 Arrays and Strings
 The data type of an array applies uniformly to all the elements; for this
reason, an array is called a homogeneous data structure.

4.2.2 Size Specification

The size of an array should be declared using symbolic constant rather a fixed
integer quantity(The subscript used for the individual element is of are integer
quantity). The use of a symbolic constant makes it easier to modify a program
that uses an array. All reference to maximize the array size can be altered
simply by changing the value of the symbolic constant.(Please refer to Unit – 2
for details regarding symbolic constants).
To declare size as 50 use the following symbolic constant, SIZE, defined:
#define SIZE 50
The following example shows how to declare and read values in an array to
store marks of the students of a class.
Example 4.1

Write a program to declare and read values in an array and display them.

/* Program to read values in an array*/

# include<stdio.h>
# define SIZE 5 /* SIZE is a symbolic constant */

main()
{
int i=0; /* Loop variable */
int stud_marks[SIZE]; /* array declaration */

/* enter the values of the elements */

for(i=0;i<SIZE;i++)
{
printf(“Element no. =%d”,i+1);
printf(“Enter the value of the element:”);
scanf(“%d”,&stud_marks[i]);
}
printf(“\nFollowing are the values stored in the corresponding array elements: \n\n”);
for( i=0; i<SIZE;i++)
{
printf(“Value stored in a[%d] is %d\n”i,stud_marks[i]);
}
}

OUTPUT:

Element no. =1 Enter the value of the element = 11

Element no. =2 Enter the value of the element = 12
Element no. =3 Enter the value of the element = 13
Element no. =4 Enter the value of the element = 14
Element no. =5 Enter the value of the element = 15

Following are the values stored in the corresponding array elements:

87
An Introduction to C Value stored in a[0] is 11
Value stored in a[1] is 12
Value stored in a[2] is 13
Value stored in a[3] is 14
Value stored in a[4] is 15

4.3 ARRAY INITIALIZATION

Arrays can be initialized at the time of declaration. The initial values must
appear in the order in which they will be assigned to the individual array
elements,enclosed within the braces and separated by commas. In the
following section,we see how this can be done.

4.3.1 Initialization of Array Elements in the Declaration

The values are assigned to individual array elements enclosed within the braces
and separated by comma. Syntax of array initialization is as follows:
data type array-name [size] = {val 1,val 2,.......val n};

val 1 is the value for the first array element,val 2 is the value for the second
element,and val n is the value for the n array element. Note that when you are
initializing the values at the time of declaration, then there is no need to specify
the size. Let us see some of the examples given below:
int digits [10]={1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10};

int digits[]={1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10};

int vector[5]={12,-2,33,21,13};

float temperature[10]={31.2,22.3,41.4,33.2,23.3,32.3,41.1,10.8,11.3,42.3};

double width[]={17.33333456,-1.212121213,222.191345 };

int height[10]={60,70,68,72,68 };

4.3.2 Character Array Initialisation

The array of characters is implemented as strings in C. Strings are handled
differently as far as initialization is concerned. A special character called null
character ‘ \0 ’,implicitly suffixes every string. When the external or static
string character array is assigned a string constant, the size specification is
usually omitted and is automatically assigned; it will include the ‘\0’character,
added at end. For example, consider the following two assignment statements:
char thing[3]= “TIN”;
char thing[]= “TIN”;

In the above two statements the assignments are done differently. The first
statement is not a string but simply an array storing three characters ‘T’,‘I’ and
‘N’ and is same as writing:
char thing[3]={‘T’,‘I’,‘N’};

88
 Arrays and Strings
whereas,the second one is a four character string TIN\0. The change in the
first assignment, as given below, can make it a string.
char thing [4]=“TIN”;

Check Your Progress 1

1. What happens if I use a subscript on an array that is larger than the number
of elements in the array?
………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………
…………
2. Give sizes of following arrays.
a. char carray []=“HELLO”;
b. char carray [5]=“HELLO”;
c. char carray []={‘H’,‘E’,‘L’,‘L’,‘O’};
………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………
3. What happens if an array is used without initializing it?
………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………
4. Is there an easy way to initialize an entire array at once?
………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………
5. Use a for loop to total the contents of an integer array called numbers with
five elements. Store the result in an integer called TOTAL.
………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………
89
An Introduction to C
4.4 SUBSCRIPT
To refer to the individual element in an array,a subscript is used. Refer to the
statement we used in the Example 4.1,
scanf(“ %d”,&stud_marks[i]);

Subscript is an integer type constant or variable name whose value ranges from
0 to SIZE - 1 where SIZE is the total number of elements in the array. Let us now see
how we can refer to individual elements of an array of size 5:

Consider the following declarations:

char country[] =“India”;

int stud[]={1,2,3,4,5};

Here both arrays are of size 5. This is because the country is a char array and
initialized by a string constant “India” and every string constant is terminated
by a null character ‘\0’. And stud is an integer array. country array occupies 5
bytes of memory space whereas stud occupies size of 10 bytes of memory
space. The following table: 4.1 shows how individual array elements of
country and stud arrays can be referred:
Table 4.1: Reference of individual elements
Element Subscript country array stud array
no.
Reference Value Reference Value
1 0 country [0] ‘I’ stud [0] 1
2 1 country [1] ‘n’ stud [1] 2
3 2 country [2] ‘d’ stud [2] 3
4 3 country [3] ‘i’ stud [3] 4
5 4 country [4] ‘a’ stud [4] 5

Example 4.2

Write a program to illustrate how the marks of 10 students are read in an array
and then used to find the maximum marks obtained by a student in the class.

/* Program to find the maximum marks among the marks of 10 students*/

#include< stdio.h>
#define SIZE 10 /* SIZE is a symbolic constant */

main()
{

int i=0;
int max=0;
int stud_marks[SIZE]; /* array declaration */

/* enter the values of the elements */

for(i=0;i<SIZE;i++)
{
printf(“Student no. =%d”,i+1);
90 printf(“ Enter the marks out of 50:”);
 scanf(“%d”,&stud_marks[i]); Arrays and Strings
}

/* find maximum */
for(i=0;i<SIZE;i ++)
{
if(stud_marks[i]>max)
max= stud_marks[i];
}
printf(“\n\nThe maximum of the marks obtained among all the 10 students is: %d
”,max);
}

OUTPUT

Student no. = 1 Enter the marks out of 50: 10

Student no. = 2 Enter the marks out of 50: 17
Student no. = 3 Enter the marks out of 50: 23
Student no. = 4 Enter the marks out of 50: 40
Student no. = 5 Enter the marks out of 50: 49
Student no. = 6 Enter the marks out of 50: 34
Student no. = 7 Enter the marks out of 50: 37
Student no. = 8 Enter the marks out of 50: 16
Student no. = 9 Enter the marks out of 50: 08
Student no. = 10 Enter the marks out of 50: 37

The maximum of the marks obtained among all the 10 students is: 49

4.5 PROCESSING THE ARRAYS

For certain applications the assignment of initial values to elements of an array
is required. This means that the array be defined globally(extern) or locally as
a static array.
Let us now see in the following example how the marks in two subjects, stored
in two different arrays, can be added to give another array and display the
average marks in the below example.
Example 4.3

Write a program to display the average marks of each student, given the marks
in 2 subjects for 3 students.

/* Program to display the average marks of 3 students */

# include < stdio.h >

# define SIZE 3
main()
{
int i =0;
float stud_marks1[SIZE]; /* subject 1array declaration */
float stud_marks2[SIZE]; /*subject 2 array declaration */
float total_marks[SIZE];
float avg[SIZE];

printf(“\n Enter the marks in subject-1 out of 50 marks: \n”);

91
An Introduction to C for(i=0;i<SIZE;i++)
{
printf(“Student no. =%d”,i+1);
printf(“Enter the marks= “);
scanf(“%f”,&stud_marks1[i]);
}
printf(“\nEnter the marks in subject-2 out of 50 marks \n”);
for(i=0;i<SIZE;i++)
{
printf(“Student no. =%d”,i+1);
printf(“Please enter the marks= ”);
scanf(“%f”,&stud_marks2[i]);
}

for(i=0;i<SIZE;i++)
{
total_marks[i]=stud_marks1[i]+ stud_marks2[i];
avg[i]=total_marks[i]/2;
printf(“Student no.=%d,Average= %f\n”,i+1,avg[i]);
}
}

OUTPUT

Enter the marks in subject-1out of 50 marks:

Student no. = 1 Enter the marks= 23
Student no. = 2 Enter the marks= 35
Student no. = 3 Enter the marks= 42

Enter the marks in subject-2 out of 50 marks:

Student no. = 1 Enter the marks= 31
Student no. = 2 Enter the marks= 35
Student no. = 3 Enter the marks= 40

Student no. = 1 Average= 27.000000

Student no. = 2 Average= 35.000000
Student no. = 3 Average= 41.000000

Let us now write another program to search an element using the linear search.

Example 4.4

Write a program to search an element in a given list of elements using Linear Search.

/* Linear Search*/

# include<stdio.h>
# define SIZE 05
main()
{
int i =0;
int j;
int num_list[SIZE]; /* array declaration */

/* enter elements in the following loop */

printf(“Enter any 5 numbers: \n”);

for(i=0;i<SIZE;i ++)
92
 { Arrays and Strings
printf(“Element no.=%d Value of the element=”,i+1);
scanf(“%d”,&num_list[i]);
}
printf(“Enter the element to be searched:”);
scanf(“%d”,&j);

/* search using linear search */

for(i=0;i<SIZE;i++)
{
if(j == num_list[i])
{
printf(“The number exists in the list at position: %d\n”,i+1);
break;
}
}
}

OUTPUT

Enter any 5 numbers:

Element no.=1 Value of the element=23
Element no.=2 Value of the element=43
Element no.=3 Value of the element=12
Element no.=4 Value of the element=8
Element no.=5 Value of the element=5
Enter the element to be searched: 8
The number exists in the list at position: 4

Example 4.5

Write a program to sort a list of elements using the selection sort method

/* Sorting list of numbers using selection sort method*/

#include <stdio.h>
#define SIZE 5

main()
{

int j,min_pos,tmp;
int i; /* Loop variable */
int a[SIZE]; /* array declaration */

/* enter the elements */

for(i=0;i<SIZE;i++)
{
printf(“Element no.=%d”,i+1);
printf(“Value of the element: “);
scanf(“%d”,&a[i]);
}

/* Sorting by descending order*/

for(i=0;i<SIZE;i++)
{
93
An Introduction to C min_pos=i;
for(j=i+1;j<SIZE;j++)
if(a[j] < a[min_pos])
min_pos= j;
tmp=a[i];
a[i]=a[min_pos];
a[min_pos]=tmp;
}

/* print the result */

printf(“The array after sorting:\n”);

for(i=0;i<SIZE;i++)
printf("% d\n",a[i]);
}

OUTPUT

Element no. = 1 Value of the element: 23

Element no. =2 Value of the element: 11
Element no. =3 Value of the element: 100
Element no. =4 Value of the element: 42
Element no. =5 Value of the element: 50

The array after sorting:

11
23
42
50
100

Check Your Progress 2

1. Name the technique used to pass an array to a function.
………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………
2. Is it possible to pass the whole array to a function?
………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………
3. List any two applications of arrays.
………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………

94 ………………………………………………………………………………
 Arrays and Strings
4.6 MULT
TI-DIME
ENSIONA
AL ARR
RAYS
Supppose that youu are writingg a chess-plaaying prograam. A chessbboard is an 8- 8
by-88 grid. What data structure would you use to reprresent it? Yoou could use an
arrayy that has a chessboard-l
c like structuree, i.e. a two-ddimensional array
a , to storre
the positions
p of the
t chess pieeces. Two-diimensional aarrays use tw wo indices too
pinp
point an indivvidual elemeent of the arrray. This is vvery similar to what is
calleed "algebraicc notation", commonly
c u
used in chesss circles to reecord gamess
and chess probleems.
In prrinciple, therre is no limitt to the numbber of subscripts(or dim
mensions) an
arrayy can have. Arrays
A with more than oneo dimensioon are calledd multi-
dimeensional arrayys. While hu umans cannot easily visuualize objectss with more
than three dimennsions, repreesenting multi-dimensionnal arrays prresents no
probblem to compputers. In praactice, howeever, the amoount of mem mory in a
comp
mputer tends to t place limiits on the sizze of an arrayy . A simple four-
dimeensional arraay of double-precision nuumbers, merrely twenty elements
e widde
in eaach dimensioon, takes up 20^4 * 8, orr 1,280,000 bbytes of mem mory - aboutt a
megabyte.
For example,
e 1 elementss.
yoou have ten rows and ten columns, foor a total of 100
It’s really
r no bigg deal. The first
fi number in brackets iis the numbeer of rows, thhe
secoond number in i brackets is the numbeer of columnss. So, the uppper left cornner
of anny grid woulld be elemennt [0][0]. Thee element too its right woould be [0][1],
and so on. Here is a little illuustration to help.
h

Threee-dimensionnal arrays(an nd higher) arre stored in tthe same way as the twoo-
dimeensional onees. They are kept in comp puter memorry as a lineaar sequence oof
variaables, and th
he last index is always thhe one that varies fastest((then the nexxt-
to-laast, and so onn).

4.6.1 Multi - Dimensiional Arraay Declaraation

You can declare an array of two dimensiions as folloows:
data
atype array__name[size1]][size2];

In th
he above exaample, variabble_type is thet name of ssome type of variable, suuch
as in
nt. Also, sizee1 and size2 are the sizess of the arrayy’s first and second
dimeensions, resppectively. Heere is an exaample of defi fining an 8-by y-8 array off
integ
gers, similar to a chessbooard. Remem mber, becausse C arrays are a zero-baseed,
95
An Introduction to C
the indices on each side of the chessboard array run 0 through 7, rather than 1
through 8. The effect is the same: a two-dimensional array of 64 elements.
int chessboard [8][8];

To pinpoint an element in this grid, simply supply the indices in both

dimensions.

4.6.2 Initialisation of Two - Dimensional Arrays

If you have an m x n array, it will have m * n elements and will require
m*n*element-size bytes of storage. To allocate storage for an array you must
reserve this amount of memory. The elements of a two-dimensional array are
stored row wise. If table is declared as:
int table [2] [3]={1,2,3,4,5,6 };

It means that element

table [0][0]=1;
table [0][1]=2;
table [0][2]=3;
table [1][0]=4;
table [1][1]=5;
table [1][2]=6;

The neutral order in which the initial values are assigned can be altered by
including the groups in {} inside main enclosing brackets, like the following
initialization as above:
int table [2][3]={{1,2,3},{4,5,6} };

The value within innermost braces will be assigned to those array elements
whose last subscript changes most rapidly. If there are few remaining values
in the row, they will be assigned zeros. The number of values cannot exceed
the defined row size.
int table [2] [3]={{1, 2, 3},{4}};

It assigns values as:

table[0][0]=1;
table[0][1]=2;
table[0][2]=3;
table[1][0]=4;
table[1][1]=0;
table[1][2]=0;

Remember that, C language performs no error checking on array bounds. If

you define an array with 50 elements and you attempt to access element 50(the
51st element), or any out of bounds index, the compiler issues no warnings. It
is the programmer’s task to check that all attempts to access or write to arrays
are done only at valid array indexes. Writing or reading past the end of arrays
is a common programming bug and is hard to isolate.

96
 Arrays and Strings
Check Your Progress 3
1. Declare a multi-dimensioned array of floats called balances having three
rows and five columns.
………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………
2. Write a for loop to total the contents of the multi-dimensioned float array
balances.
………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………
3. Write a for loop which will read five characters(use scanf) and deposit
them into the character based array words, beginning at element 0.
………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………

4.7 INTRODUCTION TO STRINGS

In the previous unit, we have discussed numeric arrays, a powerful data storage
method that lets you group a number of same-type data items under the same
group name. Individual items, or elements, in an array are identified using a
subscript after the array name. Computer programming tasks that involve
repetitive data processing lend themselves to array storage. Like non-array
variables, arrays must be declared before they can be used. Optionally, array
elements can be initialized when the array is declared. In the earlier unit, we
had just known the concept of character arrays which are also called strings.
String can be represented as a single-dimensional character type array. C
language does not provide the intrinsic string types. Some problems require
that the characters within a string be processed individually. However, there
are many problems which require that strings be processed as complete
entities. Such problems can be manipulated considerably through the use of
special string oriented library functions. Most of the C compilers include string
library functions that allow string comparison, string copy, concatenation of
strings etc. The string functions operate on null-terminated arrays of characters
97
An Introduction to C and require the header <string.h>.The use of the some of the string library
functions are given as examples in this unit.

4.8 DECLARATION AND INITIALIZATION OF

STRINGS
Strings in C are group of characters, digits, and symbols enclosed in quotation
marks or simply we can say the string is declared as a “character array”. The
end of the string is marked with a special character, the ‘\0’ (Null character),
which has the decimal value 0. There is a difference between a character
stored in memory and a single character string stored in a memory. The
character requires only one byte whereas the single character string requires
two bytes (one byte for the character and other byte for the delimiter).
Declaration of Strings
A string in C is simply a sequence of characters. To declare a string, specify
the data type as char and place the number of characters in the array in square
brackets after the string name. The syntax is shown as below:
char string-name[size];

For example,
char name[20];
char address[25];
char city[15];

Initialization of Strings
The string can be initialized as follows:
char name[8]={‘P’,‘R’,‘O’,‘G’,‘R’,‘A’,‘M’,‘\0’};

Each character of string occupies 1 byte of memory (on 16 bit computing). The
size of character is machine dependent, and varies from 16 bit computers to 64
bit computers. The characters of strings are stored in the contiguous (adjacent)
memory locations.

1 byte 1 byte 1 byte 1 byte 1 byte 1 byte 1 byte 1 byte

P R O G R A M \0
1001 1002 1003 1004 1005 1006 1007 1008

The C compiler inserts the NULL (\0) character automatically at the end of the
string. So initialization of the NULL character is not essential.
You can set the initial value of a character array when you declare it by
specifying a string literal. If the array is too small for the literal, the literal will
be truncated. If the literal (including its null terminator) is smaller than the
array, then the final characters in the array will be undefined. If you don’t
specify the size of the array, but do specify a literal, then C will set the array to
the size of the literal, including the null terminator.

98
 char str[4]={‘u’, ‘n’, ‘i’, ‘x’}; Arrays and Strings
char str[5]={‘u’, ‘n’, ‘i’, ‘x’, ‘\0’};
char str[3];
char str[]=“UNIX”;
char str[4]=“unix”;
char str[9]=“unix”;

All of the above declarations are legal. But which ones don’t work? The first
one is a valid declaration, but will cause major problems because it is not null-
terminated. The second example shows a correct null-terminated string. The
special escape character \0 denotes string termination. The fifth example
suffers the size problem, the character array ‘str’ is of size 4 bytes, but it
requires an additional space to store ‘\0’. The fourth example however does
not. This is because the compiler will determine the length of the string and
automatically initialize the last character to a null-terminator. The strings not
terminated by a ‘\0’ are merely a collection of characters and are called as
character arrays.
String Constants
String constants have double quote marks around them, and can be assigned to
char pointers. Alternatively, you can assign a string constant to a char array -
either with no size specified, or you can specify a size, but don’t forget to leave
a space for the null character! Suppose you create the following two code
fragments and run them:
/* Fragment 1 */
{
char *s;
s=hello”;
printf(“%s\n”,s);
}

/* Fragment 2 */
{
char s[100];
strcpy(s,“ hello”);
printf(“%s\n”,s);
}

These two fragments produce the same output, but their internal behaviour is
quite different. In fragment 2, you cannot say s="hello";. To understand the
differences, you have to understand how the string constant table works in C.
When your program is compiled, the compiler forms the object code file,
which contains your machine code and a table of all the string constants
declared in the program. In fragment 1, the statement s="hello"; causes s to
point to the address of the string hello in the string constant table. Since this
string is in the string constant table, and therefore technically a part of the
executable code, you cannot modify it. You can only point to it and use it in a
read-only manner. In fragment 2, the string hello also exists in the constant
table, so you can copy it into the array of characters named s. Since s is not an
address, the statement s="hello"; will not work in fragment 2. It will not even
compile.

99
An Introduction to C Example 4.6
Write a program to read a name from the keyboard and display message Hello onto
the monitor”.
/*Program that reads the name and display the hello along with your name*/
#include <stdio.h>
main()
{
char name[10];
printf(“\nEnter Your Name :);
scanf(“%s”, name);
printf(“Hello %s\n”,name);
}

OUTPUT

Enter Your Name: Alex

Hello Alex

In the above example declaration char name [10] allocates 10 bytes of memory
space(on 16 bit computing) to array name []. We are passing the base address
to scanf function and scanf() function fills the characters typed at the keyboard
into array until enter is pressed. The scanf() places ‘\0’ into array at the end of
the input. The printf() function prints the characters from the array on to
monitor, leaving the end of the string ‘\0’. The %s used in the scanf() and
printf() functions is a format specification for strings.

4.9 DISPLAY OF STRINGS USING DIFFERENT

FORMATTING TECHNIQUES
The printf function with %s format is used to display the strings on the screen.
For example, the below statement displays entire string:
printf(“%s”, name);

We can also specify the accuracy with which character array (string) is
displayed. For example, if you want to display first 5 characters from a field
width of 15 characters, you have to write as:
printf(“%15.5s”, name);
If you include minus sign in the format (e.g. % –10.5s), the string will be
printed left justified.
printf(“% -10.5s”, name);
Example 4.7
Write a program to display the string “UNIX” in the following format.
U
UN
UNI
UNIX
UNIX
UNI
100
 UN Arrays and Strings
U
/* Program to display the string in the above shown format*/

# include<stdio.h>
main()
{
int x, y;
static char string[]=“UNIX”;
printf(“\n”);
for( x=0; x<4; x++)
{
y=x + 1;
/* reserves 4 character of space on to the monitor and minus sign is for left
justified*/
printf(“%-4.*s \n”, y, string);

/* and for every loop the * is replaced by value of y */

/* y value starts with 1 and for every time it is incremented by 1 until it reaches to 4*/
}

for( x=3; x>=0; x- -)

{
y=x +1;
printf(“%-4.*s \n”, y, string);
/* y value starts with 4 and for every time it is decrements by 1 until it reaches to 1*/
}
}
OUTPUT

U
UN
UNI
UNIX
UNIX
UNI
UN
U

4.10 ARRAY OF STRINGS

Array of strings are multiple strings, stored in the form of table. Declaring
array of strings is same as strings, except it will have additional dimension to
store the number of strings. Syntax is as follows:
char array-name[size][size];
For example,
char names[5][10];
where names is the name of the character array and the constant in first square
brackets will gives number of string we are going to store, and the value in
second square bracket will gives the maximum length of the string.
Example 4.8
char names [3][10]={“martin”,“phil”,“collins”};
101
An Introduction to C
It can be represented by a two-dimensional array of size[3][10] as shown
below:

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
m a r t i n \0
p h i l \0
c o l l i n s \0

Example 4.9

Write a program to initializes 3 names in an array of strings and display them

on to monitor
/* Program that initializes 3 names in an array of strings and display them on to
monitor.*/

#include <stdio.h>
main()
{
int n;
char names[3][10]={“Alex”, “Phillip”, “Collins” };
for(n=0; n<3; n++)
printf(“%s \n”,names[n] ); }

OUTPUT

Alex
Phillip
Collins
Check Your Progress 4
1. Which of the following is a static string?
A. Static String;
B. “Static String”;
C. ‘Static String’;
D. char string[100];
………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………
2. Which character ends all strings?
A. ‘.’
B. ‘ ‘
C. ‘0’
D. ‘n’
………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………

102 ………………………………………………………………………………
 Arrays and Strings
3. What is the Output of the following programs?
(a) main()
{
char name[10]=“IGNOU”;
printf(“\n %c”, name[0]);
printf(“\n %s”, name);
}

(b) main()
{
char s[]=“hello”;
int j=0;
while( s[j] !=‘\0’ )
printf(“ %c”,s[j++]);
}

(c) main()
{
char str[]=“hello”;
printf(“%10.2s”, str);
printf(“%-10.2s”, str);
}
………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………
4 Write a program to read 'n' number of lines from the keyboard using a
two-dimensional character array (ie., strings).
………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………

4.11 BUILT IN STRING FUNCTIONS AND

APPLICATIONS

The header file <string.h> contains some string manipulation functions. The
following is a list of the common string managing functions in C.

4.11.1 Strlen Function

The strlen function returns the length of a string. It takes the string name as
argument. The syntax is as follows:
n=strlen(str);

where str is name of the string and n is the length of the string, returned by
strlen function.

Example 4.10
Write a program to read a string from the keyboard and to display the length of
the string on to the monitor by using strlen( ) function.
103
An Introduction to C /* Program to illustrate the strlen function to determine the length of a string */

#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>
main()
{
char name[80];
int length;
printf(“Enter your name: ”);
gets(name);
length=strlen(name);
printf(“Your name has %d characters\n”, length);
}

OUTPUT

Enter your name: TYRAN

Your name has 5 characters

4.11.2 Strcpy Function

In C, you cannot simply assign one character array to another. You have to
copy element by element. The string library <string.h> contains a function
called strcpy for this purpose. The strcpy function is used to copy one string
to another. The syntax is as follows:
strcpy(str1, str2);
where str1, str2 are two strings. The content of string str2 is copied on to
string str1.

Example 4.11
Write a program to read a string from the keyboard and copy the string onto
the second string and display the strings on to the monitor by using strcpy( )
function.
/* Program to illustrate strcpy function*/

#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>
main()
{
char first[80], second[80];
printf(“Enter a string: ”);
gets(first);
strcpy(second, first);
printf(“\n First string is : %s, and second string is: %s\n”, first, second);
}

OUTPUT

Enter a string: ADAMS

First string is: ADAMS, and second string is: ADAMS

104
 Arrays and Strings
4.11.3 Strcmp Function
The strcmp function in the string library function which compares two strings,
character by character and stops comparison when there is a difference in the
ASCII value or the end of any one string and returns ASCII difference of the
characters that is integer. If the return value zero means the two strings are
equal, a negative value means that first is less than second, and a positive value
means first is greater than second. The syntax is as follows:
n=strcmp(str1, str2);
where str1 and str2 are two strings to be compared and n is returned value of
differed characters.
Example 4.12

Write a program to compare two strings using string compare function.

/* The following program uses the strcmp function to compare two strings. */

#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>
main()
{
char first[80], second[80];
int value;
printf(“Enter a string: ”);
gets(first);
printf(“Enter another string: ”);
gets(second);
value=strcmp(first,second);
if(value ==0)
puts(“The two strings are equal”);
else if(value < 0)
puts(“The first string is smaller ”);
else if(value > 0)
puts(“the first string is bigger”);
}

OUTPUT

Enter a string: MOND

Enter another string: MOHANT
The first string is smaller

4.11.4 Strcat Function

The strcat function is used to join one string to another. It takes two strings as
arguments; the characters of the second string will be appended to the first
string. The syntax is as follows:
strcat(str1, str2);

where str1 and str2 are two string arguments, string str2 is appended to string
str1.

105
An Introduction to C Example 14.13

Write a program to read two strings and append the second string to the first
string.

/* Program for string concatenation*/

#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>
main()
{
char first[80], second[80];
printf(“Enter a string:”);
gets(first);
printf(“Enter another string: ”);
gets(second);
strcat(first, second);
printf(“\nThe two strings joined together: %s\n”, first);
}

OUTPUT

Enter a string: BOREX

Enter another string: BANKS
The two strings joined together: BOREX BANKS

4.11.5 Strlwr Function

The strlwr function converts upper case characters of string to lower case characters.
The syntax is as follows:
strlwr(str1);
where str1 is string to be converted into lower case characters.

Example 4.14
Write a program to convert the string into lower case characters using in-built
function.
/* Program that converts input string to lower case characters */

#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>
main()
{
char first[80];
printf("Enter a string: ");
gets(first);
printf("Lower case of the string is %s”, strlwr(first));
}

OUTPUT

Enter a string: BROOKES

Lower case of the string is brookes

4.11.6 Strrev Function

The strrev funtion reverses the given string. The syntax is as follows:
106
strrev(str); Arrays and Strings
where string str will be reversed.

Example 4.15
Write a program to reverse a given string.
/* Program to reverse a given string */

#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>
main()
{
char first[80];
printf(“Enter a string:”);
gets(first);
printf(“\n Reverse of the given string is : %s ”, strrev(first));
}

OUTPUT

Enter a string: ADANY

Reverse of the given string is: YNADA

4.11.7 Strspn Function

The strspn function returns the position of the string, where first string
mismatches with second string. The syntax is as follows:
n=strspn(first, second);

where first and second are two strings to be compared, n is the number of
character from which first string does not match with second string.
Example 4.16

Write a program, which returns the position of the string from where first
string does not match with second string.
/*Program which returns the position of the string from where first string does
not match with second string*/
#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>
main()
{
char first[80], second[80];
printf("Enter first string: “);
gets(first);
printf(“\n Enter second string: “);
gets(second);
printf(“\n After %d characters there is no match”,strspn(first, second));
}

OUTPUT

Enter first string: ALEXANDER

Enter second string: ALEXSMITH
After 4 characters there is no match
107
An Introduction to C
4.11.8 Other String Functions
strncpy function
The strncpy function same as strcpy. It copies characters of one string to
another string up to the specified length. The syntax is as follows:

strncpy(str1, str2, 10);

where str1 and str2 are two strings. The 10 characters of string str2 are copied
onto string str1.

stricmp function
The stricmp function is same as strcmp, except it compares two strings
ignoring the case(lower and upper case). The syntax is as follows:

n=stricmp(str1, str2);

strncmp function
The strncmp function is same as strcmp, except it compares two strings up to
a specified length. The syntax is as follows:
n=strncmp(str1, str2, 10);
where 10 characters of str1 and str2 are compared and n is returned value of
differed characters.

strchr function
The strchr funtion takes two arguments(the string and the character whose
address is to be specified) and returns the address of first occurrence of the
character in the given string. The syntax is as follows:
cp=strchr(str, c);
where str is string and c is character and cp is character pointer.

strset function
The strset funtion replaces the string with the given character. It takes two
arguments the string and the character. The syntax is as follows:
strset(first, ch);
where string first will be replaced by character ch.

strchr function
The strchr function takes two arguments(the string and the character whose
address is to be specified) and returns the address of first occurrence of the
character in the given string. The syntax is as follows:
cp=strchr(str, c);
where str is string and c is character and cp is character pointer.

strncat function
The strncat function is the same as strcat, except that it appends upto specified
length. The syntax is as follows:
108
 Arrays and Strings
strncat(str1, str2,10);
where 10 character of the str2 string is added into str1 string.

strupr function
The strupr function converts lower case characters of the string to upper case
characters. The syntax is as follows:
strupr(str1);
where str1 is string to be converted into upper case characters.

strstr function
The strstr function takes two arguments address of the string and second
string as inputs. And returns the address from where the second string starts in
the first string. The syntax is as follows:
cp=strstr(first, second);
where first and second are two strings, cp is character pointer.

Check Your Progress 5

1. Which of the following functions compares two strings?
A. compare();
B. stringcompare();
C. cmp();
D. strcmp();
…………………………………………………………………………….
…………………………………………………………………………….
…………………………………………………………………………….
2. Which of the following appends one string to the end of another?
A. append();
B. stringadd();
C. strcat();
D. stradd();
…………………………………………………………………………….
…………………………………………………………………………….
…………………………………………………………………………….
…………………………………………………………………………….
3. Write a program to concatenate two strings without using the strcat()
function.
…………………………………………………………………………….
…………………………………………………………………………….
…………………………………………………………………………….
…………………………………………………………………………….
109
An Introduction to C
4. Write a program to find string length without using the strlen() function.
…………………………………………………………………………….
…………………………………………………………………………….
…………………………………………………………………………….
5. Write a program to convert lower case letters to upper case letters in a
given string without using strupp().
…………………………………………………………………………….
…………………………………………………………………………….
…………………………………………………………………………….

4.12 SUMMARY
Like other languages, C uses arrays as a way of describing a collection of
variables with identical properties. The group has a single name for all its
members, with the individual member being selected by an index. We have
learnt in this unit, the basic purpose of using an array in the program,
declaration of array and assigning values to the arrays and also the string
handling functions. All elements of the arrays are stored in the consecutive
memory locations. Without exception, all arrays in C are indexed from 0 up to
one less than the bound given in the declaration. This is very puzzling for a
beginner. Watch out for it in the examples provided in this unit. One important
point about array declarations is that they don't permit the use of varying
subscripts. The numbers given must be constant expressions which can be
evaluated at compile time, not run time. As with other variables, global and
static array elements are initialized to 0 by default, and automatic array
elements are filled with garbage values. In C, an array of type char is used to
represent a character string, the end of which is marked by a byte set to 0(also
known as a NULL character).
Whenever the arrays are passed to function their starting address is used to
access rest of the elements. This is called – Call by reference. Whatever
changes are made to the elements of an array in the function, they are also
made available in the calling part. The formal argument contains no size
specification except for the rightmost dimension. Arrays and pointers are
closely linked in C. Multi-dimensional arrays are simply arrays of arrays. To
use arrays effectively it is a good idea to know how to use pointers with them.
More about the pointers can be learnt from Unit -7 (Block -2).
Strings are sequence of characters. Strings are to be null-terminated if you
want to use them properly. Remember to take into account null-terminators
when using dynamic memory allocation. The string.h library has many useful
functions. Losing the ‘ \0’ character can lead to some very considerable bugs.
Make sure you copy \0 when you copy strings. If you create a new string, make
sure you put \0 in it. And if you copy one string to another, make sure the
receiving string is big enough to hold the source string, including \0. Finally, if
you point a character pointer to some characters, make sure they end with \0.
110
 Arrays and Strings
String Functions Its Use
strlen Returns number of characters in string.
strlwr Converts all the characters in the string into lower case
strcat characters
strcpy Adds one string at the end of another string
strcmp Copies a string into another
strdup Compares two strings and returns zero if both are equal.
strchr Duplicates a string
strstr Finds the first occurrence of given character in a string
strset Finds the first occurrence of given string in another string
strrev Sets all the characters of string to given character or symbol
Reverse a string

4.13 SOLUTIONS / ANSWERS

Check Your Progress 1
1. If you use a subscript that is out of bounds of the array declaration, the
program will probably compile and even run. However, the results of such
a mistake can be unpredictable. This can be a difficult error to find once it
starts causing problems. So, make sure you’re careful when initializing
and accessing the array elements.
2. a) 6
b) 5
c) 5
3. This mistake doesn’t produce a compiler error. If you don’t initialize an
array, there can be any value in the array elements. You might get
unpredictable results. You should always initialize the variables and the
arrays so that you know their content.
4. Each element of an array must be initialized. The safest way for a beginner
is to initialize an array, either with a declaration, as shown in this chapter,
or with a for statement. There are other ways to initialize an array, but
they are beyond the scope of this Unit.
5. Use a for loop to total the contents of an integer array which has five
elements. Store the result in an integer called total.
for(loop=0,total=0; loop<5; loop++)
total=total+numbers[loop];
Check Your Progress 2
1. Call by reference.
2. It is possible to pass the whole array to a function. In this case, only the
address of the array will be passed. When this happens, the function can
change the value of the elements in the array.
3. Two common statistical applications that use arrays are:
111
An Introduction to C
 Frequency distributions: A frequency array show the number of
elements with an identical value found in a series of numbers. For
example, suppose we have taken a sample of 50 values ranging from 0
to 10. We want to know how many of the values are 0, how many are
1, how many are 2 and so forth up to 10. Using the arrays we can
solve the problem easily . Histogram is a pictorial representation of
the frequency array. Instead of printing the values of the elements to
show the frequency of each number, we print a histogram in the form
of a bar chart.
 Random Number Permutations: It is a set of random numbers in
which no numbers are repeated. For example, given a random number
permutation of 5 numbers, the values of 0 to 5 would all be included
with no duplicates.
Check Your Progress 3
1. float balances[3][5];

2. for(row=0, total=0; row < 3; row++)

for(column=0; column < 5; column++)
total=total + balances[row][column];

3. for(loop=0; loop < 5; loop++)

scanf("%c",&words[loop] );

Check Your Progress 4

1. B

2. C

3. (a) I
IGNOU

(b) hello

(c) hehe

Check Your Progress 5

1. D
2. C
3. /*Program to concatenate two strings without using the strcat() function*/
#include<stdio.h>
#include<string.h>
main()
{
char str1[10];
char str2[10];
char output_str[20];
int i,j,k;
i=0;
j=0;
k=0;
printf("Input the first string: ");
gets(str1);
112
 printf("\nInput the second string: "); Arrays and Strings
gets(str2);
while(str1[i]!='\0'
output_str[k++]=str1[i++];
while(str2[j]!='\0')
output_str[k++]=str2[j++];
output_str[k]='\0';
puts(output_str);
}
4. /* Program to find the string length without using the strlen() funtion */

#include<stdio.h>
#include<string.h>
main()
{
char string[60];
int len,i;
len=0;
i=0;
printf("Input the string : ");
gets(string);
while(string[i++]!='\0')
len++;
printf("Length of Input String=%d",len);
getchar();
}

5. /* Program to convert the lower case letters to upper case in a given string
without using strupp() function*/

#include<stdio.h>
main()
{
int i=0;
char source[10],destination[10];
printf(“Input the string in lower-case”);
gets(source);
while(source[i]!=‘\0’)
{
if((source[i]>=97)&&(source[i]<=122))
destination[i]=source[i]-32;
else
destination[i]=source[i];
i++;
}
destination[i]=‘ \0 ’;
puts(destination);
}

4.14 FURTHER READINGS

1. The C Programming Language, Brain W. Kernighan, Dennis M. Ritchie,
PHI.
2. C, The Complete Reference, Fourth Edition, Herbert Schildt, TMGH,
2002.
113
An Introduction to C
3. Computer Science – A Structured Programming Approach Using C,
Behrouz A. Forouzan, Richard F. Gilberg, Thomas Learning, Second
edition, 2001.
4. Programming with ANSI and TURBO C, Ashok N. Kamthane, Pearson
Education, 2002.
5. Computer Programming in C, Raja Raman. V, PHI, 2002.

114
 MCS-201
Programming in C
Indira Gandhi National Open University
School of Computer and Information
Sciences (SOCIS)
and Python

Functions,structures,pointers,
and file handling in C 2
 MCS-201

Block

2
FUNCTIONS, STRUCTURES, POINTERS AND FILE
HANDLING IN C
UNIT 5
FUNCTIONS 117
UNIT 6
STRUCTURES AND UNIONS 139
UNIT 7
POINTERS 155
UNIT 8
FILE HANDLING 177
BLOCK 2 INTRODUCTION

In Block-1, we had discussed the basic constructs in C programming language,

decision and loop control structures, Arrays and Strings. In this Block-2 we will
discuss Functions, Structures, Pointers and File Handling in C.

Any C program must have a main() function to contain the code executed by default
when the program is run. You can put as many user defined functions as you like in
the program to achieve the modularity in the programming. In C, all functions in a
program are “visible” to all other functions in that. Detail discussion regarding the
types of functions and their invoking is provided in Unit-5.

In C programming, a structure is a convenient way of grouping several pieces of

related information together just like a record. It is a collection of variables under a
single name. These variables can be of different types, and each has a name which is
used to select it from the structure. It can use other structures, arrays or pointers as
some of its members, though this can get complicated unless you are careful. The
concept of Structures is explained in Unit 6.

Unit - 7 introduces you to pointers which is a central part of C programming. A

pointer is a variable that holds the address of another variable; a pointer is said to
“point to” the variable whose address it holds. The special features of pointer
arithmetic make it easy to access array elements using pointers. Array subscript
notation is in fact a special form of pointer notation.

Pointers and arrays have a special relationship which is discussed in this unit.

In any programming language, storage of data in variables, arrays or dynamic data

structures is temporary. When the program terminates, all data is lost. Files are used
for the retention of large amounts of data. Detail discussion regarding the file
streams, types of files and their accessing mechanisms is provided in Unit-8.

The block contains a wide variety of programming examples to support the concepts
given in the material. Whenever possible, examples contain complete programs or
functions rather than incomplete program fragments. To get the maximum benefit
from this, it is necessary that you should understand and execute all the example
programs given in this block, as well, complete the assignment problems given in
the lab manual also.

This block consists of 4 units and is organized as follows:

Unit - 5 provides the overview of the Functions in C.

Unit - 6 provides an overview of the user defined data-type called as the Structures.

Unit - 7 introduces you the concept of Pointers.

Unit - 8 provides the overview of the File Handling in C.

Happy Programming!
 Indira Gandhi
National Open University MCS-201
School of Computer and
Information Sciences PROGRAMMING IN
C AND PYTHON

Block

2
FUNCTIONS, STRUCTURES, POINTERS AND
FILE HANDLING IN C
UNIT 5
Functions

UNIT 6
Structures and Unions

UNIT 7
Pointers

UNIT 8
File Handling
Programme / Course Design Committee
Prof. Sanjeev K. Aggarwal, IIT, Kanpur
Prof. V.V. Subrahmanyam
Prof. M. Balakrishnan, IIT , Delhi Director
SOCIS, IGNOU, New Delhi
Prof Harish Karnick, IIT, Kanpur Prof P. Venkata Suresh
SOCIS, IGNOU, New Delhi
Prof. C. Pandurangan, IIT, Madras
Dr. Shashi Bhushan
Dr. Om Vikas, Sr. Director, MIT Associate Professor
SOCIS, IGNOU, New Delhi
Prof P. S. Grover, Sr. Consultant, Shri Akshay Kumar
Prof. (Retd.) S.K. Gupta Associate Professor
IIT, Delhi SOCIS, IGNOU, New Delhi

Prof. T.V. Vijay Kumar Shri M. P. Mishra

Dean, Associate Professor
School of Computer & System Sciences, SOCIS, IGNOU, New Delhi
JNU, New Delhi Dr. Sudhansh Sharma
Prof. Ela Kumar, Asst. Professor
Dean, Computer Science & Engg SOCIS, IGNOU, New Delhi
IGDTUW, Delhi
Prof. Gayatri Dhingra
GVMITM, Sonipat, Haryana
Mr. Milind Mahajani
Vice President
Impressico Business Solutions
Noida UP

Block Preparation Team

Prof P. S. Grover (Content Editor) Ms. Usha
(Sr Consultant) Dept. of Computer Science
New Era Institute of IT & Professional
Ms. Sumita Kulshreshtha Studies
Dept. of Computer Science New Delhi
Hansraj College
University of Delhi Prof. V.V. Subrahmanyam
SOCIS, IGNOU
Mr. Madana Mohan Babu
Deputy Manager Shri S.S. Rana
NSIC-TSC, New Delhi New Delhi Language
Editors
Ms. Priti Sehgal Prof Sunaina Kumar
Dept. of Computer Science SOH, IGNOU
Keshav Mahavidyalya
University of Delhi

Course Coordinator : Dr. Sudhansh Sharma

(Units 5 to 8 are adapted from MCS-011 Problem Solving and Programming)

Block Production Team

March, 2021
Indira Gandhi National Open University, 2021
ISBN-

All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced in any form, by mimeograph or any other means,
without permission in writing from the Indira Gandhi National Open University.

Further information on the Indira Gandhi National Open University courses may be obtained from the
University’s office at Maidan Garhi, New Delhi-110 068.
 Functions
UNIT 5 FUNCTIONS

Structure

5.0 Introduction
5.1 Objectives
5.2 Definition of a Function
5.3 Declaration of a Function
5.4 Function Prototypes
5.5 The Return Statement
5.6 Types of Variables and Storage Classes
5.6.1 Automatic Variables
5.6.2 External Variables
5.6.3 Static Variables
5.6.4 Register Variables
5.7 Types of Function Invoking
5.8 Call by Value
5.9 Recursion
5.10 Summary
5.11 Solutions / Answers
5.12 Further Readings

5.0 INTRODUCTION
To make programming simple and easy to debug, we break a larger program
into smaller subprograms which perform ‘well defined tasks’. These
subprograms are called functions. So far we have defined a single function
main().
After reading this unit you will be able to define many other functions and the
main() function can call up these functions from several different places within
the program, to carry out the required processing.

Functions are very important tools for Modular Programming, where we

break large programs into small subprograms or modules (functions in case of
C). The use of functions reduces complexity and makes programming simple
and easy to understand.

In this unit, we will discuss how functions are defined and how are they
accessed from the main program? We will also discuss various types of
functions and how to invoke them. And finally you will learn an interesting
and important programming technique known as Recursion, in which a
function calls within itself.

5.1 OBJECTIVES
After going through this unit, you will learn:
 the need of functions in the programming; 117
Functions, Structures,  how to define and declare functions in ‘C’ Language;
Pointers and
File Handling in C  different types of functions and their purpose;
 how the functions are called from other functions;
 how data is transferred through parameter passing, to functions and the
Return statement;
 recursive functions; and
 the concept of ‘Call by Value’ and its drawbacks.

5.2 DEFINTION OF A FUNCTION

A function is a self- contained block of executable code that can be called
from any other function .In many programs, a set of statements are to be
executed repeatedly at various places in the program and may with different
sets of data, the idea of functions comes in mind. You keep those repeating
statements in a function and call them as and when required. When a function
is called, the control transfers to the called function, which will be executed,
and then transfers the control back to the calling function (to the statement
following the function call). Let us see an example as shown below:
Example 5.1

/* Program to illustrate a function*/

#include <stdio.h>
main ()
{
void sample();
printf(“\n You are in main”);
}

void sample()
{
printf(“\n You are in sample”);
}

OUTPUT
You are in sample
You are in main

Here we are calling a function sample() through main() i.e. control of

execution transfers from main() to sample() , which means main() is
suspended for some time and sample() is executed. After its execution the
control returns back to main(), at the statement following function call and the
execution of main() is resumed.

The syntax of a function is:

return data type function_name(list of arguments)
{
datatype declaration of the arguments;
118
 Functions
executable statements;
return(expression);
}

where,
 return data type is the same as the data type of the variable that is returned
by the function using return statement.
 a function_name is formed in the same way as variable names / identifiers
are formed.
 the list of arguments or parameters are valid variable names as shown
below, separated by commas: (data type1 var1,data type2 var2,…….. data
type n var n)
 for example (int x, float y, char z).
 arguments give the values which are passed from the calling function.
 the body of function contains executable statements.
 the return statement returns a single value to the calling function.
Example 5.2

Let us write a simple function that calculates the square of an integer.

/*Program to calculate the square of a given integer*/

/* square() function */
{
int square(int no) /*passing of argument */
int result ; /* local variable to function square */
result = no*no;
return(result); /* returns an integer value */
}

/*It will be called from main()as follows */

main()
{
int n ,sq; /* local variable to function main */
printf (“Enter a number to calculate square value”);
scanf(“%d”,&n);
sq=square(n); /* function call with parameter passing */
printf (”\nSquare of the number is : %d”, sq);
} /* program ends */

OUTPUT

Enter a number to calculate square value : 5

Square of the number is : 25

5.3 DECLARATION OF A FUNCTION

As we have mentioned in the previous section, every function has its
declaration and function definition. When we talk of declaration only, it means
119
Functions, Structures, only the function name, its argument list and return type are specified and the
Pointers and function body or definition is not attached to it. The syntax of a function
File Handling in C
declaration is:

return data type function_name(list of arguments);

For example,

int square(int no);

float temperature(float c, float f);

We will discuss the use of function declaration in the next section.

5.4 FUNCTION PROTOTYPES

In Example 5.1 for calculating square of a given number, we have declared
function square() before main() function; this means before coming to main(),
the compiler knows about square(), as the compilation process starts with the
first statement of any program. Now suppose, we reverse the sequence of
functions in this program i.e., writing the main() function and later on writing
the square() function, what happens ? The “C” compiler will give an error.
Here the introduction of concept of “function prototypes” solves the above
problem.
Function Prototypes require that every function which is to be accessed should
be declared in the calling function. The function declaration, that will be
discussed earlier, will be included for every function in its calling function .
Example 5.2 may be modified using the function prototype as follows:
Example 5.3
/*Program to calculate the square of a given integer using the function
prototype*/
#include <stdio.h>
main ()
{
int n , sq ;
int square(int) ; /* function prototype */
printf (“Enter a number to calculate square value”);
scanf(“%d”,&n);
sq = square(n); /* function call with parameter passing */
printf (“\nSsquare of the number is : %d”, sq);
}

/* square function */
int square(int no) /*passing of argument */
{
int result ; /* local variable to function square */
result = no*no;
return(result); /* returns an integer value */
}

120
 Functions
OUTPUT

Enter a number to calculate square value : 5

Square of the number is: 25

Points to remember:
 Function prototype requires that the function declaration must include the
return type of function as well as the type and number of arguments or
parameters passed.
 The variable names of arguments need not be declared in prototype.
 The major reason to use this concept is that they enable the compiler to
check if there is any mismatch between function declaration and function
call.
Check Your Progress 1

1) Write a function to multiply two integers and display the product.

……………………………………………………………………………………

……………………………………………………………………………………

……………………………………………………………………………………

……………………………………………………………………………………

……………………………………………………………………………………

2) Modify the above program, by introducing function prototype in the main

function.

……………………………………………………………………………………

……………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………

……………………………………………………………………………………

……………………………………………………………………………………

5.5 THE return STATEMENT

If a function has to return a value to the calling function, it is done through the
return statement. It may be possible that a function does not return any value;
only the control is transferred to the calling function. The syntax for the return
statement is:

return (expression);
We have seen in the square() function, the return statement, which returns an
integer value.
Points to remember:

121
Functions, Structures,  You can pass any number of arguments to a function but can return only
Pointers and
File Handling in C one value at a time.
For example, the following are the valid return statements
a) return (5);
b) return (x*y);
For example, the following are the invalid return statements
c) return (2, 3);
d) return (x, y);
 If a function does not return anything, void specifier is used in the function
declaration.
For example:
void square (int no)
{
int sq;
sq = no*no;
printf (“square is %d”, sq);
}

 All the function’s return type is by default is “int”, i.e. a function returns
an integer value, if no type specifier is used in the function declaration.

Some examples are:

(i) square (int no); /* will return an integer value */

(ii) int square (int no); /* will return an integer value */
(iii) void square (int no); /* will not return anything */

 What happens if a function has to return some value other than integer?
The answer is very simple: use the particular type specifier in the function
declaration.
For example consider the code fragments of function definitions below:
1) Code Fragment - 1

char func_char( …….. )

{
char c;
…………….
…………….
……………
}

2) Code Fragment - 2
float func_float (……..)
{
float f;
…………..
…………..
…………..
122
 return(f); Functions
}

Thus from the above examples, we see that you can return all the data types
from a function, the only condition being that the value returned using return
statement and the type specifier used in function declaration should match.
 A function can have many return statements. This thing happens when
some condition based returns are required.
For example,

/*Function to find greater of two numbers*/

int greater (int x, int y)
{
if (x>y)
return (x);
else
return (y);
}

 And finally, with the execution of return statement, the control is

transferred to the calling function with the value associated with it.
In the above example if we take x = 5 and y = 3, then the control will be
transferred to the calling function when the first return statement will be
encountered, as the condition (x > y) will be satisfied. All the remaining
executable statements in the function will not be executed after this
returning.
Check Your Progress 2

1. Which of the following are valid return statements?

a) return (a);
b) return (z,13);
c) return (22.44);
d) return;
e) return (x*x, y*y);
…………………………………………………………………………….
…………………………………………………………………………….
…………………………………………………………………………….
…………………………………………………………………………….
…………………………………………………………………………….
…………………………………………………………………………….
…………………………………………………………………………….
…………………………………………………………………………….
123
Functions, Structures,
Pointers and 5.6 TYPES OF VARIABLES AND STORAGE
File Handling in C CLASSES
In a program consisting of a number of functions a number of different types
of variables can be found.
Global vs. Static variables: Global variables are recognized through out the
program whereas local valuables are recognized
only within the function where they are defined.
Static vs. Dynamic variables: Retention of value by a local variable means,
that in static, retention of the variable value is lost
once the function is completely executed whereas in
certain conditions the value of the variable has to be
retained from the earlier execution and the
execution retained.
The variables can be characterized by their data type and by their storage class.
One way to classify a variable is according to its data type and the other can be
through its storage class. Data type refers to the type of value represented by a
variable whereas storage class refers to the permanence of a variable and its
scope within the program i.e. portion of the program over which variable is
recognized.
Storage Classes
There are four different storage classes specified in C:
1. Auto (matic) 2. Extern (al)
3. Static 4. Register

The storage class associated with a variable can sometimes be established by

the location of the variable declaration within the program or by prefixing
keywords to variables declarations.

For example: auto int a, b;

static int a, b;
extern float f;

5.6.1 Automatic Variables

The variables local to a function are automatic i.e., declared within the
function. The scope of lies within the function itself. The automatic defined in
different functions, even if they have same name, are treated as different. It is
the default storage class for variables declared in a function.

Points to remember:

 The auto is optional therefore there is no need to write it.

 All the formal arguments also have the auto storage class.
 The initialization of the auto-variables can be done:
 in declarations
124
 Functions
 using assignment expression in a function
 If not initialized the unpredictable value is defined.
 The value is not retained after exit from the program.
Let us study these variables by a sample program given below:
Example 5.4
/* To print the value of automatic variables */

# include <stdio.h>
main ( int argc, char * argv[ ])
{
int a, b;
double d;
printf(“%d”, argc);
a = 10;
b = 5;
d = (b * b) – (a/2);
printf(“%d, %d, %f”, a, b, d);
}

All the variables a, b, d, argc and argv [ ] have automatic storage class.

5.6.2 External (Global) Variables

These are not confined to a single function. Their scope ranges from the point
of declaration to the entire remaining program. Therefore, their scope may be
the entire program or two or more functions depending upon where they are
declared.
Points to remember:

 These are global and can be accessed by any function within its scope.
Therefore value may be assigned in one and can be written in another.
 There is difference in external variable definition and declaration.
 External Definition is the same as any variable declaration:
 Usually lies outside or before the function accessing it.
 It allocates storage space required.
 Initial values can be assigned.
 The external specifier is not required in external variable definition.
 A declaration is required if the external variable definition comes after the
function definition.
 A declaration begins with an external specifier.
 Only when external variable is defined is the storage space allocated.
 External variables can be assigned initial values as a part of variable
definitions, but the values must be constants rather than expressions.
 If initial value is not included then it is automatically assigned a value of
zero.
125
Functions, Structures, Let us study these variables by a sample program given below:
Pointers and
File Handling in C Example 5.5
/* Program to illustrate the use of global variables*/
# include <stdio.h>
int gv; /*global variable*/
main ( )
{
void function1(); /*function declaration*/
gv = 10;
printf (“%d is the value of gv before function call\n”, gv);
function1();
printf (“%d is the value of gv after function call\n”, gv);
}

void function1 ( )
{
gv = 15: }

OUTPUT

10 is the value of gv before function call

15 is the value of gv after function call

5.6.3 Static Variables

In case of single file programs static variables are defined within functions and
individually have the same scope as automatic variables. But static variables
retain their values throughout the execution of program within their previous
values.
Points to remember:

 The specifier precedes the declaration. Static and the value cannot be
accessed outside of their defining function.
 The static variables may have same name as that of external variables but
the local variables take precedence in the function. Therefore external
variables maintain their independence with locally defined auto and static
variables.
 Initial value is expressed as the constant and not expression.
 Zeros are assigned to all variables whose declarations do not include
explicit initial values. Hence they always have assigned values.
 Initialization is done only is the first execution.
Let us study this sample program to print value of a static variable:
Example 5.6
/* Program to illustrate the use of static variable*/

#include <stdio.h>

main()
{
int call_static();
126
int i,j; Functions
i=j=0;
j = call_static();
printf(“%d\n”,j);
j = call_static ();
printf(“%d\n”,j);
j = call_static();
printf(“%d\n”,j);
}

int call_static()
{
static int i=1;
int j;
j = i;
i++;
return(j);
}

OUTPUT
1
2
3

This is because i is a static variable and retains its previous value in next
execution of function call_static(). To remind you j is having auto storage
class. Both functions main and call_static have the same local variable i and j
but their values never get mixed.

5.6.4 Register Variables

Besides three storage class specifications namely, Automatic, External and
Static, there is a register storage class. Registers are special storage areas
within a computer’s CPU. All the arithmetic and logical operations are carried
out with these registers.
For the same program, the execution time can be reduced if certain values can
be stored in registers rather than memory. These programs are smaller in size
(as few instructions are required) and few data transfers are required. The
reduction is there in machine code and not in source code. They are declared
by the proceeding declaration by register reserved word as follows:

register int m;
Points to remember:
 These variables are stored in registers of computers. If the registers are
not available they are put in memory.
 Usually 2 or 3 register variables are there in the program.
 Scope is same as automatic variable, local to a function in which they are
declared.
 Address operator ‘&’ cannot be applied to a register variable.
127
Functions, Structures,  If the register is not available the variable is though to be like the
Pointers and
File Handling in C automatic variable.
 Usually associated integer variable but with other types it is allowed
having same size (short or unsigned).
 Can be formal arguments in functions.
 Pointers to register variables are not allowed.
 These variables can be used for loop indices also to increase efficiency.

5.7 TYPES OF FUNCTION INVOKING

We categorize a function’s invoking (calling) depending on arguments or
parameters and their returning a value. In simple words we can divide a
function’s invoking into four types depending on whether parameters are
passed to a function or not and whether a function returns some value or not.
The various types of invoking functions are:
 With no arguments and with no return value.
 With no arguments and with return value
 With arguments and with no return value
 With arguments and with return value.
Let us discuss each category with some examples:
TYPE 1: With no arguments and have no return value
As the name suggests, any function which has no arguments and does not
return any values to the calling function, falls in this category. These type of
functions are confined to themselves i.e. neither do they receive any data from
the calling function nor do they transfer any data to the calling function. So
there is no data communication between the calling and the called function are
only program control will be transferred.

Example 5.7

/* Program for illustration of the function with no arguments and no return value*/

/* Function with no arguments and no return value*/

#include <stdio.h>
main()
{
void message();
printf(“Control is in main\n”);
message(); /* Type 1 Function */
printf(“Control is again in main\n”);
}

void message()
{
printf(“Control is in message function\n”);
} /* does not return anything */

128
OUTPUT Functions

Control is in main
Control is in message function
Control is again in main

TYPE 2: With no arguments and with return value

Suppose if a function does not receive any data from calling function but does
send some value to the calling function, then it falls in this category.

Example 5.8
Write a program to find the sum of the first ten natural numbers.

/* Program to find sum of first ten natural numbers */

#include <stdio.h>

int cal_sum()
{
int i, s=0;
for (i=0; i<=10; i++)
s=s + i;
return(s); /* function returning sum of first ten natural numbers */
}

main()
{
int sum;
sum = cal_sum();
printf(“Sum of first ten natural numbers is % d\n”, sum);
}

OUTPUT

Sum of first ten natural numbers is 55

TYPE 3: With Arguments and have no return value

If a function includes arguments but does not return anything, it falls in this
category. One way communication takes place between the calling and the called
function.

Before proceeding further, first we discuss the type of arguments or parameters here.
There are two types of arguments:

 Actual arguments
 Formal arguments

Let us take an example to make this concept clear:

Example 5.9
Write a program to calculate sum of any three given numbers.

#include <stdio.h>

main()
129
Functions, Structures, {
Pointers and int a1, a2, a3;
File Handling in C void sum(int, int, int);
printf(“Enter three numbers: “);
scanf (“%d%d%d”,&a1,&a2,&a3);
sum (a1,a2,a3); /* Type 3 function */
}

/* function to calculate sum of three numbers */

void sum (int f1, int f2, int f3)
{
int s;
s = f1+ f2+ f3;
printf (“\nThe sum of the three numbers is %d\n”,s);
}

OUTPUT

Enter three numbers: 23 34 45

The sum of the three numbers is 102

Here f1, f2, f3 are formal arguments and a1, a2, a3 are actual arguments.
Thus we see in the function declaration, the arguments are formal arguments, but
when values are passed to the function during function call, they are actual arguments.

Note: The actual and formal arguments should match in type, order and number

TYPE 4: With arguments function and with return value

In this category two-way communication takes place between the calling and called
function i.e. a function returns a value and also arguments are passed to it. We modify
above Example according to this category.

Example 5.10
Write a program to calculate sum of three numbers.

/*Program to calculate the sum of three numbers*/

#include <stdio.h>
main()
{
int a1, a2, a3, result;
int sum(int, int, int);
printf(“Please enter any 3 numbers:\n”);
scanf (“%d %d %d”, & a1, &a2, &a3);
result = sum (a1,a2,a3); /* function call */
printf (“Sum of the given numbers is : %d\n”, result);
}

/* Function to calculate the sum of three numbers */

int sum (int f1, int f2, int f3)
{
return(f1+ f2 + f3); /* function returns a value */
}

OUTPUT
130
Please enter any 3 numbers: Functions
345
Sum of the given numbers is: 12

5.8 CALL BY VALUE

So far we have seen many functions and also passed arguments to them, but if
we observe carefully, we will see that we have always created new variables
for arguments in the function and then passed the values of actual arguments to
them. Such function calls are called “call by value”.
Let us illustrate the above concept in more detail by taking a simple function of
multiplying two numbers:
Example 5.11
Write a program to multiply the two given numbers

#include <stdio.h>
main()
{
int x, y, z;
int mul(int, int);
printf (“Enter two numbers: \n”);
scanf (“%d %d”,&x,&y);
z= mul(x, y); /* function call by value */
printf (“\n The product of the two numbers is : %d”, z);
}

/* Function to multiply two numbers */

int mul(int a, int b)
{
int c;
c =a*b;
return(c); }

OUTPUT

Enter two numbers:

23 2
The product of two numbers is: 46

Now let us see what happens to the actual and formal arguments in memory.
main() function mul() function

131
Functions, Structures,
Pointers and
x
File Handling in C a
2 2
The variables are local
to the mul() function
which are created in
memory with the
3y 3 b function call and are
destroyed with the
return to the called
6 6 function
z c

Variables local to main() function Variables local to mul() function

What are meant by local variables? The answer is local variables are those which can
be used only by that function.

Advantages of Call by value:

The only advantage is that this mechanism is simple and it reduces confusion
and complexity.

Disadvantages of Call by value:

As you have seen in the above example, there is separate memory allocation for
each of the variable, so unnecessary utilization of memory takes place.

The second disadvantage, which is very important from programming point of

view, is that any changes made in the arguments are not reflected to the calling
function, as these arguments are local to the called function and are destroyed
with function return.

Let us discuss the second disadvantage more clearly using one example:
Example 5.12
Write a program to swap two values.

/*Program to swap two values*/

#include <stdio.h>
main()
{
int x = 2, y = 3;
void swap(int, int);

printf (“\n Values before swapping are %d %d”, x, y);

swap (x, y);
printf (“\n Values after swapping are %d %d”, x, y);
}

/* Function to swap(interchange) two values */

void swap( int a, int b )
{
132
int t; Functions
t = a;
a = b;
b = t;
}

OUTPUT

Values before swap are 2 3

Values after swap are 2 3

But the output should have been 3 2. So what happened?

x a a
2 2 3
t 2
y b b t

3 3 2

Values passing from main() to swap() function Variables in swap() function

Here we observe that the changes which takes place in argument variables are not
reflected in the main() function; as these variables namely a, b and t will be destroyed
with function return.

 All these disadvantages will be removed by using “call by reference”, which will
be discussed with the introduction of pointers in UNIT 11.

Check Your Progress 3

1. Write a function to print Fibonacci series upto ‘n’ terms 1,1,2,3,…..n

……………………………………………………………………………………

……………………………………………………………………………………

……………………………………………………………………………………

……………………………………………………………………………………

……………………………………………………………………………………

……………………………………………………………………………………

2. Write a function power (a, b) to calculate ab

……………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………

……………………………………………………………………………………

……………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………

……………………………………………………………………………………

133
Functions, Structures,
Pointers and 5.9 RECURSION
File Handling in C
Within a function body, if the function calls itself, the mechanism is known as
‘Recursion’ and the function is known as ‘Recursive function’. Now let us
study this mechanism in detail and understand how it works.

 As we see in this mechanism, a chaining of function calls occurs, so it is

necessary for a recursive function to stop somewhere or it will result into
infinite callings. So the most important thing to remember in this
mechanism is that every “recursive function” should have a terminating
condition.
 Let us take a very simple example of calculating factorial of a number,
which we all know is computed using this formula 5! = 5*4*3*2*1
 First we will write non – recursive or iterative function for this.

Example 5.13
Write a program to find factorial of a number

#include <stdio.h>
main ()
{
int n, factorial;
int fact(int);
printf (“Enter any number:\n” );
scanf ("%d", &n);
factorial = fact ( n); /* function call */
printf (“Factorial is %d\n”, factorial);
}

/* Non recursive function of factorial */

int fact (int n)

{
int res = 1, i;
for (i = n; i >= 1; i--)
res = res * i;
return (res);
}

OUTPUT

Enter any number: 5

Factorial is 120

How it works?

Suppose we call this function with n = 5

Iterations:
1. i= 5 res = 1*5 = 5
2. i= 4 res = 5*4 = 20
3. i= 3 res = 20*4 = 60
4. i= 2 res = 60*2 = 120
134
5. i= 1 res = 120*1 = 120 Functions

Now let us write this function recursively. Before writing any function
recursively, we first have to examine the problem, that it can be implemented
through recursion.

For instance, we know n! = n* (n  1)! (Mathematical formula)

Or fact (n) = n*fact (n-1)

Or fact (5) = 5*fact (4)

That means this function calls itself but with value of argument decreased by ‘1’.

Example 5.14
Modify the program 8 using recursion.

/*Program to find factorial using recursion*/

#include<stdio.h>
main()
{
int n, factorial;
int fact(int);
printf("Enter any number: \n" );
scanf("%d",&n);
factorial = fact(n); /*Function call */
printf ("Factorial is %d\n", factorial); }

/* Recursive function of factorial */

int fact(int n)
{
int res;
if(n == 1) /* Terminating condition */
return(1);
else
res = n*fact(n-1); /* Recursive call */
return(res); }

OUTPUT
Enter any number: 5
Factorial is 120

How it works?

Suppose we will call this function with n = 5

fact (5) 120

5*fact(4) 5*24
Returning Process

4*fact(3) 4*6(=24)

3*fact(2) 3*2*1(= 6)

2*fact(1) 2* 1(=2)
135
Functions, Structures,
Pointers and
File Handling in C 2*1 (It terminates here)

Thus a recursive function first proceeds towards the innermost condition,

which is the termination condition, and then returns with the value to the
outermost call and produces result with the values from the previous return.
Note: This mechanism applies only to those problems, which repeats itself.
These types of problems can be implemented either through loops or recursive
functions, which one is better understood to you.
Check Your Progress 4

1. Write recursive functions for calculating power of a number ‘a’ raised by

another number ‘b’ i.e. ab

………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………

5.10 SUMMARY
In this unit, we learnt about “Functions”: definition, declaration, prototypes,
types, function calls datatypes and storage classes, types function invoking and
lastly Recursion. All these subtopics must have given you a clear idea of how
to create and call functions from other functions, how to send values through
arguments, and how to return values to the called function. We have seen that
the functions, which do not return any value, must be declared as “void”,
return type. A function can return only one value at a time, although it can
have many return statements. A function can return any of the data type
specified in ‘C’.

Any variable declared in functions are local to it and are created with function
call and destroyed with function return. The actual and formal arguments
should match in type, order and number. A recursive function should have a
terminating condition i.e. function should return a value instead of a repetitive
function call.

5.11 SOLUTIONS / ANSWERS

Check Your Progress 1
1. /* Function to multiply two integers */
int mul( int a, int b)
{
int c;
c = a*b;
136 return( c );
 } Functions

2. #include <stdio.h>
main()
{
int x, y, z;
int mul(int, int); /* function prototype */
printf(“Enter two numbers”);
scanf(“%d %d”, &x, &y);
z = mul(x, y); /* function call */
printf(“result is %d”, z); }

Check Your Progress 2

1. (a) Valid
(b) In valid
(c) Valid
(d) Valid
(e) Invalid

Check Your Progress 3

1. /* Function to print Fibonacci Series */

void fib(int n)
{
int curr_term, int count = 0;
int first = 1;
int second = 1;
print(“%d %d”, curr_term);
count = 2;
while(count < = n)
{ curr_term = first + second;
printf(“%d”, curr_term);
first = second;
second = curr_term;
count++;
}
}

2. /* Non Recursive Power function i.e. pow(a, b) */

int pow( int a, int b)

{
int i, p = 1;
for(i = 1; i < = b; i++)
p = p*a;
return(p);
}

Check Your Progress 4

1. /* Recursive Power Function */

int pow( int a, int b )

{ if( b = = 0 )
return(1);
else
return(a* pow(a, b-1 )); /* Recursive call */
137
Functions, Structures, }
Pointers and
File Handling in C /* Main Function */
main()
{
int a, b, p;
printf(“ Enter two numbers”);
scanf( “%d %d”, &a, &b );
p = pow(a, b); /* Function call */
printf( “ The result is %d”, p);
}

5.12 FURTHER READINGS

1. The C programming language, Brain W. Kernighan, Dennis M. Ritchie,
PHI
2. C,The Complete Reference, Fourth Edition, Herbert Schildt, Tata
McGraw Hill, 2002.
3. Computer Programming in C, Raja Raman. V, 2002, PHI.
5. C,The Complete Reference, Fourth Edition, Herbert Schildt, TMGH,2002.

138
 Structures and
UNIT 6 STRUCTURES AND UNIONS Unions

Structure

6.0 Introduction
6.1 Objectives
6.2 Declaration of Structures
6.3 Accessing the Members of a Structure
6.4 Initializing Structure Variables
6.5 Structures as Function Arguments
6.6 Structures and Arrays
6.7 Unions
6.8 Initializing an Union
6.9 Accessing the Members of an Union
6.10 Summary
6.11 Solutions / Answers
6.12 Further Readings

6.0 INTRODUCTION
We have seen so far how to store numbers, characters, strings, and even large sets of
these primitives using arrays, but what if we want to store collections of different
kinds of data that are somehow related. For example, a file about an employee will
probably have his/her name, age, the hours of work, salary, etc. Physically, all of that
is usually stored in someone’s filing cabinet. In programming, if you have lots of
related information, you group it together in an organized fashion. Let’s say you have
a group of employees, and you want to make a database! It just wouldn’t do to have
tons of loose variables hanging all over the place. Then we need to have a single data
entity where we will be able to store all the related information together. But this can’t
be achieved by using the arrays alone, as in the case of arrays, we can group multiple
data elements that are of the same data type, and is stored in consecutive memory
locations, and is individually accessed by a subscript. That is where the user-defined
datatype Structures come in.
Structure is commonly referred to as a user-defined data type. C’s structures allow
you to store multiple variables of any type in one place (the structure). A structure can
contain any of C’s data types, including arrays and other structures. Each variable
within a structure is called a member of the structure. They can hold any number of
variables, and you can make arrays of structures. This flexibility makes structures
ideally useful for creating databases in C. Similar to the structure there is another user
defined data type called Union which allows the programmer to view a single storage
in more than one way i.e., a variable declared as union can store within its storage
space, the data of different types, at different times. In this unit, we will be discussing
the user-defined data type structures and unions.

6.1 OBJECTIVES
After going through this unit you should be able to:

 declare and initialize the members of the structures;

 access the members of the structures;
 pass the structures as function arguments;
 declare the array of structures;
 declare and define union; and
 perform all operations on the variables of type Union.
139
Functions, Structures,
Pointers and
6.2 DECLARATION OF STRUCTURES
File Handling in C
To declare a structure you must start with the keyword struct followed by the
structure name or structure tag and within the braces the list of the structure’s
member variables. Note that the structure declaration does not actually create any
variables. The syntax for the structure declaration is as follows:

struct structure-tag {
datatype variable1;
datatype variable2;
dataype variable 3;
...
};

For example, consider the student database in which each student has a roll number,
name and course and the marks obtained. Hence to group this data with a structure-tag
as student, we can have the declaration of structure as:

struct student {
int roll_no;
char name[20];
char course[20];
int marks_obtained;
};

The point you need to remember is that, till this time no memory is allocated to the
structure. This is only the definition of structure that tells us that there exists a user-
defined data type by the name of student which is composed of the following
members. Using this structure type, we have to create the structure variables:

struct student stud1, stud2 ;

At this point, we have created two instances or structure variables of the user-defined
data type student. Now memory will be allocated. The amount of memory allocated
will be the sum of all the data members which form part of the structure template.

The second method is as follows:

struct {
int roll_no;
char name[20];
char course[20];
int marks_obtained;
} stud1,stud2;

In this case, a tag name student is missing, but still it happens to be a valid declaration
of structure. In this case the two variables are allocated memory equivalent to the
members of the structure.

The advantage of having a tag name is that we can declare any number of variables of
the tagged named structure later in the program as per requirement.

If you have a small structure that you just want to define in the program, you can do
the definition and declaration together as shown below. This will define a structure of
type struct telephone and declare three instances of it.

140
Consider the example for declaring and defining a structure for the telephone billing Structures and
Unions
with three instances:

struct telephone{
int tele_no;
int cust_code;
char cust_address[40];
int bill_amt;
}tele1, tele2, tele3;

The structure can also be declared by using the typedefinition or typedef. This can be
done as shown below:

typedef struct country{

char name[20];
int population;
char language[10];
}Country;

This defines a structure which can be referred to either as struct country or Country,
whichever you prefer. Strictly speaking, you don’t need a tag name both before and
after the braces if you are not going to use one or the other. But it is a standard
practice to put them both in and to give them the same name, but the one after the
braces starts with an uppercase letter.

The typedef statement doesn’t occupy storage: it simply defines a new type. Variables
that are declared with the typedef above will be of type struct country, just like
population is of type integer. The structure variables can be now defined as below:

Country Mexico, Canada, Brazil;

6.3 ACCESSING THE MEMBERS OF A

STRUCTURE
Individual structure members can be used like other variables of the same type.
Structure members are accessed using the structure member operator (.), also called
the dot operator, between the structure name and the member name. The syntax for
accessing the member of the structure is:

structurevariable. member-name;

Let us take the example of the coordinate structure.

struct coordinate{
int x;
int y;
};
Thus, to have the structure named first refer to a screen location that has coordinates
x=50, y=100, you could write as,
first.x = 50;
first.y = 100;

To display the screen locations stored in the structure second, you could write,

printf("%d,%d", second.x, second.y);

141
Functions, Structures, The individual members of the structure behave like ordinary date elements and can
Pointers and be accessed accordingly.
File Handling in C
Now let us see the following program to clarify our concepts. For example, let us see,
how will we go about storing and retrieving values of the individual data members of
the student structure.

Example 6.1

/*Program to store and retrieve the values from the student structure*/

#include<stdio.h>
struct student {
int roll_no;
char name[20];
char course[20];
int marks_obtained ;
};
main()
{
student s1 ;
printf(“Enter the student roll number:”);
scanf(“%d”,&s1.roll_no);
printf(“\nEnter the student name: “);
scanf(“%s”,s1.name);
printf(“\nEnter the student course”);
scanf(“%s”,s1.course);
printf(“Enter the student percentage\n”);
scanf(“%d”,&s1.marks_obtained);
printf(“\nData entry is complete”);
printf( “\nThe data entered is as follows:\n”);
printf(“\nThe student roll no is %d”,s1.roll_no);
printf(“\nThe student name is %s”,s1.name);
printf(“\nThe student course is %s”,s1.course);
printf(“\nThe student percentage is %d”,s1.marks_obtained);
}

OUTPUT

Enter the student roll number: 1234

Enter the student name: ARUN
Enter the student course: MCA
Enter the student percentage: 84
Date entry is complete

The data entered is as follows:

The student roll no is 1234
The student name is ARUN
The student course is MCA
The student percentage is 84

Another way of accessing the storing the values in the members of a structure is by
initializing them to some values at the time when we create an instance of the data
type.

142
 Structures and
6.4 INITIALIZING STRUCTURE VARIABLES Unions

Like other C variable types, structures can be initialized when they’re declared. This
procedure is similar to that for initializing arrays. The structure declaration is followed
by an equal sign and a list of initialization values is separated by commas and
enclosed in braces. For example, look at the following statements for initializing the
values of the members of the mysale structure variable.

Example 6.2

struct sale {
char customer[20];
char item[20];
float amt;
} mysale = { "XYZ Industries",
“toolskit",
600.00
};

In a structure that contains structures as members, list the initialization values in order.
They are placed in the structure members in the order in which the members are listed
in the structure definition. Here’s an example that expands on the previous one:

Example 6.3

struct customer {
char firm[20];
char contact[25];
}

struct sale {
struct customer buyer1;
char item [20];
float amt;
} mysale = {
{ "XYZ Industries", "Tyran Adams"},
"toolskit",
600.00
};

These statements perform the following initializations:

 the structure member mysale.buyer1.firm is initialized to the string “XYZ
Industries”.
 the structure member mysale.buyer1.contact is initialized to the string “Tyran
Adams”.
 the structure member mysale.item is initialized to the string "toolskit".
 the structure member mysale.amount is initialized to the amount 600.00.

For example let us consider the following program where the data members are
initialized to some value.

Example 6.4

Write a program to access the values of the structure initialized with some initial
values.

143
Functions, Structures, /* Program to illustrate to access the values of the structure initialized with some
Pointers and initial values*/
File Handling in C
#include<stdio.h>
struct telephone{
int tele_no;
int cust_code;
char cust_name[20];
char cust_address[40];
int bill_amt;
};
main()
{
struct telephone tele = {2314345,
5463,
"Ram",
"New Delhi",
2435 };

printf("The values are initialized in this program.");

printf("\nThe telephone number is %d",tele.tele_no);
printf("\nThe customer code is %d",tele.cust_code);
printf("\nThe customer name is %s",tele.cust_name);
printf("\nThe customer address is %s",tele.cust_address);
printf("\nThe bill amount is %d",tele.bill_amt);
}

OUTPUT

The values are initialized in this program.

The telephone number is 2314345
The customer code is 5463
The customer name is Ram
The customer Address is New Delhi
The bill amount is 2435

Check Your Progress 1

1. What is the difference between the following two declarations?

struct x1{……….};
typedef struct{………}x2;

…………………………………………………………………………………….

…………………………………………………………………………………….

…………………………………………………………………………………….

…………………………………………………………………………………….

…………………………………………………………………………………….

2. Why can’t you compare structures?

…………………………………………………………………………………….

…………………………………………………………………………………….

…………………………………………………………………………………….
144
 Structures and
3. Why does size of report a larger size than, one expects, for a structure type, as if Unions

there were padding at the end?

…………………………………………………………………………………….

…………………………………………………………………………………….

…………………………………………………………………………………….
…………………………………………………………………………………….

…………………………………………………………………………………….

4. Declare a structure and instance together to display the date.

…………………………………………………………………………………..

…………………………………………………………………………………..

…………………………………………………………………………………..
…………………………………………………………………………………..

…………………………………………………………………………………..

6.5 STRUCTURES AS FUNCTION ARGUMENTS

C is a structured programming language and the basic concept in it is the modularity
of the programs. This concept is supported by the functions in C language. Let us look
into the techniques of passing the structures to the functions. This can be achieved in
primarily two ways: Firstly, to pass them as simple parameter values by passing the
structure name and secondly, through pointers. We will be concentrating on the first
method in this unit and passing using pointers will be taken up in the next unit. Like
other data types, a structure can be passed as an argument to a function. The program
listing given below shows how to do this. It uses a function to display data on the
screen.

Example 6.5

Write a program to demonstrate passing a structure to a function.

/*Program to demonstrate passing a structure to a function.*/

#include <stdio.h>

/*Declare and define a structure to hold the data.*/

struct data{
float amt;
char fname [30];
char lname [30];
} per;

main()
{
void print_per(struct data x);
printf(“Enter the donor’s first and last names separated by a space:”);
scanf(“%s %s”, per.fname, per.lname);
printf(“\nEnter the amount donated in rupees:”); 145
Functions, Structures, scanf(“%f”, &per.amt);
Pointers and print_per(per);
File Handling in C return 0;
}

void print_per(struct data x)

{
printf("\n %s %s gave donation of amount Rs.%.2f.\n", x.fname, x.lname, x.amt);
}

OUTPUT

Enter the donor’s first and last names separated by a space: RAVI KANT
Enter the amount donated in rupees: 1000.00
RAVI KANT gave donation of the amount Rs. 1000.00.

You can also pass a structure to a function by passing the structure’s address(that is, a
pointer to the structure which we will be discussing in the next unit). In fact, in the
older versions of C, this was the only way to pass a structure as an argument. It is not
necessary now, but you might see the older programs that still use this method. If you
pass a pointer to a structure as an argument, remember that you must use the indirect
membership operator () to access structure members in the function.

Please note the following points with respect to passing the structure as a parameter to
a function.
 The return value of the called function must be declared as the value that is being
returned from the function. If the function is returning the entire structure then the
return value should be declared as struct with appropriate tag name.
 The actual and formal parameters for the structure data type must be the same as
the struct type.
 The return statement is required only when the function is returning some data.
 When the return values of type is struct, then it must be assigned to the structure
of identical type in the calling function.

Let us consider another example as shown in the Example 6.6, where structure salary
has three fields related to an employee, namely - name, no_days_worked and
daily_wage. To accept the values from the user we first call the function get_data that
gets the values of the members of the structure. Then using the wages function we
calculate the salary of the person and display it to the user.

Example 6.6

Write a program to accept the data from the user and calculate the salary of the person
using concept of functions.

/* Program to accept the data from the user and calculate the salary of the person*/

#include<stdio.h>
main()
{
struct sal {
char name[30];
int no_days_worked;
int daily_wage; };
struct sal salary;
struct sal get_dat(struct); /* function prototype*/
float wages(struct); /*function prototype*/
float amount_payable; /* variable declaration*/
146
 salary = get_data(salary); Structures and
Unions
printf(“The name of employee is %s”,salary.name);
printf(“Number of days worked is %d”,salary.no_daya_worked);
printf(“The daily wage of the employees is %d”,salary.daily_wage);
amount_payable = wages(salary);
printf(“The amount payable to %s is %f”,salary.name,amount_payable);
}

struct sal get_data(struct sal income)

{
printf(“Please enter the employee name:\n”);
scanf(“%s”,income.name);
printf(“Please enter the number of days worked:\n”);
scanf(“%d”,&income.no_days_worked);
printf(‘Please enter the employee daily wages:\n”);
scanf(“%d”,&income.daily_wages);
return(income);
}

float wages(struct)
{
struct sal amt;
int total_salary ;
total_salary = amt.no_days_worked * amt.daily_wages;
return(total_salary); }

Check Your Progress 2

1. How is structure passing and returning implemented?

…………………………………………………………………………………..
…………………………………………………………………………………..

…………………………………………………………………………………..

…………………………………………………………………………………..

…………………………………………………………………………………..

2. How can I pass constant values to functions which accept structure arguments?

…………………………………………………………………………………..

…………………………………………………………………………………..

…………………………………………………………………………………..

…………………………………………………………………………………..

…………………………………………………………………………………..
3. What will be the output of the program?

#include<stdio.h>
main()
{
struct pqr{
int x ;
};
struct pqr pqr ; 147
Functions, Structures, pqr.x =10 ;
Pointers and printf(“%d”, pqr.x);
File Handling in C }

…………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………

6.6 STRUCTURES AND ARRAYS

Thus far we have studied as to how the data of heterogeneous nature can be grouped
together and be referenced as a single unit of structure. Now we come to the next step
in our real world problem. Let’s consider the example of students and their marks. In
this case, to avoid declaring various data variables, we grouped together all the data
concerning the student’s marks as one unit and call it student. The problem that arises
now is that the data related to students is not going to be of a single student only. We
will be required to store data for a number of students. To solve this situation one way
is to declare a structure and then create sufficient number of variables of that structure
type. But it gets very cumbersome to manage such a large number of data variables, so
a better option is to declare an array.

So, revising the array for a few moments we would refresh the fact that an array is
simply a collection of homogeneous data types. Hence, if we make a declaration as:

int temp[20];

It simply means that temp is an array of twenty elements where each element is of
type integer, indicating homogenous data type. Now in the same manner, to extend the
concept a bit further to the structure variables, we would say,

struct student stud[20] ;

It means that stud is an array of twenty elements where each element is of the type
struct student (which is a user-defined data type we had defined earlier). The various
members of the stud array can be accessed in the similar manner as that of any other
ordinary array.

For example,
struct student stud[20], we can access the roll_no of this array as

stud[0].roll_no;
stud[1].roll_no;
stud[2].roll_no;
stud[3].roll_no;
…
…
…
stud[19].roll_no;

Please remember the fact that for an array of twenty elements the subscripts of the
array will be ranging from 0 to 19 (a total of twenty elements). So let us now start by
seeing how we will write a simple program using array of structures.

Example 6.7

Write a program to read and display data for 20 students.

148
 Structures and
Unions
/*Program to read and print the data for 20 students*/

#include <stdio.h>
struct student { int roll_no;
char name[20];
char course[20];
int marks_obtained ;
};
main()
{
struct student stud [20];
int i;
printf(“Enter the student data one by one\n”);
for(i=0; i<=19; i++)
{
printf(“Enter the roll number of %d student”,i+1);
scanf(“%d”,&stud[i].roll_no);
printf(“Enter the name of %d student”,i+1);
scanf(“%s”,stud[i].name);
printf(“Enter the course of %d student”,i+1);
scanf(“%d”,stud[i].course);
printf(“Enter the marks obtained of %d student”,i+1);
scanf(“%d”,&stud[i].marks_obtained);
}
printf(“the data entered is as follows\n”);
for(i=0;i<=19;i++)
{
printf(“The roll number of %d student is %d\n”,i+1,stud[i].roll_no);
printf(“The name of %d student is %s\n”,i+1,stud[i].name);
printf(“The course of %d student is %s\n”,i+1,stud[i].course);
printf(“The marks of %d student is %d\n”,i+1,stud[i].marks_obtained);
}
}

The above program explains to us clearly that the array of structure behaves as any
other normal array of any data type. Just by making use of the subscript we can access
all the elements of the structure individually.

Extending the above concept where we can have arrays as the members of the
structure. For example, let’s see the above example where we have taken a structure
for the student record. Hence in this case it is a real world requirement that each
student will be having marks of more than one subject. Hence one way to declare the
structure, if we consider that each student has 3 subjects, will be as follows:

struct student {
int roll_no;
char name[20];
char course[20];
int subject1 ;
int subject2;
int subject3;
};

The above described method is rather a bit cumbersome, so to make it more efficient
we can have an array inside the structure, that is, we have an array as the member of
the structure.
struct student {
149
Functions, Structures, int roll_no;
Pointers and char name[20];
File Handling in C char course[20];
int subject[3] ;
};

Hence to access the various elements of this array we can the program logic as
follows:

Example 6.8

/*Program to read and print data related to five students having marks of three
subjects each using the concept of arrays */

#include<stdio.h>
struct student {
int roll_no;
char name[20];
char course[20];
int subject[3] ;
};
main()
{
struct student stud[5];
int i,j;
printf(“Enter the data for all the students:\n”);
for(i=0;i<=4;i++)
{
printf(“Enter the roll number of %d student”,i+1);
scanf(“%d”,&stud[i].roll_no);
printf(“Enter the name of %d student”,i+1);
scanf(“%s”,stud[i].name);
printf(“Enter the course of %d student”,i+1);
scanf(“%s”,stud[i].course);
for(j=0;j<=2;j++)
{
printf(“Enter the marks of the %d subject of the student %d:\n”,j+1,i+1);
scanf(“%d”,&stud[i].subject[j]);
}
}
printf(“The data you have entered is as follows:\n”);
for(i=0;i<=4;i++)
{
printf(“The %d th student's roll number is %d\n”,i+1,stud[i].roll_no);
printf(“The %d the student's name is %s\n”,i+1,stud[i].name);
printf(“The %d the student's course is %s\n”,i+1,stud[i].course);
for(j=0;j<=2;j++)
{
printf(“The %d the student's marks of %d I subject are %d\n”,i+1, j+1,
stud[i].subject[j]);
}
}
printf(“End of the program\n”);
}

Hence as described in the example above, the array as well as the arrays of structures
can be used with efficiency to resolve the major hurdles faced in the real world
programming environment.
150
 Structures and
6.7 UNIONS Unions

Structures are a way of grouping homogeneous data together. But it often happens that
at any time we require only one of the member’s data. For example, in case of the
support price of shares you require only the latest quotations. And only the ones that
have changed need to be stored. So if we declare a structure for all the scripts, it will
only lead to crowding of the memory space. Hence it is beneficial if we allocate space
to only one of the members. This is achieved with the concepts of the UNIONS.
UNIONS are similar to STRUCTURES in all respects but differ in the concept of
storage space.

A UNION is declared and used in the same way as the structures. Yet another
difference is that only one of its members can be used at any given time. Since all
members of a Union occupy the same memory and storage space, the space allocated
is equal to the largest data member of the Union. Hence, the member which has been
updated last is available at any given time.

For example a union can be declared using the syntax shown below:

union union-tag {
datatype variable1;
datatype variable2;
...
};

For example,

union temp{
int x;
char y;
float z;
};

In this case a float is the member which requires the largest space to store its value
hence the space required for float(4 bytes) is allocated to the union. All members
share the same space. Let us see how to access the members of the union.

Example 6.9

Write a program to illustrate the concept of union.

/* Declare a union template called tag */

union tag {
int nbr;
char character;
}
/* Use the union template */
union tag mixed_variable;
/* Declare a union and instance together */
union generic_type_tag {
char c;
int i;
float f;
double d;
} generic;

151
Functions, Structures,
Pointers and
6.8 INITIALIZING AN UNION
File Handling in C
Let us see, how to initialize a Union with the help of the following example:

Example 6.10
union date_tag {
char complete_date [9];
struct part_date_tag {
char month[2];
char break_value1;
char day[2];
char break_value2;
char year[2];
} parrt_date;
}date = {“01/01/05”};

6.9 ACCESSING THE MEMBERS OF AN UNION

Individual union members can be used in the same way as the structure members, by
using the member operator or dot operator(.). However, there is an important
difference in accessing the union members. Only one union member should be
accessed at a time. Because a union stores its members on top of each other, it’s
important to access only one member at a time. Trying to access the previously stored
values will result in erroneous output.

Check Your Progress 3

1. What will be the output?

#include<stdio.h>
main()
{
union{
struct{
char x;
char y;
char z;
char w;
}xyz;

struct{
int p;
int q ;
}pq;
long a ;
float b;
double d;
}prq;
printf (“%d”,sizeof(prq));
}

152
 Structures and
6.10 SUMMARY Unions

In this unit, we have learnt how to use structures, a data type that you design to meet
the needs of a program. A structure can contain any of C’s data types, including other
structures, pointers, and arrays. Each data item within a structure, called a member, is
accessed using the structure member operator (.) between the structure name and the
member name. Structures can be used individually, and can also be used in arrays.

Unions were presented as being similar to structures. The main difference between a
union and a structure is that the union stores all its members in the same area. This
means that only one member of a union can be used at a time.

6.11 SOLUTIONS / ANSWERS

Check Your Progress 1
1. The first form declares a structure tag; the second declares a typedef. The main
difference is that the second declaration is of a slightly more abstract type - users
do not necessarily know that it is a structure, and the keyword struct is not used
while declaring an instance.

2. There is no single correct way for a compiler to implement a structure comparison

consistent with C’s low-level flavor. A simple byte-by-byte comparison could
detect the random bits present in the unused “holes” in the structure (such padding
is used to keep the alignment of later fields correct). A field-by-field comparison
for a large structure might require an inordinate repetitive code.

3. Structures may have this padding (as well as internal padding), to ensure that
alignment properties will be preserved when an array of contiguous structures is
allocated. Even when the structure is not part of an array, the end padding remains,
so that sizeof can always return a consistent size.

4. struct date {
char month[2];
char day[2];
char year[4];
} current_date;

Check Your Progress 2

1. When structures are passed as arguments to functions, the entire structure is

typically pushed on the stack, using as many words. (Programmers often choose
to use pointers instead, to avoid this overhead). Some compilers merely pass a
pointer to the structure, though they may have to make a local copy to preserve
pass-by value semantics.

Structures are often returned from functions in a pointed location by an extra,

compiler-supplied “hidden” argument to the function. Some older compilers used
a special, static location for structure returns, although this made structure -
valued functions non-reentrant, which ANSI C disallows.

2. C has no way of generating anonymous structure values. You will have to use a
temporary structure variable or a little structure - building function.

3. 10
Check Your Progress 3
1. 8 153
Functions, Structures,
Pointers and
6.12 FURTHER READINGS
File Handling in C

1. The C Programming Language, Kernighan & Richie, PHI Publication, 2002.

2. Computer Science A structured programming approach using C,
Behrouza .Forouzan, Richard F. Gilberg, Second Edition, Brooks/Cole, Thomson
Learning, 2001.
3. Programming with C, Schaum Outlines, Second Edition, Gottfried, Tata McGraw
Hill, 2003.

154
 Pointers
UNIT 7 POINTERS

Structure

7.0 Introduction
7.1 Objectives
7.2 Pointers and their Characteristics
7.3 Address and Indirection Operators
7.4 Pointer Type Declaration and Assignment
7.4.1 Pointer to a Pointer
7.4.2 Null Pointer Assignment
7.5 Pointer Arithmetic
7.6 Passing Pointers to Functions
7.6.1 A Function Returning More than One Value
7.6.2 Function Returning a Pointer
7.7 Arrays and Pointers
7.8 Array of Pointers
7.9 Pointers and Strings
7.10 Summary
7.11 Solutions / Answers
7.12 Further Readings

7.0 INTRODUCTION

If you want to be proficient in the writing of code in the C programming language,

you must have a thorough working knowledge of how to use pointers. One of those
things, beginners in C find difficult is the concept of pointers. The purpose of this
unit is to provide an introduction to pointers and their efficient use in the C
programming. Actually, the main difficulty lies with the C’s pointer terminology than
the actual concept.

C uses pointers in three main ways. First, they are used to create dynamic data
structures: data structures built up from blocks of memory allocated from the heap at
run-time. Second, C uses pointers to handle variable parameters passed to functions.
And third, pointers in C provide an alternative means of accessing information stored
in arrays, which is especially valuable when you work with strings.

A normal variable is a location in memory that can hold a value. For example, when
you declare a variable i as an integer, four bytes of memory is set aside for it. In your
program, you refer to that location in memory by the name i. At the machine level,
that location has a memory address, at which the four bytes can hold one integer value.
A pointer is a variable that points to another variable. This means that it holds the
memory address of another variable. Put another way, the pointer does not hold a
value in the traditional sense; instead, it holds the address of another variable. It points
to that other variable by holding its address.

Because a pointer holds an address rather than a value, it has two parts. The pointer
itself holds the address. That addresses points to a value. There is the pointer and the
value pointed to. As long as you’re careful to ensure that the pointers in your
programs always point to valid memory locations, pointers can be useful, powerful,
and relatively trouble-free tools. 155
Functions, Structures,
Pointers and We will start this unit with a basic introduction to pointers and the concepts
File Handling in C surrounding pointers, and then move on to the three techniques described above.
Thorough knowledge of the pointers is very much essential for your future courses
like the data structures etc..

7.1 OBJECTIVES

After going through this unit you should be able to:

 understand the concept and use pointers;

 address and use of indirection operators;
 make pointer type declaration, assignment and initialization;
 use null pointer assignment;
 use the pointer arithmetic;
 handle pointers to functions;
 see the underlying unit of arrays and pointers; and
 understand the concept of dynamic memory allocation.

7.2 POINTERS AND THEIR CHARACTERISTICS

Computer’s memory is made up of a sequential collection of storage cells called

bytes. Each byte has a number called an address associated with it. When we declare
a variable in our program, the compiler immediately assigns a specific block of
memory to hold the value of that variable. Since every cell has a unique address, this
block of memory will have a unique starting address. The size of this block depends
on the range over which the variable is allowed to vary. For example, on 32 bit PC’s
the size of an integer variable is 4 bytes. On older 16 bit PC’s integers were 2 bytes.
In C the size of a variable type such as an integer need not be the same on all types of
machines. If you want to know the size of the various data types on your system,
running the following code given in the Example 7.1 will give you the information.

Example 7.1

Write a program to know the size of the various data types on your system.

# include <stdio.h>
main()
{
printf(“n Size of a int = %d bytes”, sizeof(int));
printf(“\n Size of a float = %d bytes”, sizeof(float));
printf(“\n Size of a char = %d bytes”, sizeof(char));
}

OUTPUT

Size of int = 2 bytes

Size of float = 4 bytes
Size of char = 1 byte

An ordinary variable is a location in memory that can hold a value. For example,
when you declare a variable num as an integer, the compiler sets aside 2 bytes of
memory (depends up the PC) to hold the value of the integer. In your program, you
refer to that location in memory by the name num. At the machine level that location
has a memory address.

156
int num = 100; Pointers

We can access the value 100 either by the name num or by its memory address. Since
addresses are simply digits, they can be stored in any other variable. Such variables
that hold addresses of other variables are called Pointers. In other words, a pointer is
simply a variable that contains an address, which is a location of another variable in
memory. A pointer variable “points to” another variable by holding its address.
Since a pointer holds an address rather than a value, it has two parts. The pointer
itself holds the address. That addresses points to a value. There is a pointer and the
value pointed to. This fact can be a little confusing until you get comfortable with it,
but once you get familiar with it, then it is extremely easy and very powerful. One
good way to visualize this concept is to examine the figure 7.1 given below:

num
2 bytes – integer variable

ch
1 byte – character variable
temp

4 bytes – float variable

ptr1
2 bytes – int pointer variable

ptr2
2 bytes – char pointer variable

Figure 7.1: Concept of pointer variables

Let us see the important features of the pointers as follows:

Characteristic features of Pointers:

With the use of pointers in programming,

i. The program execution time will be faster as the data is manipulated with the
help of addresses directly.
ii. Will save the memory space.
iii. The memory access will be very efficient.
iv. Dynamic memory is allocated.

7.3 THE ADDRESS AND INDIRECTION OPERATORS

Now we will consider how to determine the address of a variable. The operator that is
available in C for this purpose is “&” (address of ) operator. The operator & and the
immediately preceding variable returns the address of the variable associated with it.
C’s other unary pointer operator is the “*”, also called as value at address or
indirection operator. It returns a value stored at that address. Let us look into the
illustrative example given below to understand how they are useful.

157
Functions, Structures,
Example 7.2
Pointers and
File Handling in C Write a program to print the address associated with a variable and value
stored at that address.

/* Program to print the address associated with a variable and value stored at that
address*/

# include <stdio.h>
main()
{
int qty = 5;
printf("Address of qty = %u\n",&qty);
printf("Value of qty = %d \n",qty);
printf("Value of qty = %d",*(&qty));
}

OUTPUT

Address of qty = 65524

Value of qty = 5
Value of qty = 5

Look at the printf statement carefully. The format specifier %u is taken to increase
the range of values the address can possibly cover. The system-generated address of
the variable is not fixed, as this can be different the next time you execute the same
program. Remember unary operator operates on single operands. When & is
preceded by the variable qty, has returned its address. Note that the & operator can
be used only with simple variables or array elements. It cannot be applied to
expressions, constants, or register variables.

Observe the third line of the above program. *(&qty) returns the value stored at
address 65524 i.e. 5 in this case. Therefore, qty and *(&qty) will both evaluate to 5.

7.4 POINTER TYPE DECLARATION AND

ASSIGNMENT

We have seen in the previous section that &qty returns the address of qty and this
address can be stored in a variable as shown below:

ptr = &qty;

In C, every variable must be declared for its data type before it is used. Even this
holds good for the pointers too. We know that ptr is not an ordinary variable like any
integer variable. We declare the data type of the pointer variable as that of the type of
the data that will be stored at the address to which it is pointing to. Since ptr is a
variable, which contains the address of an integer variable qty, it can be declared as:

int *ptr;

where ptr is called a pointer variable. In C, we define a pointer variable by preceding

its name with an asterisk(*). The “*” informs the compiler that we want a pointer
variable, i.e. to set aside the bytes that are required to store the address in memory.
The int says that we intend to use our pointer variable to store the address of an
integer. Consider the following memory map:

158
 ptr qty Variable Pointers

65524 100 Value

65522 65524 Address

Let us look into an example given below:

Example 7.3

/* Program below demonstrates the relationships we have discussed so far */

# include <stdio.h>
main()
{
int qty = 5;
int *ptr; /* declares ptr as a pointer variable that points to an integer variable
*/
ptr = &qty; /* assigning qty’s address to ptr -> Pointer Assignment */

printf("Address of qty = %u \n", &qty);

printf("Address of qty = %u \n", ptr);
printf("Address of ptr = %u \n", &ptr);
printf("Value of ptr = %d \n", ptr);
printf("Value of qty = %d \n", qty);
printf("Value of qty = %d \n", *(&qty));
printf("Value of qty = %d", *ptr);
}

OUTPUT

Address of qty = 65524

Address of ptr = 65522
Value of ptr = 65524
Value of qty = 5
Value of qty = 5
Value of qty = 5

Try this as well:

Example 7.4

/* Program that tries to reference the value of a pointer even though the pointer is
uninitialized */

# include <stdio.h>
main()
{
int *p; /* a pointer to an integer */
*p = 10;
printf(“the value is %d”, *p);
printf(“the value is %u”,p);
}

This gives you an error. The pointer p is uninitialized and points to a random location
in memory when you declare it. It could be pointing into the system stack, or the
global variables, or into the program’s code space, or into the operating system.
159
Functions, Structures,
When you say *p=10; the program will simply try to write a 10 to whatever random
Pointers and location p points to. The program may explode immediately. It may subtly corrupt
File Handling in C data in another part of your program and you may never realize it. Almost always, an
uninitialized pointer or a bad pointer address causes the fault.

This can make it difficult to track down the error. Make sure you initialize all
pointers to a valid address before dereferencing them.

Within a variable declaration, a pointer variable can be initialized by assigning it the

address of another variable. Remember the variable whose address is assigned to the
pointer variable must be declared earlier in the program. In the example given below,
let us assign the pointer p with an address and also a value 10 through the *p.

Example 7.5

Let us say,

int x; /* x is initialized to a value 10*/

p = &x; /* Pointer declaration & Assignment */
*p=10;

Let us write the complete program as shown below:

# include <stdio.h>
main()
{
int *p; /* a pointer to an integer */
int x;
p = &x;
*p=10;
printf("The value of x is %d",*p);
printf("\nThe address in which the x is stored is %d",p);
}

OUTPUT

The value of x is 10
The address in which the x is stored is 52004

This statement puts the value of 20 at the memory location whose address is the value
of px. As we know that the value of px is the address of x and so the old value of x is
replaced by 20. This is equivalent to assigning 20 to x. Thus we can change the value
of a variable indirectly using a pointer and the indirection operator.

7.4.1 Pointer to a Pointer

The concept of pointer can be extended further. As we have seen earlier, a pointer
variable can be assigned the address of an ordinary variable. Now, this variable itself
could be another pointer. This means that a pointer can contain address of another
pointer. The following program will makes you the concept clear.

Example 7.6

/* Program that declares a pointer to a pointer */

# include<stdio.h>
main()
{
160
 int i = 100; Pointers
int *pi;
int **pii;
pi = &i;
pii = &pi;

printf ("Address of i = %u \n", &i);

printf("Address of i = %u \n", pi);
printf("Address of i = %u \n", *pii);
printf("Address of pi = %u \n", &pi);
printf("Address of pi = %u \n", pii);
printf("Address of pii = %u \n", &pii);
printf("Value of i = %d \n", i);
printf("Value of i = %d \n", *(&i));
printf("Value of i = %d \n", *pi);
printf("Value of i = %d", **pii);
}

OUTPUT

Address of i = 65524
Address of i = 65524
Address of i = 65524
Address of pi = 65522
Address of pi = 65522
Address of pii = 65520

Value of i = 100
Value of i = 100
Value of i = 100
Value of i = 100

Consider the following memory map for the above shown example:

pii pi i Variable
65522 65524 100 Value

65520 65522 65524 Address

7.4.2 Null Pointer Assignment

It does make sense to assign an integer value to a pointer variable. An exception is an
assignment of 0, which is sometimes used to indicate some special condition. A
macro is used to represent a null pointer. That macro goes under the name NULL.
Thus, setting the value of a pointer using the NULL, as with an assignment statement
such as ptr = NULL, tells that the pointer has become a null pointer. Similarly, as
one can test the condition for an integer value as zero or not, like if (i == 0), as well
we can test the condition for a null pointer using if(ptr == NULL) or you can even
set a pointer to NULL to indicate that it’s no longer in use. Let us see an example
given below.

Example 7.7

# include<stdio.h>
# define NULL 0
161
Functions, Structures,
main()
Pointers and {
File Handling in C int *pi = NULL;
printf(“The value of pi is %u”, pi);
}

OUTPUT

The value of pi is 0

Check Your Progress 1

1. How is a pointer variable being declared? What is the purpose of data type
included in the pointer declaration?

……………………………………………………………………………………

……………………………………………………………………………………

……………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………
2. What would be the output of following programs?

(i) void main()

{
int i = 5;
printf("Value of i = %d Address of i = %u", i, &i);
&i = 65534;
printf("\n New value of i = %d New Address of i = %u", i, &i);
}

(ii) void main()

{
int *i, *j;
j = i * 2;
printf("j = %u", j);
}

……………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………
3. Explain the effect of the following statements:

(i) int x = 10, *px = &x;

(ii) char *pc;

(iii) int x;
void *ptr = &x;
*(int *) ptr = 10;

…………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………
162
 Pointers

7.5 POINTER ARITHMETIC

Pointer variables can also be used in arithmetic expressions. The following

operations can be carried out on pointers:

1. Pointers can be incremented or decremented to point to different locations like

ptr1 = ptr2 + 3;
ptr ++;
-- ptr;

However, ptr++ will cause the pointer ptr to point the next address value of its type.
For example, if ptr is a pointer to float with an initial value of 65526, then after the
operation ptr ++ or ptr = ptr+1, the value of ptr would be 65530. Therefore, if we
increment or decrement a pointer, its value is increased or decreased by the length of
the data type that it points to.

2. If ptr1 and ptr2 are properly declared and initialized pointers, the following
operations are valid:

res = res + *ptr1;

*ptr1 = *ptr2 + 5;
prod = *ptr1 * *ptr2;
quo = *ptr1 / *ptr2;

Note that there is a blank space between / and * in the last statement because if you
write /* together, then it will be considered as the beginning of a comment and the
statement will fail.

3. Expressions like ptr1 == ptr2, ptr1 < ptr2, and ptr2 != ptr1 are permissible
provided the pointers ptr1 and ptr2 refer to same and related variables. These
comparisons are common in handling arrays.

Suppose p1 and p2 are pointers to related variables. The following operations cannot
work with respect to pointers:

1. Pointer variables cannot be added. For example, p1 = p1 + p2 is not valid.

2. Multiplication or division of a pointer with a constant is not allowed. For

example, p1 * p2 or p2 / 5 are invalid.

3. An invalid pointer reference occurs when a pointer’s value is referenced even

though the pointer doesn’t point to a valid block. Suppose p and q are two
pointers. If we say, p = q; when q is uninitialized. The pointer p will then
become uninitialized as well, and any reference to *p is an invalid pointer
reference.

7.6 PASSING POINTERS TO FUNCTIONS

As we have studied in the FUNCITONS that arguments can generally be passed to

functions in one of the two following ways:

1. Pass by value method

2. Pass by reference method

163
Functions, Structures,
In the first method, when arguments are passed by value, a copy of the values of
Pointers and actual arguments is passed to the calling function. Thus, any changes made to the
File Handling in C variables inside the function will have no effect on variables used in the actual
argument list.

However, when arguments are passed by reference (i.e. when a pointer is passed as
an argument to a function), the address of a variable is passed. The contents of that
address can be accessed freely, either in the called or calling function. Therefore, the
function called by reference can change the value of the variable used in the call.

Here is a simple program that illustrates the difference.

Example 7.8

Write a program to swap the values using the pass by value and pass by reference
methods.

/* Program that illustrates the difference between ordinary arguments, which are
passed by value, and pointer arguments, which are passed by reference */

# include <stdio.h>
main()
{
int x = 10;
int y = 20;
void swapVal( int, int ); /* function prototype */
void swapRef( int *, int * ); /*function prototype*/
printf("PASS BY VALUE METHOD\n");
printf("Before calling function swapVal x=%d y=%d",x,y);
swapVal(x, y); /* copy of the arguments are passed */
printf("\nAfter calling function swapVal x=%d y=%d",x,y);
printf("\n\nPASS BY REFERENCE METHOD");
printf("\nBefore calling function swapRef x=%d y=%d",x,y);
swapRef(&x,&y); /*address of arguments are passed */
printf("\nAfter calling function swapRef x=%d y=%d",x,y);
}

/* Function using the pass by value method*/

void swapVal(int x, int y)
{
int temp;
temp = x;
x = y;
y = temp;
printf("\nWithin function swapVal x=%d y=%d",x,y);
return;
}

/*Function using the pass by reference method*/

void swapRef(int *px, int *py)
{
int temp;
temp = *px;
*px = *py;
*py = temp;
printf("\nWithin function swapRef *px=%d *py=%d",*px,*py);
return;
}
164
 Pointers
OUTPUT

PASS BY VALUE METHOD

Before calling function swapVal x=10 y=20
Within function swapVal x=20 y=10
After calling function swapVal x=10 y=20

PASS BY REFERENCE METHOD

Before calling function swapRef x=10 y=20
Within function swapRef *px=20 *py=10
After calling function swapRef x=20 y=10

This program contains two functions, swapVal and swapRef.

In the function swapVal, arguments x and y are passed by value. So, any changes to
the arguments are local to the function in which the changes occur. Note the values of
x and y remain unchanged even after exchanging the values of x and y inside the
function swapVal.

Now consider the function swapRef. This function receives two pointers to integer
variables as arguments identified as pointers by the indirection operators that appear
in argument declaration. This means that in the function swapRef, arguments x and y
are passed by reference. So, any changes made to the arguments inside the function
swapRef are reflected in the function main(). Note the values of x and y is
interchanged after the function call swapRef.

7.6.1 A Function returning more than one value

Using call by reference method we can make a function return more than one value at
a time, which is not possible in the call by value method. The following program will
makes you the concept very clear.

Example 7.9

Write a program to find the perimeter and area of a rectangle, if length and breadth
are given by the user.

/* Program to find the perimeter and area of a rectangle*/

#include <stdio.h>
void main()
{
float len,br;
float peri, ar;
void periarea(float length, float breadth, float *, float *);
printf("\nEnter the length and breadth of a rectangle in metres: \n");
scanf("%f %f",&len,&br);
periarea(len,br,&peri,&ar);
printf("\nPerimeter of the rectangle is %f metres", peri);
printf("\nArea of the rectangle is %f sq. metres", ar);
}

void periarea(float length, float breadth, float *perimeter, float *area)

{
*perimeter = 2 *(length +breadth);
*area = length * breadth;
}
165
Functions, Structures,
Pointers and OUTPUT
File Handling in C
Enter the length and breadth of a rectangle in metres:
23.0 3.0
Perimeter of the rectangle is 52.000000 metres
Area of the rectangle is 69.000000 sq. metres

Here in the above program, we have seen that the function periarea is returning two
values. We are passing the values of len and br but, addresses of peri and ar. As we
are passing the addresses of peri and ar, any change that we make in values stored at
addresses contained in the variables *perimeter and *area, would make the change
effective even in main() also.

7.6.2 Function returning a pointer

A function can also return a pointer to the calling program, the way it returns an int, a
float or any other data type. To return a pointer, a function must explicitly mention in
the calling program as well as in the function prototype. Let’s illustrate this with an
example:

Example: 7.10

Write a program to illustrate a function returning a pointer.

/*Program that shows how a function returns a pointer */

# include<stdio.h>

void main()
{
float *a;
float *func(); /* function prototype */
a = func();
printf("Address = %u", a);
}
float *func()
{
float r = 5.2;
return(&r);
}

OUTPUT

Address = 65516

This program only shows how a function can return a pointer. This concept will be
used later while handling arrays.

Check Your Progress 2

1. Tick mark(  )whether each of the following statements are true or false.

(i) An integer is subtracted from a pointer variable. True False

(ii) Pointer variables can be compared. True False

(iii) Pointer arguments are passed by value. True False

166
 Pointers
(iv) Value of a local variable in a function can be
changed by another function. True False

(v) A function can return more than one value. True False

(vi) A function can return a pointer. True False

7.7 ARRAYS AND POINTERS

Pointers and arrays are so closely related. An array declaration such as int arr[ 5 ]
will lead the compiler to pick an address to store a sequence of 5 integers, and arr is a
name for that address. The array name in this case is the address where the sequence
of integers starts. Note that the value is not the first integer in the sequence, nor is it
the sequence in its entirety. The value is just an address.

Now, if arr is a one-dimensional array, then the address of the first array element can
be written as &arr[0] or simply arr. Moreover, the address of the second array
element can be written as &arr[1] or simply (arr+1). In general, address of array
element (i+1) can be expressed as either &arr[ i] or as (arr+ i). Thus, we have two
different ways for writing the address of an array element. In the latter case i.e,
expression (arr+ i) is a symbolic representation for an address rather than an
arithmetic expression. Since &arr[ i] and (ar+ i) both represent the address of the ith
element of arr, so arr[ i] and *(ar + i) both represent the contents of that address i.e.,
the value of ith element of arr.

Note that it is not possible to assign an arbitrary address to an array name or to an

array element. Thus, expressions such as arr, (arr+ i) and arr[ i] cannot appear on
the left side of an assignment statement. Thus we cannot write a statement such as:

&arr[0] = &arr[1]; /* Invalid */

However, we can assign the value of one array element to another through a pointer,
for example,

ptr = &arr[0]; /* ptr is a pointer to arr[ 0] */

arr[1] = *ptr; /* Assigning the value stored at address to arr[1] */

Here is a simple program that will illustrate the above-explained concepts:

Example 7.11

/* Program that accesses array elements of a one-dimensional array using pointers */

# include<stdio.h>
main()
{

int arr[ 5 ] = {10, 20, 30, 40, 50};

int i;

for(i = 0; i < 5; i++)

{
printf("i=%d\t arr[i]=%d\t *(arr+i)=%d\t", i, arr[i], *(arr+i));
printf("&arr[i]=%u\t arr+i=%u\n", &arr[i],(arr+i)); }
}
167
Functions, Structures,
Pointers and OUTPUT:
File Handling in C
i=0 arr[i]=10 *(arr+i)=10 &arr[i]=65516 arr+i=65516
i=1 arr[i]=20 *(arr+i)=20 &arr[i]=65518 arr+i=65518
i=2 arr[i]=30 *(arr+i)=30 &arr[i]=65520 arr+i=65520
i=3 arr[i]=40 *(arr+i)=40 &arr[i]=65522 arr+i=65522
i=4 arr[i]=50 *(arr+i)=50 &arr[i]=65524 arr+i=65524

Note that i is added to a pointer value (address) pointing to integer data type (i.e., the
array name) the result is the pointer is increased by i times the size (in bytes) of
integer data type. Observe the addresses 65516, 65518 and so on. So if ptr is a char
pointer, containing addresses a, then ptr+1 is a+1. If ptr is a float pointer, then ptr+
1 is a+ 4.

Pointers and Multidimensional Arrays

C allows multidimensional arrays, lays them out in memory as contiguous locations,
and does more behind the scenes address arithmetic. Consider a 2-dimensional array.

int arr[ 3 ][ 3 ] = {{1, 2, 3}, {4, 5, 6}, {7, 8, 9}};

The compiler treats a 2 dimensional array as an array of arrays. As you know, an

array name is a pointer to the first element within the array. So, arr points to the first
3-element array, which is actually the first row (i.e., row 0) of the two-dimensional
array. Similarly, (arr + 1) points to the second 3-element array (i.e., row 1) and so
on. The value of this pointer, *(arr + 1), refers to the entire row. Since row 1 is a one-
dimensional array, (arr + 1) is actually a pointer to the first element in row 1. Now
add 2 to this pointer. Hence, (*(arr + 1) + 2) is a pointer to element 2 (i.e., the third
element) in row 1. The value of this pointer, *(*(arr + 1) + 2), refers to the element
in column 2 of row 1. These relationships are illustrated below:

arr 1 2 3 First 1-d array

y
(arr+1) 4 5 6 Second 1-d array

(arr + 2) 7 8 9 Third 1-d array

*(arr + 2) *(*(arr+2) + 2)

7.8 ARRAY OF POINTERS

The way there can be an array of integers, or an array of float numbers, similarly,
there can be array of pointers too. Since a pointer contains an address, an array of
pointers would be a collection of addresses. For example, a multidimensional array
can be expressed in terms of an array of pointers rather than a pointer to a group of
contiguous arrays.

Two-dimensional array can be defined as a one-dimensional array of integer pointers

by writing:

int *arr[3];
168
rather than the conventional array definition, Pointers

int arr[3][5];

Similarly, an n-dimensional array can be defined as (n-1)-dimensional array of

pointers by writing

data-type *arr[subscript 1] [subscript 2]…. [subscript n-1];

The subscript1, subscript2 indicate the maximum number of elements associated with
each subscript.

Example 7.12

Write a program in which a two-dimensional array is represented as an array of

integer pointers to a set of single-dimensional integer arrays.

/* Program calculates the difference of the corresponding elements of two table of

integers */

# include <stdio.h>
# include <stdlib.h>
# define MAXROWS 3
void main()
{
int *ptr1[MAXROWS], *ptr2 [MAXROWS], *ptr3 [MAXROWS];
int rows, cols, i, j;
void inputmat(int *[ ], int, int);
void dispmat(int *[ ], int, int);
void calcdiff(int *[ ], int *[ ], int *[ ], int, int);

printf("Enter no. of rows & columns \n");

scanf("%d%d", &rows, &cols);

for(i = 0; i < rows; i++)

{
ptr1[ i ] =(int *) malloc(cols * sizeof(int));
ptr2[ i ] =(int *) malloc(cols * sizeof(int));
ptr3[ i ] =(int *) malloc(cols * sizeof(int));
}

printf("Enter values in first matrix \n");

inputmat(ptr1, rows, cols);
printf("Enter values in second matrix \n");
inputmat(ptr2, rows, cols);
calcdiff(ptr1, ptr2, ptr3, rows, cols);
printf("Display difference of the two matrices \n");
dispmat(ptr3, rows, cols);
}

void inputmat(int *ptr1[MAXROWS], int m, int n)

{
int i, j;
for(i = 0; i < m; i++)
{
for(j = 0; j < n; j++)
{
scanf("%d",(*(ptr1 + i) + j));
169
Functions, Structures,
}
Pointers and }
File Handling in C return;
}

void dispmat(int *ptr3[ MAXROWS ], int m, int n)

{
int i, j;
for(i = 0; i < m; i++)
{
for(j = 0; j < n; j++)
{
printf("%d ", *(*(ptr3 + i) + j));
}
printf("\n");
}
return;
}

void calcdiff(int *ptr1[ MAXROWS ], int *ptr2 [ MAXROWS ],

int *ptr3[MAXROWS], int m, int n)
{
int i, j;
for(i = 0; i < m; i++)
{
for(j = 0; j < n; j++)
{
*(*(ptr3 + i) + j) = *(*(ptr1 + i) + j) - *(*(ptr2 + i) + j);
}
}
return;
}

OUTPUT

Enter no. of rows & columns

3 3
Enter values in first matrix
2 6 3
5 9 3
1 0 2
Enter values in second matrix
3 5 7
2 8 2
1 0 1
Display difference of the two matrices
-1 1 -4
3 1 1
0 0 1

In this program, ptr1, ptr2, ptr3 are each defined as an array of pointers to integers.
Each array has a maximum of MAXROWS elements. Since each element of ptr1,
ptr2, ptr3 is a pointer, we must provide each pointer with enough memory for each
row of integers. This can be done using the library function malloc included in
stdlib.h header file as follows:

ptr1[ i ] =(int *) malloc(cols * sizeof(int));

170
This function reserves a block of memory whose size(in bytes) is equivalent to cols * Pointers
sizeof(int). Since cols = 3, so 3 * 2(size of int data type) i.e., 6 is allocated to each
ptr1[ 1 ], ptr1[ 2 ] and ptr1[ 3 ]. This malloc function returns a pointer of type void.
This means that we can assign it to any type of pointer. In this case, the pointer is
type-casted to an integer type and assigned to the pointer ptr1[ 1 ], ptr1[ 2 ] and
ptr1[ 3 ]. Now, each of ptr1[ 1 ], ptr1[ 2 ] and ptr1[ 3 ] points to the first byte of the
memory allocated to the corresponding set of one-dimensional integer arrays of the
original two-dimensional array.

The process of calculating and allocating memory at run time is known as dynamic
memory allocation. The library routine malloc can be used for this purpose.

Instead of using conventional array notation, pointer notation has been used for
accessing the address and value of corresponding array elements which has been
explained to you in the previous section. The difference of the array elements within
the function calcdiff is written as

*(*(ptr3 + i) + j) = *(*(ptr1 + i) + j) - *(*(ptr2 + i) + j);

7.9 POINTERS AND STRINGS

As we have seen in strings, a string in C is an array of characters ending in the null

character(written as '\0'), which specifies where the string terminates in memory.
Like in one-dimensional arrays, a string can be accessed via a pointer to the first
character in the string. The value of a string is the(constant) address of its first
character. Thus, it is appropriate to say that a string is a constant pointer.
A string can be declared as a character array or a variable of type char *. The
declarations can be done as shown below:

char country[ ] = "INDIA";

char *country = "INDIA";

Each initialize a variable to the string “INDIA”. The second declaration creates a
pointer variable country that points to the letter I in the string "INDIA" somewhere in
memory.

Once the base address is obtained in the pointer variable country, *country would
yield the value at this address, which gets printed through,

printf("%s", *country);

Here is a program that dynamically allocates memory to a character pointer using the
library function malloc at run-time. An advantage of doing this way is that a fixed
block of memory need not be reserved in advance, as is done when initializing a
conventional character array.

Example 7.13

Write a program to test whether the given string is a palindrome or not.

/* Program tests a string for a palindrome using pointer notation */

# include <stdio.h>
# include <conio.h>
# include <stdlib.h>

main()
171
Functions, Structures,
{
Pointers and char *palin, c;
File Handling in C int i, count;

short int palindrome(char,int); /*Function Prototype */

palin =(char *) malloc(20 * sizeof(char));
printf("\nEnter a word: ");
do
{
c = getchar();
palin[i] = c;
i++;
}while(c != '\n');

i = i-1;
palin[i] = '\0';
count = i;

if(palindrome(palin,count) == 1)
printf("\nEntered word is not a palindrome.");
else
printf("\nEntered word is a palindrome");
}

short int palindrome(char *palin, int len)

{
short int i = 0, j = 0;
for(i=0 , j=len-1; i < len/2;i++,j--)
{
if(palin[i] == palin[j])
continue;
else
return(1);
}
return(0);
}

OUTPUT

Enter a word: malayalam

Entered word is a palindrome.

Enter a word: abcdba

Entered word is not a palindrome.

Array of pointers to strings

Arrays may contain pointers. We can form an array of strings, referred to as a string
array. Each entry in the array is a string, but in C a string is essentially a pointer to its
first character, so each entry in an array of strings is actually a pointer to the first
character of a string. Consider the following declaration of a string array:

char *country[ ] = {
“INDIA”, “CHINA”, “BANGLADESH”, “PAKISTAN”, “U.S”
};
172
The *country[ ] of the declaration indicates an array of five elements. The char* of Pointers
the declaration indicates that each element of array country is of type “pointer to
char”. Thus, country [0] will point to INDIA, country[ 1] will point to CHINA, and
so on.

Thus, even though the array country is fixed in size, it provides access to character
strings of any length. However, a specified amount of memory will have to be
allocated for each string later in the program, for example,

country[ i ] = (char *) malloc(15 * sizeof(char));

The country character strings could have been placed into a two-dimensional array
but such a data structure must have a fixed number of columns per row, and that
number must be as large as the largest string. Therefore, considerable memory is
wasted when a large number of strings are stored with most strings shorter than the
longest string.

As individual strings can be accessed by referring to the corresponding array element,

individual string elements be accessed through the use of the indirection operator.
For example, *( * country + 3 ) + 2 ) refers to the third character in the fourth string
of the array country. Let us see an example below.

Example 7.14

Write a program to enter a list of strings and rearrange them in alphabetical order,
using a one-dimensional array of pointers, where each pointer indicates the beginning
of a string:

/* Program to sort a list of strings in alphabetical order using an array of pointers */

# include <stdio.h>
# include <conio.h>
# include <stdlib.h>
# include <string.h>

void readinput(char *[ ], int);

void writeoutput(char *[ ], int);
void reorder(char *[ ], int);

main()
{
char *country[ 5 ];
int i;
for(i = 0; i < 5; i++)
{
country[ i ] =(char *) malloc(15 * sizeof(char));
}
printf("Enter five countries on a separate line\n");
readinput(country, 5);
reorder(country, 5);
printf("\nReordered list\n");
writeoutput(country, 5);
getch();
}

void readinput(char *country[ ], int n)

{
int i;
173
Functions, Structures,
for(i = 0; i < n; i++)
Pointers and { scanf("%s", country[ i ]); }
File Handling in C return;
}

void writeoutput(char *country[ ], int n)

{
int i;
for(i = 0; i < n; i++)
{ printf("%s", country[ i ]);
printf("\n"); }
return;
}

void reorder(char *country[ ], int n)

{
int i, j;
char *temp;
for(i = 0; i < n-1; i++)
{
for(j = i+1; j < n; j++)
{
if(strcmp(country[ i ], country[ j ]) > 0)
{
temp = country[ i ];
country[ i ] = country[ j ];
country[ j ] = temp;
}
}
}
return;
}

OUTPUT

Enter five countries on a seperate line

INDIA
BANGLADESH
PAKISTAN
CHINA
SRILANKA

Reordered list
BANGLADESH
CHINA
INDIA
PAKISTAN
SRILANKA

The limitation of the string array concept is that when we are using an array of
pointers to strings we can initialize the strings at the place where we are declaring the
array, but we cannot receive the strings from keyboard using scanf().

Check Your Progress 3

1. What is meant by array of pointers?

174
 …………………………………………………………………………………… Pointers

……………………………………………………………………………………
2. How the indirection operator can be used to access a multidimensional array
element.

……………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………
3. A C program contains the following declaration.
float temp[ 3 ][ 2 ] = {{13.4, 45.5}, {16.6, 47.8}, {20.2, 40.8}};

(i) What is the meaning of temp?

(ii) What is the meaning of (temp + 2)?
(iii) What is the meaning of *(temp + 1)?
(iv) What is the meaning of (*(temp + 2) + 1)?
(v) What is the meaning of *(*(temp) + 1) + 1)?
(vi) What is the meaning of *(*(temp + 2))?

……………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………

7.10 SUMMARY

In this unit we have studied about pointers, pointer arithmetic, passing pointers to
functions, relation to arrays and the concept of dynamic memory allocation. A
pointer is simply a variable that contains an address which is a location of another
variable in memory. The unary operator &, when preceded by any variable returns its
address. C’s other unary pointer operator is *, when preceded by a pointer variable
returns a value stored at that address.

Pointers are often passed to a function as arguments by reference. This allows data
items within the calling function to be accessed, altered by the called function, and
then returned to the calling function in the altered form. There is an intimate
relationship between pointers and arrays as an array name is really a pointer to the
first element in the array. Access to the elements of array using pointers is enabled
by adding the respective subscript to the pointer value (i.e. address of zeroth element)
and the expression preceded with an indirection operator.

As pointer declaration does not allocate memory to store the objects it points at,
therefore, memory is allocated at run time known as dynamic memory allocation. The
library routine malloc can be used for this purpose.

7.11 SOLUTIONS / ANSWERS

Check Your Progress 1

1. Refer to section 7.4. The data type included in the pointer declaration, refers to the
type of data stored at the address which we will be storing in our pointer.

2. (i) Compile-time Error : Lvalue Required. Means that the left side of an
assignment operator must be an addressable expression that include a variable
or an indirection through a pointer. 175
Functions, Structures,
Pointers and (ii) Multiplication of a pointer variable with a constant is invalid.
File Handling in C
3. (i) Refer section 7.4
(ii) Refer section 7.4
(iii) This means pointers can be of type void but can’t be de-referenced without
explicit casting. This is because the compiler can’t determine the size of the
object the pointer points to.

Check Your Progress 2

1 (i) True.
(ii) True.
(iii) False.
(iv) True.
(v) True.
(vi) True.

Check Your Progress 3

1. Refer section 7.4.

2. Refer section 7.4 to comprehend the convention followed.

3. (i) Refers to the base address of the array temp.

(ii) Address of the first element of the last row of array temp i.e. address of
element 20.2.

(iii) Will give you 0. To get the value of the last element of the first array i.e. the
correct syntax would be *(*(temp+0)+1).

(iv) Address of the last element of last row of array temp i.e. of 40.8.

(v) Displays the value 47.8 i.e., second element of last row of array temp.

(vi) Displays the value 20.2 i.e., first element of last row of array temp.

7.12 FURTHER READINGS

1. Programming with C, Second Edition, Gottfried Byron S, Tata McGraw Hill,

India.
2. The C Programming Language, Second Edition, Brian Kernighan and Dennis
Richie, PHI, 2002.
3. Programming in ANSI C, Second Edition, Balaguruswamy E, Tata McGraw Hill,
India, 2002.
4. How to Solve it by Computer, R.G.Dromey, PHI, 2002.
5. C Programming in 12 easy lessons, Greg Perry, SAMS, 2002.
6. Teach Yourself C in 21 days, Fifth Edition, Peter G, Fifth edition,SAMS, 2002.

176
 File Handling
UNIT 8 FILE HANDLING

Structure

8.0 Introduction
8.1 Objectives
8.2 File Handling in C Using File Pointers
8.2.1 Open a file using the function fopen()
8.2.2 Close a file using the function fclose()
8.3 Input and Output using file pointers
8.3.1 Character Input and Output in Files
8.3.2 String Input / Output Functions
8.3.3 Formatted Input / Output Functions
8.3.4 Block Input / Output Functions
8.4 Sequential Vs Random Access Files
8.5 Positioning the File Pointer
8.6 The Unbufferred I/O - The UNIX like File Routines
8.7 Summary
8.8 Solutions / Answers
8.9 Further Readings

8.0 INTRODUCTION

The examples we have seen so far in the previous units deal with standard input and
output. When data is stored using variables, the data is lost when the program exits
unless something is done to save it. This unit discusses methods of working with files,
and a data structure to store data. C views file simply as a sequential stream of bytes.
Each file ends either with an end-of-file marker or at a specified byte number recorded
in a system maintained, administrative data structure. C supports two types of files
called binary files and text files.

The difference between these two files is in terms of storage. In text files, everything
is stored in terms of text i.e. even if we store an integer 54; it will be stored as a 3-byte
string - “54\0”. In a text file certain character translations may occur. For example a
newline(\n) character may be converted to a carriage return, linefeed pair. This is what
Turbo C does. Therefore, there may not be one to one relationship between the
characters that are read or written and those in the external device. A binary file
contains data that was written in the same format used to store internally in main
memory.

For example, the integer value 1245 will be stored in 2 bytes depending on the
machine while it will require 5 bytes in a text file. The fact that a numeric value is in a
standard length makes binary files easier to handle. No special string to numeric
conversions is necessary.

The disk I/O in C is accomplished through the use of library functions. The ANSI
standard, which is followed by TURBO C, defines one complete set of I/O functions.
But since originally C was written for the UNIX operating system, UNIX standard
defines a second system of routines that handles I/O operations. The first method,
defined by both standards, is called a buffered file system. The second is the
unbuffered file system.

In this unit, we will first discuss buffered file functions and then the unbuffered file
functions in the following sections.

177
Functions, Structures, 8.1 OBJECTIVES
Pointers and
File Handling in C
After going through this unit you will be able to:

 define the concept of file pointer and file storage in C;

 create text and binary files in C;
 read and write from text and binary files;
 deal with large set of Data such as File of Records; and
 perform operations on files such as count number of words in a file, search a word
in a file, compare two files etc.

8.2 FILE HANDLING IN C USING FILE POINTERS

As already mentioned in the above section, a sequential stream of bytes ending with
an end-of-file marker is what is called a file. When the file is opened the stream is
associated with the file. By default, three files and their streams are automatically
opened when program execution begins - the standard input, standard output, and
the standard error. Streams provide communication channels between files and
programs.

For example, the standard input stream enables a program to read data from the
keyboard, and the standard output stream enables to write data on the screen.
Opening a file returns a pointer to a FILE structure (defined in <stdio.h>) that
contains information, such as size, current file pointer position, type of file etc., to
perform operations on the file. This structure also contains an integer called a file
descriptor which is an index into the table maintained by the operating system namely,
the open file table. Each element of this table contains a block called file control block
(FCB) used by the operating system to administer a particular file.

The standard input, standard output and the standard error are manipulated using file
pointers stdin, stdout and stderr. The set of functions which we are now going to
discuss come under the category of buffered file system. This file system is referred to
as buffered because, the routines maintain all the disk buffers required for reading /
writing automatically.

To access any file, we need to declare a pointer to FILE structure and then associate it
with the particular file. This pointer is referred as a file pointer and it is declared as
follows:

FILE *fp;

8.2.1 Open A File Using The Function fopen()

Once a file pointer variables has been declared, the next step is to open a file. The
fopen() function opens a stream for use and links a file with that stream. This function
returns a file pointer, described in the previous section. The syntax is as follows:

FILE *fopen(char *filename,*mode);

where mode is a string, containing the desired open status. The filename must be a
string of characters that provide a valid file name for the operating system and may
include a path specification. The legal mode strings are shown below in the table 12.1:

178
 File Handling
Table 8.1: Legal values to the fopen() mode parameter

MODE MEANING

“r” / “rt” opens a text file for read only access

“w” / “wt” creates a text file for write only access
“a” / “at” text file for appending to a file
“r+t” open a text file for read and write access
“w+t” creates a text file for read and write access,
“a+t” opens or creates a text file and read access
“rb” opens a binary file for read only access
“wb” create a binary file for write only access
“ab” binary file for appending to a file
“r+b” opens a binary or read and write access
“w+b” creates a binary or read and write access,
“a+b” open or binary file and read access

The following code fragment explains how to open a file for reading.

Code Fragment 1

#include <stdio.h>

main()
{

FILE *fp;
if ((fp=fopen(“file1.dat”, “r”))==NULL)
{
printf(“FILE DOES NOT EXIST\n”);
exit(0);
}
}

The value returned by the fopen() function is a file pointer. If any error occurs while
opening the file, the value of this pointer is NULL, a constant declared in <stdio.h>.
Always check for this possibility as shown in the above example.

8.2.2 Close A File Using The Function Fclose()

When the processing of the file is finished, the file should be closed using the fclose()
function, whose syntax is:

int fclose(FILE *fptr);

This function flushes any unwritten data for stream, discards any unread buffered
input, frees any automatically allocated buffer, and then closes the stream. The return
value is 0 if the file is closed successfully or a constant EOF, an end-of file marker, if
an error occurred. This constant is also defined in <stdio.h>. If the function fclose() is
not called explicitly, the operating system normally will close the file when the
program execution terminates.

The following code fragment explains how to close a file.

179
Functions, Structures,
Pointers and Code Fragment 2
File Handling in C
# include <stdio.h>
main()
{
FILE *fp;
if ((fp=fopen(“file1.dat”, “r”))==NULL)
{
printf(“FILE DOES NOT EXIST\n”);
exit(0);
}
……………..
……………..
……………..
…………….
/* close the file */
fclose(fp);
}

Once the file is closed, it cannot be used further. If required it can be opened in same
or another mode.

Check Your Progress 1

1. How does fopen() function links a file to a stream?

……………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………

2. Differentiate between text files and binary files.

……………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………

3. What is EOF and what is its value?

……………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………

8.3 INPUT AND OUTPUT USING FILE POINTERS

After opening the file, the next thing needed is the way to read or write the file. There
are several functions and macros defined in <stdio.h> header file for reading and
writing the file. These functions can be categorized according to the form and type of
data read or written on to a file. These functions are classified as:

 Character input/output functions

 String input/output functions
180  Formatted input/output functions
 File Handling
 Block input/output functions.

8.3.1 Character Input and Output in Files

ANSI C provides a set of functions for reading and writing character by character or
one byte at a time. These functions are defined in the standard library. They are listed
and described below:

 getc()
 putc()

getc() is used to read a character from a file and putc() is used to write a character to a
file. Their syntax is as follows:

int putc(int ch, FILE *stream);

int getc(FILE *stream);

The file pointer indicates the file to read from or write to. The character ch is formally
called an integer in putc() function but only the low order byte is used. On success
putc() returns a character(in integer form) written or EOF on failure. Similarly getc()
returns an integer but only the low order byte is used. It returns EOF when end-of-file
is reached. getc() and putc() are defined in <stdio.h> as macros not functions.

fgetc() and fputc()

Apart from the above two macros, C also defines equivalent functions to read / write
characters from / to a file. These are:

int fgetc(FILE *stream);

int fputc(int c, FILE *stream);

To check the end of file, C includes the function feof() whose prototype is:

int feof(FILE *fp);

It returns 1 if end of file has been reached or 0 if not. The following code fragment
explains the use of these functions.

Example 8.1

Write a program to copy one file to another.

/*Program to copy one file to another */

#include <stdio.h>
main()
{
FILE *fp1;
FILE *fp2;
int ch;
if((fp1=fopen(“f1.dat”,”r”)) == NULL)

{
printf(“Error opening input file\n”);
exit(0);
}
if((fp2=fopen(“f2.dat”,”w”)) == NULL)
{
181
Functions, Structures, printf(“Error opening output file\n”);
Pointers and exit(0);
File Handling in C }

while (!feof(fp1))
{
ch=getc(fp1);
putc(ch,fp2);
}
fclose(fp1);
fclose(fp2);
}

OUTPUT

If the file ”f1.dat” is not present, then the output would be:
Error opening input file
If the disk is full, then the output would be:
Error opening output file

If there is no error, then “f2.dat” would contain whatever is present in “f1.dat” after
the execution of the program, if “f2.dat” was not empty earlier, then its contents
would be overwritten.

8.3.2 String Input/Output Functions

If we want to read a whole line in the file then each time we will need to call character
input function, instead C provides some string input/output functions with the help of
which we can read/write a set of characters at one time. These are defined in the
standard library and are discussed below:

 fgets()
 fputs()

These functions are used to read and write strings. Their syntax is:

int fputs(char *str, FILE *stream);

char *fgets(char *str, int num, FILE *stream);

The integer parameter in fgets() is used to indicate that at most num-1 characters are to
be read, terminating at end-of-file or end-of-line. The end-of-line character will be
placed in the string str before the string terminator, if it is read. If end-of-file is
encountered as the first character, EOF is returned, otherwise str is returned. The
fputs() function returns a non-negative number or EOF if unsuccessful.

Example 8.2
Write a program read a file and count the number of lines in the file, assuming that a
line can contain at most 80 characters.

/*Program to read a file and count the number of lines in the file */
#include<stdio.h>
#include<conio.h>
#include<process.h>
void main()
{
FILE *fp;
182
 int cnt=0; File Handling
char str[80];

/* open a file in read mode */

if ((fp=fopen("lines.dat","r"))== NULL)
{ printf("File does not exist\n");
exit(0);
}
/* read the file till end of file is encountered */
while(!(feof(fp)))
{ fgets(str,80,fp); /*reads at most 80 characters in str */
cnt++; /* increment the counter after reading a line */
}
}/* print the number of lines */
printf(“The number of lines in the file is :%d\n”,cnt);
fclose(fp);
}

OUTPUT

Let us assume that the contents of the file “lines.dat” are as follows:

This is C programming.
I love C programming.

To be a good programmer one should have a good logic. This is a must.

C is a procedural programming language.

After the execution the output would be:

The number of lines in the file is: 4

8.3.3 Formatted Input/Output Functions

If the file contains data in the form of digits, real numbers, characters and strings, then
character input/output functions are not enough as the values would be read in the
form of characters. Also if we want to write data in some specific format to a file, then
it is not possible with the above described functions. Hence C provides a set of
formatted input/output functions. These are defined in standard library and are
discussed below:

fscanf() and fprintf()

These functions are used for formatted input and output. These are identical to scanf()
and printf() except that the first argument is a file pointer that specifies the file to be
read or written, the second argument is the format string. The syntax for these
functions is:

int fscanf(FILE *fp, char *format,. . .);

int fprintf(FILE *fp, char *format,. . .);

Both these functions return an integer indicating the number of bytes actually read or
written.

183
Functions, Structures, Example 8.3
Pointers and
File Handling in C Write a program to read formatted data (account number, name and balance) from a
file and print the information of clients with zero balance, in formatted manner on the
screen.

/* Program to read formatted data from a file */

#include<stdio.h>
main()
{
int account;
char name[30];
double bal;
FILE *fp;

if((fp=fopen("bank.dat","r"))== NULL)
printf("FILE not present \n");
else
do{
fscanf(fp,"%d%s%lf",&account,name,&bal);
if(!feof(fp))
{
if(bal==0)
printf("%d %s %lf\n",account,name,bal);
}
}while(!feof(fp));
}

OUTPUT

This program opens a file “bank.dat” in the read mode if it exists, reads the records
and prints the information (account number, name and balance) of the zero balance
records.

Let the file be as follows:

101 nuj 1200

102 Raman 1500
103 Swathi 0
104 Ajay 1600
105 Udit 0

The output would be as follows:

103 Swathi 0
105 Udit 0

8.3.4 Block Input/Output Functions

Block Input / Output functions read/write a block (specific number of bytes from/to a
file. A block can be a record, a set of records or an array. These functions are also
defined in standard library and are described below.

 fread()
 fwrite()

184
These two functions allow reading and writing of blocks of data. Their syntax is: File Handling

int fread(void *buf, int num_bytes, int count, FILE *fp);

int fwrite(void *buf, int num_bytes, int count, FILE *fp);

In case of fread(), buf is the pointer to a memory area that receives the data from the
file and in fwrite(), it is the pointer to the information to be written to the file.
num_bytes specifies the number of bytes to be read or written. These functions are
quite helpful in case of binary files. Generally these functions are used to read or write
array of records from or to a file. The use of the above functions is shown in the
following program.

Example 8.4

Write a program using fread() and fwrite() to create a file of records and then read and
print the same file.

/* Program to illustrate the fread() and fwrite() functions*/

#include<stdio.h>
#include<conio.h>
#include<process.h>
#include<string.h>

void main()
{
struct stud
{
char name[30];
int age;
int roll_no;
}s[30],st;
int i;
FILE *fp;

/*opening the file in write mode*/

if((fp=fopen("sud.dat","w"))== NULL)
{ printf("Error while creating a file\n");
exit(0); }

/* reading an array of students */

for(i=0;i<30;i++)
scanf("%s %d %d",s[i].name,s[i].age,s[i].roll_no);

/* writing to a file*/
fwrite(s,sizeof(struct stud),30,fp);
fclose(fp);

/* opening a file in read mode */

fp=fopen("stud.dat","r");

/* reading from a file and writing on the screen */

while(!feof(fp))
{
fread(&st,sizeof(struct stud),1,fp);
fprintf("%s %d %d",st.name,st.age,st.roll_no);
}
fclose(fp); }
185
Functions, Structures, OUTPUT
Pointers and
File Handling in C This program reads 30 records (name, age and roll_number) from the user, writes one
record at a time to a file. The file is closed and then reopened in read mode; the
records are again read from the file and written on to the screen.

Check Your Progress 2

1. Give the output of the following code fragment:

#include<stdio.h>
#include<process.h>
#include<conio.h>
main()
{
FILE * fp1, * fp2;
double a,b,c;

fp1=fopen(“file1”, “w”);
fp2=fopen(“file2”, “w”);

fprintf(fp1,”1 5.34 –4E02”);

fprintf(fp2,”-2\n1.245\n3.234e02\n”);
fclose(fp1);
fclose(fp2);

fp1=fopen(“file1”, “r”);
fp2=fopen(“file2”,“r”);

fscanf(fp1,“%lf %lf %lf”,&a,&b,&c);

printf(“%10lf %10lf %10lf”,a,b,c);
fscanf(fp2,”%lf %lf %lf”,&a,&b,&c);
printf(“%10.1e %10lf %10lf”,a,b,c);

fclose(fp1);
fclose(fp2);
}
……………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………

2. What is the advantage of using fread/fwrite functions?

……………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………
3. ________ and _______ functions are used for formatted input and output
from a file.

……………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………

186
 File Handling
8.4 SEQUENTIAL Vs RANDOM ACCESS FILES

We have seen in section 12.0 that C supports two type of files – text and binary files,
also two types of file systems – buffered and unbuffered file system. We can also
differentiate in terms of the type of file access as Sequential access files and random
access files. Sequential access files allow reading the data from the file in sequential
manner which means that data can only be read in sequence. All the above examples
that we have considered till now in this unit are performing sequential access.
Random access files allow reading data from any location in the file. To achieve this
purpose, C defines a set of functions to manipulate the position of the file pointer. We
will discuss these functions in the following sections.

8.5 POSITIONING THE FILE POINTER

To support random access files, C requires a function with the help of which the file
pointer can be positioned at any random location in the file. Such a function defined in
the standard library is discussed below:

The function fseek() is used to set the file position. Its prototype is:

int fseek(FILE *fp, long offset, int pos);

The first argument is the pointer to a file. The second argument is the number of bytes
to move the file pointer, counting from zero. This argument can be positive, negative
or zero depending on the desired movement. The third parameter is a flag indicating
from where in the file to compute the offset. It can have three values:

SEEK_SET(or value 0) the beginning of the file,

SEEK_CUR(or value 1) the current position and
SEEK_END(or value 2) the end of the file

These three constants are defined in <stdio.h>. If successful fseek() returns zero.
Another function rewind() is used to reset the file position to the beginning of the file.
Its prototype is:

void rewind(FILE *fp);

A call to rewind is equivalent to the call

fseek(fp,0,SEEK_SET);

Another function ftell() is used to tell the position of the file pointer. Its prototype is:

long ftell(FILE *fp);

It returns –1 on error and the position of the file pointer if successful.

Example 8.5

Write a program to search a record in an already created file and update it. Use the
same file as created in the previous example.

/*Program to search a record in an already created file*/

#include<stdio.h>
187
Functions, Structures, #include<conio.h>
Pointers and #include<stdio.h>
File Handling in C #include<process.h>
#include<string.h>
void main()
{
int r,found;
struct stud
{
char name[30];
int age;
int roll_no;
}st;
FILE *fp;
/* open the file in read/write mode */

if((fp=fopen("f1.dat","r+b"))==NULL)
{ printf("Error while opening the file \n");
exit(0);
}

/* Get the roll_no of the student */

printf("Enter the roll_no of the record to be updated\n");
found=0;
scanf("%d",&r);

/* check in the file for the existence of the roll_no */

while((!feof(fp)) && !(found))
{ fread(&st,sizeof(stud),1,fp);
if(st.roll_no == r)

/* if roll_no is found then move one record backward to update it */

{ fseek(fp,- sizeof(stud),SEEK_CUR);
printf("Enter the new name\n");
scanf("%s",st.name);
fwrite(fp,sizeof(stud),1,fp);
found=1;
}
}
if (!found)
printf("Record not present\n");
fclose(fp);
}

OUTPUT

Let the input file be as follows:

Geeta 18 101
Leena 17 102
Mahesh 23 103
Lokesh 21 104
Amit 19 105

Let the roll_no of the record to be updated be 106. Now since this roll_no is not
present the output would be:

Record not present

188
If the roll_no to be searched is 103, then if the new name is Sham, the output would File Handling
be the file with the contents:

Geeta 18 101
Leena 17 102
Sham 23 103
Lokesh 21 104
Amit 19 105

8.6 THE UNBUFFERED I/O – THE UNIX LIKE FILE

ROUTINES

The buffered I/O system uses buffered input and output, that is, the operating system
handles the details of data retrieval and storage, the system stores data temporarily
(buffers it) in order to optimize file system access. The buffered I/O functions are
handled directly as system calls without buffering by the operating system. That is
why they are also known as low level functions. This is referred to as unbuffered I/O
system because the programmer must provide and maintain all disk buffers, the
routines do not do it automatically.

The low level functions are defined in the header file <io.h>.

These functions do not use file pointer of type FILE to access a particular file, but
they use directly the file descriptors, as explained earlier, of type integer. They are
also called handles.

Opening and closing of files

The function used to open a file is open(). Its prototype is:

int open(char *filename, int mode, int access);

Here mode indicates one of the following macros defined in <fcntl.h>.

Mode:

O_RDONLY Read only

O_WRONLY Write only
O_RDWR Read / Write

The access parameter is used in UNIX environment for providing the access to
particular users and is just included here for compatibility and can be set to zero.
open() function returns –1 on failure. It is used as:

Code fragment 2

int fd;

if ((fd=open(filename,mode,0)) == -1)
{ printf(“cannot open file\n”);
exit(1); }

If the file does not exist, open() the function will not create it. For this, the function
creat() is used which will create new files and re-write old ones. The prototype is:

int creat(char *filename, int access);

189
Functions, Structures, It returns a file descriptor; if successful else it returns –1. It is not an error to create an
Pointers and already existing file, the function will just truncate its length to zero. The access
File Handling in C parameter is used to provide permissions to the users in the UNIX environment.
The function close() is used to close a file. The prototype is:

int close(int fd);

It returns zero if successful and –1 if not.

Reading, Writing and Positioning in File

The functions read() and write() are used to read from and write to a file. Their
prototypes are:

int read(int fd, void *buf, int size);

int write(int fd, void *buf, int size);

The first parameter is the file descriptor returned by open(), the second parameter
holds the data which must be typecast to the format needed by the program, the third
parameter indicates the number of bytes to transferred. The return value tells how
many bytes are actually transferred. If this value is –1, then an error must have
occurred.

Example 8.6

Write a program to copy one file to another to illustrate the use of the above functions.
The program should expect two command line arguments indicating the name of the
file to be copied and the name of the file to be created.

/* Program to copy one file to another file to illustrate the functions*/

# include<stdio.h>
# include<io.h>
#include<process.h>

typedef char arr[80];

typedef char name[30];

main()
{
arr buf;
name fname, sname;
int fd1,fd2,size;

/* check for the command line arguments */

if (argc!=3)
{ printf("Invalid number of arguments\n");
exit(0);
}
if ((fd1=open(argv[1],O_RDONLY))<0)
{ printf("Error in opening file %s \n",argv[1]);
exit(0);
}
if ((fd2=creat(argv[2],0))<0)
{ printf("Error in creating file %s \n",argv[2]);
exit(0);}

open(argv[2],O_WRONLY);
size=read(fd1,buf,80); /* read till end of file */
190
 File Handling
while (size>0)
{ write(fd2,buf,80);
size=read(fd1,buf,80);
}
close(fd1);
close(fd2);
}

OUTPUT

If the number of arguments given on the command line is not correct then output
would be:

Invalid number of arguments

One file is opened in the read mode, and another file is opened in the write mode. The
output would be as follows is the file to be read is not present (let the file be f1.dat):

Error in opening file f1.dat

The output would be as follows if the disk is full and the file cannot be created (let the
output file be f2.dat):

Error in creating file f2.dat

If there is no error contents of f1.dat will be copied to f2.dat.

lseek()

The function lseek() is provided to move to the specific position in a file. Its prototype
is:

long lseek(int fd, long offset, int pos);

This function is exactly the same as fseek() except that the file descriptor is used
instead of the file pointer.

Using the above defined functions, it is possible to write any kind of program dealing
with files.

Check Your Progress 3

1. Random access is possible in C files using function ____________.

2. Write a proper C statement with proper arguments that would be called to move the
file pointer back by 2 bytes.
……………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………

3. Indicate the header files needed to use unbuffered I/O.

……………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………
191
Functions, Structures, 8.7 SUMMARY
Pointers and
File Handling in C
In this unit, we have learnt about files and how C handles them. We have discussed
the buffered as well as unbuffered file systems. The available functions in the standard
library have been discussed. This unit provided you an ample set of programs to start
with. We have also tried to differentiate between sequential access as well as random
access file. The file pointers assigned to standard input, standard output and standard
error are stdin, stdout, and stderr respectively. The unit clearly explains the different
type of modes oof opening the file. As seen there are several functions available to
read/write from the file. The usage of a particular function depends on the application.
After reading this unit one must be able to handle large data bases in the form of files.

8.8 SOLUTIONS / ANSWERS

Check Your Progress 1

1. fopen() function links a file to a stream by returning a pointer to a FILE structure

defined in <stdio.h>. This structure contains an index called file descriptor to a
File Control Block, which is maintained by the operating system for
administrative purposes.

2. Text files and binary files differ in terms of storage. In text files everything is
stored in terms of text while binary files stores exact memory image of the data i.e.
in text files 154 would take 3 bytes of storage while in binary files it will take 2
bytes as required by an integer.

3. EOF is an end-of-file marker. It is a macro defined in <stdio.h>. Its value is –1.

Check Your progress 2

1. The output would be:

1.000000 5.340000 –400.000000 -2.0e+00 1.245000 323.400000

2. The advantage of using these functions is that they are used for block read/write,
which means we can read or write a large set of data at one time thus increasing
the speed.

3. fscanf() and fprintf() functions are used for formatted input and output from a file.

Check Your progress 3

1. Random access is possible in C files using function fseek().

2. fseek(fp, -2L, SEEK_END);

3. <io.h> and <fcntl.h>

8.9 FURTHER READINGS

1. The C Programming Language, Kernighan & Richie, PHI Publication, 2002.

2. C How to Program, Deitel & Deitel, Pearson Education, 2002.
3. Practical C Programming, Steve Oualline, Oreilly Publication, 2003.
192
 File Handling

APPENDIX-A

THE ASCII SET

The ASCII (American Standard Code for Information Interchange) character set
defines 128 characters (0 to 127 decimal, 0 to FF hexadecimal, and 0 to 177 octal).
This character set is a subset of many other character sets with 256 characters,
including the ANSI character set of MS Windows, the Roman-8 character set of HP
systems, and the IBM PC Extended Character Set of DOS, and the ISO Latin-1
character set used by Web browsers. They are not the same as the EBCDIC character
set used on IBM mainframes. The first 32 values are non-printing control characters,
such as Return and Line feed. You generate these characters on the keyboard by
holding down the Control key while you strike another key. For example, Bell is value
7, Control plus G, often shown in documents as ^G. Notice that 7 is 64 less than the
value of G (71); the Control key subtracts 64 from the value of the keys that it
modifies. The table shown below gives the list of the control and printing characters.

The Control Characters

Char Oct Dec Hex Control-Key Control Action

NUL 0 0 0 ^@ Null character
SOH 1 1 1 ^A Start of heading, = console interrupt
STX 2 2 2 ^B Start of text, maintenance mode on HP console
ETX 3 3 3 ^C End of text
EOT 4 4 4 ^D End of transmission, not the same as ETB
ENQ 5 5 5 ^E Enquiry, goes with ACK; old HP flow control
ACK 6 6 6 ^F Acknowledge, clears ENQ logon hand
BEL 7 7 7 ^G Bell, rings the bell...
BS 10 8 8 ^H Backspace, works on HP terminals/computers
HT 11 9 9 ^I Horizontal tab, move to next tab stop
LF 12 10 a ^J Line Feed
VT 13 11 b ^K Vertical tab
FF 14 12 c ^L Form Feed, page eject
CR 15 13 d ^M Carriage Return
SO 16 14 e ^N Shift Out, alternate character set
SI 17 15 f ^O Shift In, resume defaultn character set
DLE 20 16 10 ^P Data link escape
DC1 21 17 11 ^Q XON, with XOFF to pause listings; ":okay to send".
DC2 22 18 12 ^R Device control 2, block-mode flow control
DC3 23 19 13 ^S XOFF, with XON is TERM=18 flow control
DC4 24 20 14 ^T Device control 4
NAK 25 21 15 ^U Negative acknowledge
SYN 26 22 16 ^V Synchronous idle
ETB 27 23 17 ^W End transmission block, not the same as EOT
CAN 30 24 17 ^X Cancel line, MPE echoes !!!
EM 31 25 19 ^Y End of medium, Control-Y interrupt
SUB 32 26 1a ^Z Substitute
ESC 33 27 1b ^[ Escape, next character is not echoed
FS 34 28 1c ^\ File separator
193
Functions, Structures, GS 35 29 1d ^] Group separator
Pointers and RS 36 30 1e ^^ Record separator, block-mode terminator
File Handling in C
US 37 31 1f ^_ Unit separator
Printing Characters

Char Octal Dec Hex Description

SP 40 32 20 Space
! 41 33 21 Exclamation mark
" 42 34 22 Quotation mark (&quot; in HTML)
# 43 35 23 Cross hatch (number sign)
$ 44 36 24 Dollar sign
% 45 37 25 Percent sign
& 46 38 26 Ampersand
` 47 39 27 Closing single quote (apostrophe)
( 50 40 28 Opening parentheses
) 51 41 29 Closing parentheses
* 52 42 2a Asterisk (star, multiply)
+ 53 43 2b Plus
, 54 44 2c Comma
- 55 45 2d Hyphen, dash, minus
. 56 46 2e Period
/ 57 47 2f Slant (forward slash, divide)
0 60 48 30 Zero
1 61 49 31 One
2 62 50 32 Two
3 63 51 33 Three
4 64 52 34 Four
5 65 53 35 Five
6 66 54 36 Six
7 67 55 37 Seven
8 70 56 38 Eight
9 71 57 39 Nine
: 72 58 3a Colon
; 73 59 3b Semicolon
< 74 60 3c Less than sign (&lt; in HTML)
= 75 61 3d Equals sign
> 76 62 3e Greater than sign (&gt; in HTML)
? 77 63 3f Question mark
@ 100 64 40 At-sign
A 101 65 41 Uppercase A
B 102 66 42 Uppercase B
C 103 67 43 Uppercase C
D 104 68 44 Uppercase D
E 105 69 45 Uppercase E
F 106 70 46 Uppercase F
G 107 71 47 Uppercase G
H 110 72 48 Uppercase H
I 111 73 49 Uppercase I
J 112 74 4a Uppercase J
K 113 75 4b Uppercase K
194
 File Handling
L 114 76 4c Uppercase L
M 115 77 4d Uppercase M
N 116 78 4e Uppercase N
O 117 79 4f Uppercase O
P 120 80 50 Uppercase P
Q 121 81 51 Uppercase Q
R 122 82 52 Uppercase R
S 123 83 53 Uppercase S
T 124 84 54 Uppercase T
U 125 85 55 Uppercase U
V 126 86 56 Uppercase V
W 127 87 57 Uppercase W
X 130 88 58 Uppercase X
Y 131 89 59 Uppercase Y
Z 132 90 5a Uppercase Z
[ 133 91 5b Opening square bracket
\ 134 92 5c Reverse slant (Backslash)
] 135 93 5d Closing square bracket
^ 136 94 5e Caret (Circumflex)
_ 137 95 5f Underscore
` 140 96 60 Opening single quote
a 141 97 61 Lowercase a
b 142 98 62 Lowercase b
c 143 99 63 Lowercase c
d 144 100 64 Lowercase d
e 145 101 65 Lowercase e
f 146 102 66 Lowercase f
g 147 103 67 Lowercase g
h 150 104 68 Lowercase h
i 151 105 69 Lowercase i
j 152 106 6a Lowercase j
k 153 107 6b Lowercase k
l 154 108 6c Lowercase l
m 155 109 6d Lowercase m
n 156 110 6e Lowercase n
o 157 111 6f Lowercase o
p 160 112 70 Lowercase p
q 161 113 71 Lowercase q
r 162 114 72 Lowercase r
s 163 115 73 Lowercase s
t 164 116 74 Lowercase t
u 165 117 75 Lowercase u
v 166 118 76 Lowercase v
w 167 119 77 Lowercase w
x 170 120 78 Lowercase x
y 171 121 79 Lowercase y
z 172 122 7a Lowercase z
{ 173 123 7b Opening curly brace
| 174 124 7c Vertical line
195
Functions, Structures, } 175 125 7d Cloing curly brace
Pointers and ~ 176 126 7e Tilde (approximate)
File Handling in C
DEL 177 127 7f Delete (rubout), cross-hatch box

196
 MCS-201
Programming in C
Indira Gandhi National Open University
School of Computer and Information
Sciences (SOCIS)
and Python

Introduction to python
programming 3
 MCS-201

Block

3
INTRODUCTION TO PYTHON PROGRAMMING________
UNIT 9
Introduction to Python 199
UNIT 10
Data Structures and Control Statements in Python 213
UNIT 11
Functions and Files Handling In Python 279
UNIT 12
Modules and Packages 300
BLOCK 3 INTRODUCTION

Python programming is widely used in Artificial Intelligence, Machine

Learning, Neural Networks and many other advanced fields of Computer
Science. Ideally, It is designed for rapid prototyping of complex applications.
Python has interfaces with various Operating system calls and libraries,
which are extensible to C, C++ or Java. Many large companies like NASA,
Google, YouTube, Bit Torrent, etc. uses the Python programming language
for the execution of their valuable projects.
This block prepares you about the fundamentals of Python Programming,
after going through this block you will be able to understand the basic
constructs of Pythonprogramming language viz. the data types, functions,
packages, scripts and modules. You will learn to apply concepts of Python
Programming for solving various problems assigned in check your progress
section of the respective units.
Problem-solving skills are recognized as an integral component of computer
programming and in this block the primary focus of this course is to teach the
basic programming constructs of Python language. Emphasis is placed on
developing the student's ability to apply problem-solving strategies and to
implement these strategies in Python as aprogramming language.
Basically one must explore possible avenues to a solution one by one until
s/he comes across a right path to an optimized and efficient solution. In
general, as one gains experience in solving problems, one develops his/her
own techniques and strategies, though they are often intangible.
This block consists of 4 units and is organized as follows:
Unit- 9provides an overview of Python programming and compares it with C
programing
Unit -10Introduces the Data structures and Control Statements in Python
Unit – 11provides understanding of functions and file handling in Python.
Unit - 12 introduces you the concept of Modules and Packages in Python.

Happy Programming!!
 Indira Gandhi
National Open University MCS-201
School of Computer and
Information Sciences PROGRAMMING IN
C AND PYTHON

Block

3
INTRODUCTION TO PYTHON PROGRAMMING______
UNIT 9
Introduction to Python 199
UNIT 10
Data Structures and Control Statements in Python 213
UNIT 11
Functions and Files Handling In Python 279
UNIT 12
Modules and Packages 300
PROGRAMME/COURSE DESIGN COMMITTEE

Prof. (Retd.) S.K. Gupta Prof. V.V. Subrahmanyam

IIT, Delhi Director
SOCIS, IGNOU, New Delhi
Prof. T.V. Vijay Kumar
Dean, Prof P. Venkata Suresh
School of Computer & System Sciences, SOCIS, IGNOU, New Delhi
JNU, New Delhi
Dr.ShashiBhushan
Prof.Ela Kumar, Associate Professor
Dean, Computer Science &Engg SOCIS, IGNOU, New Delhi
IGDTUW, Delhi
Shri Akshay Kumar
Prof.GayatriDhingra Associate Professor
GVMITM, Sonipat, Haryana SOCIS, IGNOU, New Delhi
Mr.MilindMahajani Shri M. P. Mishra
Vice President Associate Professor
Impressico Business Solutions SOCIS, IGNOU, New Delhi
Noida UP
Dr.Sudhansh Sharma
Asst. Professor
SOCIS, IGNOU, New Delhi

BLOCK PREPARATION TEAM

Dr.Sudhansh Sharma, Assistant Professor Prof S.R.N. Reddy, (Content Editor)
School of Computers and Information Sciences, HOD, Dept. of CSE,
IGNOU, New Delhi(Writer Unit-9) IGDTUW, Delhi

Ms.Sarita Bansal Garg, Assistant Professor, Prof.Parmod Kumar (Language Editor)

Department of Business Administration, School of Humanities, IGNOU, New
Maharaja Agrasen Institute of Management Delhi(Unit-9)
Studies,New Delhi(Writer Unit-10)

Ms.JyotiBisht, Research Scholar Dr Rajesh Kumar,(Language Editor)

School of Computers and Information Sciences, Associate Professor,Department of
IGNOU,NewDelhi(Writer Unit-11 & Unit-12) English, Motilal Nehru College Delhi
University(Unit-10,11,& 12)
Course Coordinator: Dr.Sudhansh Sharma
PRINT PRODUCTION
Mr.Tilak Raj Mr.Yashpal
Assistant Registrar (Publication) Assistant Registrar (Publication)
MPDD, IGNOU, New Delhi MPDD, IGNOU, New Delhi
March, 2021
© Indira Gandhi National Open University, 2021
ISBN-
All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced in any form, by mimeograph or any
other means, without permission in writing from the Indira Gandhi National Open University.
Further information, about the Indira Gandhi National Open University courses may be obtained
from the University’s office at MaidanGarhi, New Delhi-110 068.
Printed and published on behalf of the Indira Gandhi National Open University by Registrar,
MPDD, IGNOU, New Delhi
Laser Composed by Tessa Media & Computers, C-206, ShaheenBagh, Jamia Nagar, New Delhi

All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced in any form, by mimeograph or any other means,
without permission in writing from the Indira Gandhi National Open University.

Further information on the Indira Gandhi National Open University courses may be obtained from the
University’s office at MaidanGarhi, New Delhi-110 068.
 Introduction to
UNIT 9 INTRODUCTION TO PYTHON Python

Structure
9.0 Introduction
9.1 Objectives
9.2 History of Python
9.3 Need of Python
9.4 Packages for Cross platform application of Python
9.5 Getting started with Python
9.6 Program structure in python
9.7 Running the First program
9.8 Summary

9.0 INTRODUCTION
Python programming is widely used in Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning,
Neural Networks and many other advanced fields of Computer Science. Ideally, It is
designed for rapid prototyping of complex applications. Python has interfaces with
various Operating system calls and libraries, which are extensible to C, C++ or Java.
Many large companies like NASA, Google, YouTube, Bit Torrent, etc. uses the
Python programming language for the execution of their valuable projects.

To build the carrier path the skill of programming can be a fun and profitable way,
but before starting the learning of this skill, one should be clear about the choice of
programming language. Before learning any programming language, one should
figure out which language suits best to the learner. As in our case the comparison of
C and Python programming languages may help the learners to analyze and generate
a lot of opinions about their choice of programming language. In this unit, I have
tried to compile a few of them to give you a clear picture.

Metrics Python C
It is a high-level, general-purpose
C is general-purpose procedural
Introduction & interpreted programming
programming language.
language.
Being compiled programming
Being Interpreted programming
language its execution speed is
language its execution speed is
Speed faster then that of the interpreted
slower then that of the compiled
programming language (i.e.
programming language (i.e. C).
Python).
Number of lines of code written Program syntax of C is quite
Usage in Python is quite less in complicated in comparison to
comparison to C Python.

199
 Declaration of Variable type is
In C, declaration of variable type
not required, they are un-typed
is must, and it is done at the time
Declaration of and a given variable can be stuck
of its creation, and only values of
variables different types of values at
that declared type must be
different instances during the
assigned to the variables.
execution of any python program.
Error debugging is simple, as it
takes only one instruction at a Being compiler dependent
time. Compilation and execution language, error debugging is
Error
is performed simultaneously. difficult in C i.e. it takes the
Debugging
Errors are instantly shown, and entire source code, compiles it
execution stops at that instruction and finally all errors are shown.
only.
the same function can be used by Function renaming mechanism is
Function
two different names i.e. it not supported by C i.e. the same
renaming
supports the mechanism of function cannot be used by two
mechanism
function renaming different names.
Syntax of Python programs is The syntax of a C program is
Complexity Quite simple, easy to read, write comparatively harder than the
and learn syntax of Python.
It supports automatic garbage In C, the Programmer has to
Memory-
collection for memory explicitly do the memory
management
management. management.
Python is a General-Purpose
C is generally used for hardware
Applications programming language can be
related applications.
used for Microcontrollers also.
Built-in Library of built-in functions is Library of built-in functions is
functions quite large in Python. quite limited in C
Implementing Gives ease of implementing data Explicit implementation of
Data structures with built-in insert, functions is requited for the
Structures append functions. implementation of datastructures
Pointers functionality is not
Pointers Pointers are frequently used in C.
available in Python.

We learned from the comparisonof C and Python, that Python is an high-

level,general-purpose, interpreted programming language. It is dynamically
typedandgarbage-collected, and supports multiple programming paradigms
likestructured(particularly, procedural,) object-oriented, and functional
programming, and due to its comprehensive standard library Python is often
described as a "batteries included" language

In this course you are given exposure to both programming languages i.e. C
and Python, based on your requirement you can choose your option to build
your carrer in programming.

9.1 OBJECTIVES
After going through this unit you will be able to:

200  Understand the need of Python as a programming language

 Describe the cross platform applications Introduction to
Python
 Understand the structure of python program
 Write and execute your first code in python

9.2 HISTORY OF PYTHON

Python was conceived in the late 1980s as a successor to the ABC language,
it was created by Guido van Rossum in 1989 and its first release was in 1991.
Later, Python 2.0, released in 2000, this version includes features like list
comprehensions and a garbage collection system, which was capable of
collecting reference cycles.Python 2 implemented the technical details of
Python Enhancement Proposal(PEP), and thus simplified the code
development complexities of the earlier versions. But due to some stability
issues with Python 2.x versions, the development of Python 2.7 (last version
in 2.x, released in 2010) will be discontinued in 2020. The developers were
resolving the issues with Python 2 in parallel, and in 2008, Python 3.0 was
released. It was a major revision of the language, this version i.e. Python 3
was mainly released to fix problems which exist in Python 2. As python 3
was not completely backward-compatible, thus much of the Python 2 code
are not running unmodified on Python 3. To make the migration process easy
in Python 3, some features of Python 3 have been backported to Python 2.x
versions.
Thus, to migrate a project from python 3 to python 2.x, a lot of changes were
required, which are not only related to the projects and its applications but
also to the libraries that form the part of the Python environment.
You can freely download the latest version of Python from www.python.org,
where various Python interpreters are available for many operating systems.
A global community of programmers develops and maintains C-Python,
which is an open source reference implementation. A non-profit organization,
the Python Software Foundation, manages and directs resources for Python
and C-Python development.
So, what is C-python? It is the default or reference implementation of the
Python programming language, and as the name suggests C-python is written
in C language. Some of the implementations which are based on C-Python
runtime core but with extended behavior or features in some aspects are
Stack-less Python and Micro-Python; Stack-less Python, relates to C-Python
with an emphasis on concurrency using tasklets and channels (used by ds-
python for the Nintendo DS), and Micro-Python relates to working with
microcontrollers.
C-python compiles the python source code into intermediate bytecode, which
is executed by the C-python virtual machine. It is to be noted that Python is
dynamic programming language, but it is said to be slow, because the default
C-Python implementation compiles the python source code in bytecode
which is slow as compared to machine code(native code).C-Python is
distributed with a large standard library written in a mixture of C and Python,
201
 C-Python provides the highest level of compatibility with Python packages
and C extension modules.
Further, Jython, IronPython and PyPy are also the implementation of Python
as a programming language,they also providea good level of compatibility
with Python packages. These implementations are based on Java, .NET and
Python, respectively.We will be briefly discussing about these
implementations, starting with Jython.
Jython is actually the Java platform based implementation of the Python
programming language, so that you can run Python programs on the Java
platform. The programs written in Jython uses Java classes and not the
Python modules. The Jython compiler, compiles the Jython programs into
Java byte code, which can then be run by Java virtual machine. Jython
enables the use of Java class library functions from the Python program. In
comparison to C-Python, Jython is slow, and it is not that much compatible
the libraries of CPython. However, the compatibility in Iron Python and PyPy
is quite good.
IronPython is the implementation of Python written in C# (Microsoft’s .NET
framework).As Jython used Java Virtual Machine (JVM), IronPython uses
.Net Virtual Machine i.e. Common Language Runtime. The .NET
Framework and Python libraries are used efficiently by the IronPython.
Further, due to the availability of Just In Time (JIT) compiler and absence of
Global Interpreter Lock, the IronPython performs better for the Python
programs where use threads or multiple cores is highly required.
Guido van Rossum (creator of Python) said “If you want your code to run
faster, you should probably just use PyPy.” —PyPy is an implementation of
the Python programming language written in Python itself. The PyPy
Interpreter is written in RPython, which is a subset of Python. The PyPy
interpreter uses JIT compiler to compile the source code into native machine
code which makes it very fast and efficient.PyPy also comes with default
with support for stackless mode, providing micro-threads for massive
concurrency.

☞ Check Your Progress 1

1. Compare between C and Python programming languages

……………………………………………………………………………………………

……………………………………………………………………………………………

……………………………………………………………………………………………

……………………………………………………………………………………………

2. Discuss different variant of python viz. C-python, Jython, IronPython,PyPy

……………………………………………………………………………………………

……………………………………………………………………………………………

……………………………………………………………………………………………

202 ……………………………………………………………………………………………
 Introduction to
Python

9.3 NEED OF PYTHON

We learned from past sections 9.0 and 9.1, that Python is free and simple to
learn. The primary features of Python are, that it is an high-level, Interpreted
and dynamically typed programming language, This encourages the rapid
development of application prototypes, makes debugging of errors easy and
identifying itself as the language to code with.
Now, you might be in the position to appreciate the simplicity and capability
of Python as a programming Language, it is a general purpose language and
have applicability in almost every domain of software development, be it web
development or Scientific or Business or any other application, you can ever
think off. It has wider coverage of applications, and it is complying with the
current needs of software industry, Thus it assures a promising future to the
learners.
The learners will understand the need of Python, once they understand the
application areas of Python. You might not be knowing that various
applications like YouTube, BitTorrent, DropBox etc. uses Python to achieve
their functionality.The reason behind the choice of python, for these
applications is the ability of python to be compatible for cross-platform
operating systems (a cross-platform application may run on any Operating
System, be it Microsoft Windows or Linux, or macOS or any other.), which
simplifies the development of applications. Now, its time to start our
discussion for the various types of applications that can be developed by
using Python, below are few, there may be many more.
 Artificial Intelligence(AI) and Machine Learning(ML) are need of the
times, as they yield the most promising careers for the learners. The field
of AI and ML relates to the incorporation of intelligence in to machines
by the process of self-learning from the data stored in to the system,
various algorithms are available for this purpose. But, to bring AI and
ML into action, Python is the first choice. Why?, because various well
equipped libraries like Pandas, Scikit-Learn, NumPy etc. are available, to
facilitate the engineers and scientists.Learn the algorithm, use the library
and you have your solution to the problem. It is that simple.
 Data Science and Data Visualization: Data Scientists is just another
promising career, if you know how to extract relevant information from
the data source then world is yours. But, its not easy, various algorithms
and techniques are required to work with. To simplify your work, again
Python emerges to help you to study the data you have, perform
operations and extract the required information. Libraries such as
Pandas, NumPy help you in extracting information. Further, Matplotlib
and Seaborn are the data visualization libraries, which are quite helpful
in plotting and visualization of data. This is how Python helps you to
become a Data Scientist.
 Mobile Applications: In general people think that Android and iOS are
for mobile development, but what about using Python for mobile app 203
 development ? Historically, Python didn’t have a strong story when it
came to writing mobile GUI applications, and that was quite
questionable, because Python is projected as one solution for a variety of
applications.But, with the passage of time, lot of development in Python
has happened and now we are having Python as one of the option for
Mobile App development. Now, we’ll take a look at two frameworks i.e.
Kivy and BeeWare, as options for mobile application development with
Python.
 Embedded Applications: We learned from earlier sections of this unit
that Python is based on C. Thus, it can be used to create software for
embedded applications. The Micro-Python is a software implementation
of Python 3, written in C. In fact, Micro-Python is a Python compiler that
runs on the hardware of micro-controller, it includes modules to provide
access to the low-level hardware. One of the renowned embedded
application is Raspberry Pi which uses Python for its computing. It can
be used as a computer or like a simple embedded board to perform high-
level computations, you can use it for IoT or Mobile applications, thus
may produce your smart gadgets.
 Web Development: Python is frequently used for web development, the
reason behind is the availability of the full-stack frameworks for web
development. There are many frameworks but Django, Flask and
Pyramid are quite famous, among the frameworks for web development.
They it includes common-backend logic and libraries to integrate
protocols like HTTPS,FTP,SSL etc., and also supports processing of
JSON,XML, E-Mail etc.
 Game Development : Gamming is one of the most upcoming software
industry, user can build various interactive games by using various
modules of Python, like Pygame and Pyglet, also the Python libraries
like PySoy are available, to develop 3D games. Some of the renowned
games like Civilization-IV, Disney’s Toontown Online, Vega Strike etc.
are developed by using Python.
Python has a variety of applications where it can be used. No matter what
field you take up, Python is rewarding. So I hope you have understood the
Python Applications and what sets Python apart from every other
programming language.

9.4 PACKAGES FOR CROSS PLATFORM

APPLICATION OF PYTHON
Python is the most popular programming language, and it marked its
presence by contributing actively to every emerging field in computer
science. It has vast set of libraries for almost all fields such as Machine
Learning (Numpy, Pandas, Matplotlib), Artificial intelligence (Pytorch,
TensorFlow), and Game development (Pygame,Pyglet), and many more.

After going through the section 9.2 of this unit, you understood the meaning
of Cross-platform applications and you are now aware of the potential of
204 Python as a cross-platform programming language, you also came to know
that the development of different type of applications require different types Introduction to
of packages, libraries, modules, frameworks etc. Now you might be confused Python

that what is the difference between these terms, are they same or different.
Let’s Clear your confusion first and then we will briefly discuss about the
functionality of different packages, used for the development of various
Python applications.

Python: Framework Vs Library Vs Package Vs Module

Framework is a collection of libraries. This is the architecture of the
program.
Library is a collection of packages. (We may understand that, Python
library or framework is a pre-written program that is ready to use on
common coding tasks.)
Package is a collection of modules. It must contains an __init__.py file as a
flag so that the python interpreter processes it as such. The __init__.py could
be an empty file without causing issues. A package, in essence, is like a
directory holding subpackages and modules. While we can create our own
packages, we can also use one from the Python Package Index (PyPI) to use
for our projects.To import a package, we type import Game.Sound.load Or
We can also import it giving it an alias:import Game.Sound.load as load
game.
Module is a file which contains various Python functions and global
variables. It is simply just .py extension file which has python executable
code. We put similar code together in one module. This helps us modularize
our code, and make it much easier to deal with. And not only that, a module
grants us reusability. With a module, we don’t need to write the same code
again for a new project that we take up.

let’s see how Module and Package differ:

1) A module is a file containing Python code. A package, however, is like a
directory that holds sub-packages and modules.

2) A package must hold the file __init__.py. This does not apply to
modules.
3) To import everything from a module, we use the wildcard *. But this
does not work with packages.

We will learn more about them, as we proceed in this course, don’t worry. To
start with we will discuss about various Frameworks and Libraries first, you
will be learning about their usage and also the usage of methods and
packages, later.

TensorFlow: TensorFlow is an end-to-end python machine learning library

for performing high-end numerical computations. TensorFlow can handle
deep neural networks for image recognition, handwritten digit classification,
recurrent neural networks, NLP (Natural Language Processing)

205
 Keras : is a leading open-source Python library used for development of
neural networks and machine learning projects. It simplifies the process of
designing and development of neural networks for the beginners of machine
learning. Keras also deals with convolution neural networks(CNN) and
Recurrent Neural Networks (RNN), highly required in the field of Deep
Learning. It includes algorithms for normalization, optimizion, and activation
layers. Instead of being an end-to-end Python machine learning library, Keras
acts as a user-friendly, extensible interface that enhances modularity & total
expressiveness.

Theano : is a library for scientific computation, it allows you to define,

optimize as well as evaluate the complex mathematical expressions, which
deals with multidimensional arrays. The repetitive computation of a tricky
mathematical expression is the basis of several ML and AI applications.
Theano quickly performs the data-intensive calculation, the rate of execution
is almost hundred times faster than when executing on our CPU alone. It
aims to reduce the development and execution time of ML apps, particularity
in deep learning algorithms. Only one drawback of Theano in front of
TensorFlow is that its syntax is quite hard for the beginners.

Scikit-learn : it is a prominent open-source library for machine learning

through Python, it includes a wide range of algorithms like DBSCAN,
gradient boosting, random forests, vector machines, and k-means etc., which
are generally used to implement various concepts of Machine Learning i.e.
Classification, Clustering, Regression etc. It can interoperate with numeric
and scientific libraries of Python like NumPy and SciPy. Scikit-learn
supports both supervised as well as unsupervised ML.
PyTorch : it is a production-ready library for machine-learning, supported
with excellent examples, applications and use cases, also supported by a
strong community.It supports GPU and CPU computations, thus provides
performance optimization and scalablity in research as well as production.
The two high-end features of the PyTorch are Deep neural networks and
Tensor computation, which are boosted because of the machine learning
compiler “Glow”, specially designed to improve the performance of deep
learning frameworks.
NumPy : also known as Numerical Python, a library to perform scientific
computations. Almost all Python machine-learning tools like Matplotlib,
SciPy, Scikit-learn, etc rely on this library to a reasonable extent. It comes
with functions for dealing with complex mathematical operations like linear
algebra, Fourier transformation, random number and features that work with
matrices and n-arrays in Python. It is widely used in handling sound waves,
images, and other binary functions.

SciPy : It is library, that works for all type od scientific programming

projects. Its main functionality is built upon NumPy, and it includes modules
for linear algebra, Integration, optimization, and statistics too. SciPy is
supported with extensive documentation, which makes its working really
easy.
206
Pandas : it is an open-source library of python that offers a wide range of Introduction to
tools for data analysis & manipulation, with Pandas, the data from a broad Python

range of sources like CSV, SQL databases, JSON files, and Excel, can be
read. The data analysis & manipulation is a pre-requisite for most of the
machine learning projects, where a significant amount of time is spent to
analyse the trends and patterns hidden in the datasets. Using Pandas one can
manage complex data operations with just one or two commands, it comes
with several inbuilt methods for data handling, and it also serves as the
starting point to create more focused and powerful data tools.

Matplotlib : this library is specifically meant for Data Science, it helps to

generate data visualization like 2D diagrams and graphs like histograms,
scatter plots, and even graphs for non-cartesian coordinates.It is equipped
with the object oriented API to embed plots into the applications, directly. It
is because of this library, the Python is able to compete with scientific tools
like MATLAB or Mathematica. It is quite compatible with the popular
plotting libraries, but developers are required to write more code than usual,
while using this library for generating advanced visualizations.
Seaborn : it is an unparalleled visualization library, based on Matplotlib’s
foundations. Seaborn offers high-level dataset based interface to make
amazing statistical graphics. With Seaborn, it is simple to create certain types
of plots like time series, heat maps, and violin plots. The functionalities of
Seaborn go beyond Pandas and matplotlib with the features to perform
statistical estimation at the time of combining data across observations,
plotting and visualizing the suitability of statistical models to strengthen
dataset patterns.
Scrapy : It is the most widely used library of python, for the purpose of data
sciences, specifically data mining. It is used to build crawling programs i.e
spider bots, which are used to retrieve structured data (example URLs or
Contact Information) from the web. Developers use it for gathering data from
APIs.
Pygame : is a python programming language library for making multimedia
applications like video games, animations etc. It includes libraries related to
computer graphics and sound, which are designed to be used with the Python
programming language. Pygame is suitable to create client-side applications
that can be potentially wrapped in a standalone executable.

Django : it a web framework build using Python,it encourages rapid

development of web applications.Developers can focus on writing app only,
It’s primary goal is to ease the creation of complex, database-driven websites.
Django emphasizes on code reusability and pluggability of components, thus
it supports less code, low coupling, and rapid development of websites.

MicroPython : is a software implementation of Python 3, written in C. Infact,

MicroPython is a Python compiler that runs on the hardware of micro-
controller, it includes modules to provide access to the low-level hardware.
One of the renowned embedded application is Raspberry Pi which uses
Python for its computing. It can be used as a computer or like a simple
207
 embedded board to perform high-level computations, you can use it for IoT
or Mobile applications, thus may produce your smart gadgets.

BeeWare – is a Python GUI and mobile development framework, to develop

native Python Mobile Apps. “BeeWare” project, provides a set of tools and
an abstraction layer, which can be used to write native-looking mobile and
desktop applications using Python.
Kivy – is an opensource Python Framework used as a Cross-platform Python
GUI for Mobile App development, it allows you to write pure-Python
graphical applications that run on both i.e. the main desktop platforms
(Windows, Linux, macOS and Raspberry Pi) and also on on iOS &
Android.Both Kivy and BeeWare are worth considering. So far as maturity
goes, Kivy seems to be the more mature platform right now

☞ Check Your Progress 2

1. Compare Framework, Library, Package and Modules in python
2. Identify the prominent tools of python for following:
a. Artificial Intelligence application
b. Mobile application development
c. Embedded programming
d. Web development
e. Game development
3. Discuss the utility of following:
a. Tensor Flow
b. Keras
c. Theano
d. Pytorch
e. NumPy
f. SciPy
g. Pandas
h. Matplotlib
i. Kivy
j. Django
k. Pygame

9.6 PROGRAM STRUCTURE IN PYTHON

This section relates to the discussion over the programming structure of
Python programming, i.e. the way you divide a program in your source files
and mix parts from various libraries or modules or packages in to a single
program, i.e. directly or indirectly, a single program includes multiple
208
filesfrom different modules. Modules are in fact the library tools, which are Introduction to
implemented to make a collection of top-level files i.e. the high level files Python

may use tools, defined in modules, which may use files, defined in other
modules. Coming to our point, in python a file takes a module to get access
to the tools it defines, and also to the tools defined in other modules included
in programme. In python high level file has important path of control of your
program, where from you can start your application. Just refer to the figure
given below

Figure : Structure Python Program

To understand the structure of Python program, say there exist three files
a.py,b.py and c.py. The file model a.py is chosen for high level file . it is
known as a simple text file of statements. Files b.py and c.py are modules.
They are also text files of statements but they are generally not started
directly, but they are invoked by a.py i.e high level file.

This is the general discussion over the structure of Python program, although
Python includes all the components as they are in any other language such as
data types, conditional statements, looping constructs, functions, file
handling, Classes, Exception handling, Libraries, Modules, packages etc. We
will discuss a few of them over here and the rest will be discussed in the
subsequent units in this course

9.5 GETTING STARTED WITH PYTHON

Now, we are having a bit of clarity about the Python as a programming
language, from the past sections we learned about the various libraries and
frameworks of Python. Now, we need to work on the IDEs (Integrated
Development Environments) of Python, there are many IDEs like Jupyter
Notebook, Spyder, VS Code, R Programming etc., all are collectively
available in Anaconda (Anaconda isa free and open-source distribution of the
Python and R programming languages for scientific computing (data
science, machine learning applications, large-scale data
processing,predictiveanalytics, etc.)), or you may also go for the cloud
versions Like Google Colab Notebook, where you need not to have high
configuration hardwares, only internet is required and through your gmail
account you can work on Python using Jupyter notebook.

We will discuss in brief, some of the ways to work with Python, you may
choose any or try all and other options too.

1) Just browse for https://www.python.org and perform following steps : 209

 a. Download the latest version of Python for the operating system
installed on your computer, as in my case its windows 64 bit, so I
downloaded python-3.7.7 (python-3.7.7-amd64.exe) from
https://www.python.org/downloads/release/python-377/
b. Now Run this exe file and install the Python, just click next and go
ahead, till the setup installation is finished
c. Finally you are having an interface for Python programming

There is a variety of IDEs for python, Like Jupyter Notebook, Spyder, VS

Code etc, and all are available at Anaconda (a free and open-source
distribution of the Python and R programming languages for scientific
computing (data science, machine learning applications, large-scale data
processing, predictive analytics, etc.)). To start with Anaconda Just perform
following steps.

2) Just browse https://www.anaconda.com/ and perform following steps:

a. Click the Download button on the webpage of
https://www.anaconda.com/
b. the distribution section https://www.anaconda.com/distribution/ will
open,
c. click the download option given on this
pagehttps://www.anaconda.com/distribution/
d. https://www.anaconda.com/distribution/#download-section will
open, the option of 64bit and 32bit graphic installer for Python 3.x
(currently 3.7) and 2.x (currently 2.7) are given under Anaconda
2020.02 for windows installer.
e. It is recommended to download 64bit version of Python 3.x
(currently 3.7),
f. Anaconda3-2020.02-Windows-x86_64.exe will be downloaded.
g. Now, just run the setup of this Anaconda3-2020.02-Windows-
x86_64.exe , and click next-next, till the installation is completed.
h. Finally, you will find Anaconda Navigators shortcut on your
desktop, click on it and you can start working with any IDE be it

210
 Jupyter Notebook, Spyder, VS Code etc., even you can work with R- Introduction to
Programming. Python

Important: Before working with IDEs you need to understand how to work
with them and which ine is suitable, following are observations, currently:

a) When you start Jupyter Notebook on windows (by clicking on the

jupyter section, given in the anaconda Navigator), a browser will open in
internet explorer, many a times Jupyter Notebook won’t work here, then
just copy the URL from the Internet Explorer and paste it in the Google
Chrome, you will find that Jupyter Notebook starts working, other details
regarding the writing, saving, execution of program, will be discussed
later.
b) Program exeution in Jupyter is line by line and in VS Code and Spyder it
goes sideways, even errors can also be seen sideways. Any ways all are
good to work with Python.

3) Many a times the learners may not be equipped with the systems having
latest hardware configuarations, as desired for the installation of Python,
or their might be compatibility issues with operating syatem or may be
due to any reason you are not able to install and start your work with
Python. Under such circumstances the solution is Google Colab
Notebook (https://colab.research.google.com/notebooks/welcome.ipynb),
use this and just login with your gmail account and start your work on
Jupyter Notebook, as simple as that.

211
 9.7 RUNNING THE FIRST PROGRAM
Just click file option and select new workbook, and new Jupyter notebook will open in
Google Colab, now you may start your work

As here, I wrote my first program (print(“hello”)) to say “hello” to all of you ,

and executed it by simply pressing the play button, you may see just before
the print command I wrote, and the output comes just beneath the statement
print(“hello”).

212
9.8 SUMMARY Introduction to
Python

The conceptual fundamentals of python programming language were

discussed in this unit, after going through this unit the learner will be
equipped not only with the with the historical understanding of python, but
also with the various application areas and the tools relevant to explore the
concerned application area.

SOLUTION TO CHECK YOUR PROGRESS

Check your progress 1
1) refer to section 9.0
2) refer to section 9.2

Check your progress 2

1) refer to section 9.4
2) refer to section 9.3
3) refer to section 9.4

213
 Data Structures and
UNIT 10 DATA STRUCTURES AND Control Statements
in Python
CONTROL STATEMENTS IN
PYTHON
Structure
10.1 Introduction
10.2 Objectives
10.3 Identifiers and Keywords
10.4 Statements and Expressions
10.4 Variables
10.5 Operators
10.6 Data Types
10.7 Data Structures
10.8 Control Flow Statements
10.9 Summary

10.1 INTRODUCTION
A Pythonis a general-purpose, high level programming language which is
widely used by programmers. It was created by Guido Van Rossum in 1991
and further developed by the Python Software Foundation. It was designed
with an emphasis on code readability, and its syntax allows programmers to
express their concepts in fewer lines of code. To learn how to code in any
language, it is, therefore, very important to learn its basic components. This is
what is the objective of this chapter. In this chapter, we will learn about the
basic constituents of Python starting from its identifiers, variables, operators
andalso about how to combine them to form expressions and statements. We
will also study about the data types available in Python along with the control
flow statements.

10.2 OBJECTIVES
After going through this unit, you will be able to:
 Understand the basic building blocks of Python programming
Language
 Understand various Data Structures
 Understand usage of control flow statements

10.3 IDENTIFIERS AND KEYWORDS

An identifier is a name given to a variable, function, class or module.
Identifiers may be one or more characters in the following format:

213
  Identifiers can be a combination of letters in lowercase (a to z) or Data S
Cont
uppercase (A to Z) or digits (0 to 9) or an underscore (_). Names like
myIndia, other_1 and mca_course, all are valid examples. A Python
identifier can begin with an uppercase or a lowercase alphabet or (_).
 An identifier cannot start with a digit but is allowed everywhere else.
1plus is invalid, but plus1 is perfectly fine.
 Keywords (listed in TABLE1) cannot be used as identifiers.
 One cannot use spaces and special symbols like !, @, #, $, % etc. as
identifiers.
 Identifier can be of any length. (However, it is preferrd to keep it
short and meaningful).
Examples of valid identifiers are:marksPython, Course, MCA301 etc.

Keywords are a list of reserved words that have predefined meaning to the
Python interpreter.These are special vocabulary and cannot be usd by
programmers as identifiers for variables, functions, constants or with any
identifier name. Attempting to use a keyword as an identifier name will cause
an error. As Python is case sensitive, keywords must be written exactly as
given in TABLE1.
TABLE 1 :List of keywords in Python

and async not

assert finally or
break for pass
class from nonlocal
continue global raise
def import try
elif in while
else is with
except lambda yield
False True None
del if Return
As await

Check your progress - 1:

Q1. Is Python case sensitive when dealing with Identifiers?

a) Yes
b) No

Q2. What is the maximum possible length of an identifier?

a) 32 characters
b) 64 characters
c) 76 characters
d) None of the above

214
Q3. All keywords in Python are in _____ Data Structures and
Control Statements
a) lower case in Python
b) UPPER CASE
c) Capitalized
d) None of the above

10.4 STATEMENTS AND EXPRESSIONS

A statement is a unit of code that the Python interpreter can execute. We
have seen two kinds of statements: print being an expression statement and
assignment.When you type a statement in interactive mode, the interpreter
executes it and displays the result, if there is one.A script usually contains a
sequence of statements. If there is more than one statement, the results appear
one at a time as the statement executes.
For example, the script

Print(1)
x=2
print(x)

produces the output

1
2

The assignment statement produces no output.

An expression is an arrangement of values and operators which are evaluated

to make a new value. Expressions are statements as well. A value is the
representation of some entity like a letter or a number that can be
manipulated by a program. A single value 25 or a single variable x or a
combination of a variable, operator and value z + 25 are all examples of
expressions. An expression, when used in interactive mode is evaluated by
the interpreter and result is displayed instantly. For example,

In[]: 7 + 3
Out[]: 10

But in script, an expression all by itself doesn’t show any output altogether.
You need to explicitly print the result.

Check your progress-2 :

Q4. What is the output of the following Python expression?: 36 / 4

a) 9.0
b) 9
215
 Data S
Cont
Q5. What is the output of following statement? : y = 3.14
a) 3.14
b) y
c) None of the above

Q6. An expression can contain:

a) Values
b) Variables
c) Operators
d) All of the above
e) None of the above

Q7. In thePython statement x = a + 5 – b:

a and b are ________
a + 5 – b is ________
a) Operands, an equation
b) Operands, an expression
c) Terms, a group
d) Operators, a statement

10.5 VARIABLES
Avariable is a named placeholder to hold any type of data which the program
can use to assign and modify during the course of execution. Python is a
Dynamically Typed Language. There is no need to declare a variable
explicitly by specifying whether the variable is an integer or a float or any
other type. To define a new variable in Python, we simply assign a value to a
name.

Variable names can be arbitrarily long. They can contain both letters and
numbers, but they cannot start with a number. It is legal to use uppercase
letter; but it is a good idea to begin variable names with a lowercase letter.
Variable names are case-sensitive. E.g., IGNOU and Ignou are different
variables.

The underscore character can appear in a name. it is often used in names with
multiple words, such as my_name or marks_in_maths. Variable names can
start with an underscore character, but we generally avoid doing this unless
we are writing library code for others to use.

The general format for assigning values to variables is as follows:

variable_name = expression
216
The equal sign (=) also known as simple assignment operator is used to Data Structures and
Control Statements
assign values to variables. In the general format, the operand to the left of the in Python
= operator is the name of the variable and the operand to the right of the =
operator is the expression which can be a value or any code snippet that
results in a value. That value is stored in the variable on the execution of the
assignment statement. Assignment operator should not be confused with the
= used in algebra to denote equality. E.g.,

In[]: number = 100 #integer type value is assigned to a

variable number
In[]: name = “Python” #string type value is assigned to
variable name

In Python, not only the value of a variable may change during program
execution but also the type of data that is assigned. You can assign an integer
value to a variable, use it as an integer for a while and then assign a string to
the variable. A new assignment overrides any previous assignments.

In[]: year = 2020 #an integer value is assigned to year

variable
In[]: year
Out[]: 2020
In[]:year =“twenty twenty” #then an string value is assigned to year
variable
In[]: year
Out[]: ‘twenty twenty’

Python allows you to assign a single value to several variables

simultaneously. E.g.
In[]: x = y = z =5 #an integer value is assigned to
variables x, y, z simultaneously.
Check your progress -3 :

Q8. Which of the following is a valid variable name in Python?

a) do it
b) do+1
c) 1do
d) All of the above
e) None of the above

Q9. What is the value of ‘a’ here?

a = 25
b = 35
a=b
a) 25
b) 35
217
 c) It will print error Data S
Cont
d) None of the above

Q10. Which of the following is true for variable names in Python?

a) unlimited length
b) variable names are not case sensitive
c) underscore and ampersand are the only two special characters allowed
d) none of the mentioned

Q11. What error occurs when you excecute the following Python Code
snippet?
apple = mango
a) SyntaxError
b) NameError
c) ValueError
d) TypeError

10.6 OPERATORS
Operators are special symbols that represent computations like addition and
multiplication. The values the operator is applied to are called operands.
Python language supports a wide range of operators. They are:
1. Arithmetic Operators
2. Assignment Operators
3. Relational Operators
4. Logical Operators
5. Bitwise Operators

TABLE 2 : List of Arithmetic Operators

Operator Operator Name Description Example (try
in lab)
n1 = 5, n2 = 6
+ Addition operator Adds two operands, In[]: n1 + n2
producing their sum Out[]: 11
- Subtraction Subtracts the two In[]: n1 - n2
operator operands, producing Out[]: -1
their difference
* Multiplication Produces the product In[]: n1 * n2
operator of the operands Out[]: 30
/ Division operator Produces the quotient In[]: n1 / n2
of its operands where Out[]:
the left operand is the 0.833333
dividend and the right
operand is the divisor
218
 % Modulus operator Divides left hand In[]: n1 % n2 Data Structures and
Control Statements
operand by the right Out[]: 5 in Python
hand operand and
returns a remainder
** Exponent operator Performs exponential In[]: n1 ** n2
(power) calculation Out[]: 15625
on operators
// Floor division Returns the integral In[]: n1 // n2
operator part of the quotient Out[]: 0

TABLE 3 : List of Assignment Operators

Operator Operator Description Example (try in
Name lab)
(‘~’ stand for is
equivalent to)
= Assignment Assigns values from right m = n1 + n2
side operands to left side In[]: m = n1 +
operand n2
In[]: m
Out[]: 11
+= Addition Adds the value of right m += n1 ~ m =
Assignment operand to the left operand m + n1
and assigns the result to left In[]: m += n1
operand In[]: m
Out[]: 16
-= Subtraction Subtracts the value of right m -= n1 ~ m = m
Assignment operand from the left – n1
operand and assigns the In[]: m -= n1
result to left operand In[]: m
Out[]: 11
*= Multiplication Multiplies the value of m *= n1 ~ m =
Assignment right operand with the left m* n
operand and assigns the In[]: m *= n1
result to left operand In[]: m
Out[]: 55
/= Division Divides the value of right m /= n1 ~ m = m
Assignment operand with the left / n1
operand and assigns the In[]: m /= n1
result to left operand In[]: m
Out[]: 11.0
**= Exponentiation Evaluates to the result of m ** n1 ~ m =
Assignment raising the first operand to m ** n1
the power of the second In[]: m **= n1
operand In[]: m
Out[]: 161051.0
//= Floor Division Produces the integral part m //= n1 ~ m =
219
 Assignment of the quotient of its m // n1 Data S
Cont
operands where the left In[]: m //= n1
operand is the dividend and In[]: m
the right operand is the Out[]: 32210.0
divisor
%= Remainder Computes the remainder m %= n1 ~ m =
Assignment after division and assigns m % n1
the value to the left In[]: m %= n1
operand. In[]: m
Out[]: 0.0

TABLE 4 : List of Relational Operators

Operator Operation Description Example (Try in
Lab)
n1 = 10, n2 = 0,
s1 = “Hello”,
s2=”World”
== Equals to If values of two operands In[]: n1 ==n2
are equal, then the condition Out[]: False
is True, otherwise it is False. In[] : s1 ==s2
Out[]: False
!= Not equal to If values of two operands In[] : n1 != n2
are not equal, then condition Out[]: True
is True, otherwise it is False. In[]: s1 != s2
Out[]: False
> Greaer than If the value of the left In[]: n1 > n2
operand is greater than the Out[]: True
value of the right operand, In[]: s1 > s2
then the condition is True, Out[]: True
otherwise it is False.
< Less than If the value of the left In[]: n1 < n2
operand is less than the Out[]: False
value of the right operand,
the condition is True
otherwise it is False.
>= Greater than If the value of the left In[]: n1 >= n2
or equal to operand is greater than or Out[]: True
equal to the right operand,
the condition is True
otherwise it is False.
<= Less than or If the value of the left In []: n1 <= n2
equal to operand is less than or equal Out[]: False
to the right operand, the
condition is True otherwise
it is False.

220
Note :For strings, the characters in both the strings are compared one by one Data Structures and
Control Statements
based on their Unicode value. The character with the lower Unicode value is in Python
considered to be smaller.

TABLE 5 : List of Logical Operator

Operator Operation Description Example (Try
in Lab)
n1 = 10, n2 = -
20
And Logical AND If both operands are True, In[]: n1 == 10
then condition becomes and n2 == -20
True. Out[]: True
Or Logical OR If any of the two In[]: n1 >= 10
operands are True, then or n2 <-20
condition becomes True. Out[]: True
Not Logical NOT Used to reverse the In[]: not(n1
logical state of its ==20)
operand. Out[]: True

TABLE 6 : Boolean Logic Truth Table

n1 n2 n1 and n2 n1 or n2 not n1
True True True True False
True False False True
False True False True True
False False False False

TABLE 7 : List of Bitwise Operators

Operator Operator Name Description Example (try in
Lab)
n1 = 60, n2 = 13
& Binary AND Result is one in each bit In[]: n1 & n2
position for which the Out[]: 12
corresponding bits of (means 0000
both operands as 1s. 1100)
| Binary OR Result is one in each bit In[]: n1 | n2
position for which the Out[]: 61
corresponding bits of (means 0011
either or both operands 1101)
are 1s.
^ Binary XOR Result is one in each bit In[]: n1 ^ n2
position for which the Out[]: 49
corresponding bits of (means 0011
either but not both 0001)
operands are 1s.
221
 ~ Binary Ones Inverts the bits of its In[]: ~n1 Data S
Cont
Complement operand. Out[]: -61
(means 1100
0011 in 2’s
complement
form due to a
signed binary
number)
<< Binary Left The left operands value In[]: n1 << 2
Shift is moved left by the Out[]: 240
number of bits specified (means 1111
by the right operand. 0000)
>> Binary Right The left operand value In[]: n1 >> 2
Shift is moved right by the Out[]: 15
number of bits specified (means 0000
by the right operand. 1111)

TABLE 8 : Bitwise Truth Table

n1 n2 n1 & n2 n1 | n2 n1 ^ n2 ~n1
0 0 0 0 0 1
0 1 0 1 1
1 0 0 1 1 0
1 1 1 1 0

TABLE 9 : Operator Precedence in Python

Operators Meaning
() Parentheses
** Exponent
+x, -x, ~x Unary plus, Unary minus, Bitwise NOT
*, /, //, % Multiplication, Division, Floor Division,
Modulus
+, - Addition, Subtraction
<<,>> Bitwise shift operators
& Bitwise AND
^ Bitwise XOR
| Bitwise OR
==, !=, >, >=, <, <= Comparisons
Not Logical NOT
And Logical AND
Or Logical OR

Check your progress – 4 :

Q12. 4 is 100 in binary and 11 is 1011. What is the output of the following
bitwise operators?
a=4
222 b = 11
 print (a | b) Data Structures and
Control Statements
print (a >> 2) in Python
a) 15, 1
b) 14, 1
c) 15, 2
d) 14, 2

Q13. What is the output of print(2 ** 3 ** 2)?

a) 64
b) 128
c) 256
d) 512

Q14. What is the output of the following assignment operator?

y = 10
x = y += 2
print(x)
a) 12
b) 10
c) SyntaxError

Q15. What is the output of following code?

a = 100
b = 200
print (a and b)
a) 100
b) 200
c) True
d) False

Q16. Which of the following operators has the lowest precedence?

a) %
b) +
c) **
d) not
e) and

10.7 DATA TYPES

Data types specify the type of data like numbers and characters to be stored
and manipulated within a program. Basic data types of Python are:

10.7.1 Number
10.7.2 String
10.7.3 None
223
 10.7.4 List Data S
Cont
10.7.5 Tuple
10.7.6 Dictionary
10.7.7 Set

10.7.1 Number
In Numbers or Numerical Data Types, we mainly have numbers. These
numbers are also of four types : Integer, Float, Complex, Boolean.

TABLE 10 : Data Types in Python

Type / Class Description Examples

Int Integer numbers -12, -3, 0, 123, 2

float Floating point numbers -2.04, 4.0, 14.23

complex Complex numbers 3+4j, 2-2j

bool Boolean numbers True, false

In Interactive mode:

Note :type() function can be used to check the data type of the variables

Examples:

In[]: i = 23 #variable i assigned with integer value

In[]: type(i)

Out[]: int

In[]: c = 2+5j #variable c assigned with a complex number

In[]: type(c)

Out[]: complex

In[]: b = 10>7

In[]: type(b) #to display the data type of variable b

Out[]: bool

In[]: b #to display the value of b

Out[]: True

10.7.2 String

224
A string is an ordered sequence of characters. These characters may be Data Structures and
Control Statements
alphabets, digits or special characters including spaces. String values are in Python
enclosed in single quotation marks (e.g. “hello’) or in double quotation marks
(e.g., “python course”). The quotes are not a part of the string, they are used
to mark the beginning and end of the string for the interpreter. In Python,
there is no character data type, a character is a string of length one. It is
represented by str class. Few of the characteristics of strings are:

 Numerical operations can not be performed on strings, even when the

string contains a numeric value like str2 defined below.
 A string has a length. Get the length with the len() built-in function.
 A string is indexable. Get a single character at a position in a string
with the square bracket operator, for example str1[4]. Indexing always
start with 0.
 One can retrieve a slice (sub-string) of a string with a slice operation,
for example str1[4:8].
 Strings are immutable, which means you can’t change an existing
string.

In[]: str1 = ‘Hello Friend’ #variable str1 of string type is declared

In[]: str2 = “452” #variable str2 of string type is declared

In[]: len(str1) #length of string str1

Out[]: 12

In[]: str1[4] #to access 5th character in the string

Out[]: ‘o’

In[]: str1[-1] #negative indices can be used, which

count backward from the end of string.
[-1] yields the last letter.

Out[]: ‘d’

In []: str[4:8] # Operator returns the part of the string from

the first index to the second index, including
the first but excluding the last. So, sub-string
starting from 5 character to 8 character is
extracted.

Out[]: ‘o Fr’

If one omits the first index (before the colon), the slice starts at the beginning
of the string and if second index is omitted, the slice goes to the end of the
string.

In[]: str1[:3]

225
 Out[]: ‘hel’ Data S
Cont
In[]: str1[3:]

Out[]: ‘lo Friend’

In []: str1[2] = ‘a’

TypeError: ‘str’ object does not support item assignment.

In[]: str2 = ‘ Narender’

In[]: str1 + str2 #for concatenating two strings, “+” operator is

used

Out[]: ‘hello Friend Narender’

In[]: str1 * 3 #for creating multiple concatenated copies of a

string, “*” operator is used

Out[]: ‘hello FriendhelloFriendhello Friend’

10.7.3 None
A none is another special data type in Python. A none is frequently used to
represent the absence of a value. For example,

In[]: money = None #None value is assigned to variable

money

Some literatures on Python consider additional data types like List, Tuple,
Set &Dictionary whereas some others consider them as the built-in data
structures. We will put them in the category of data structures and discuss
considering them in same but considering them as data types is also not
wrong.

10.7.4 List
A list is a sequence of items separated by commas and items enclosed in
square brackets [ ]. These are similar to arrays available with other
programmimg languages but unlike arrays items in the list may be of
different data types. Lists are mutable, and hence, they can be altered even
after their creation. Lists in Python are ordered and have a definite sequence
and the indexing of a list is done with 0 being the first index. Each element in
the list has its definite place in the list, which allows duplicating of elements
in the list, with each element having its own distinct place and creditability. It
is represented by list class.

In[]: list1 = [5, 3.4, ‘IGNOU’, ‘Part 3’, 45] #to create a list

In[]: list1 #to print the elements of the list

list1
226
 Out[]: [5, 3.4, ‘IGNOU’, ‘Part 3’, 45] Data Structures and
Control Statements
in Python
In[]: list1[0] #accessing first element of the
list

Out[]: 5

In[]: list1[3] #accessing 4th element of the list

Out[]: Part 3

In[]:list1[-1] #accessing last element of the

list

Out[]: 45

In[]: list1[-3] #accessing last 3rdelement of the

list

Out[]: 'IGNOU'

10.7.5 Tuple
A tuple is similar to the list in many ways. Like lists, tuples also contain the
collection of the items of different data types. The items of the tuple are
separated with a comma and enclosed in parentheses.

A tuple is a read-only data structure as we can’t modify the size and value of
the items of a tuple and it is immutable.

In[]: t = (‘hello’,’world’,2) #creating tuple t

In[]: t # printing tuple t

Out[]: ('hello', 'world', 2)

In[]: t[1] #accessing specific element of the tuple

say second element

Out[]: 'world'

10.7.6 Dictionary
A dictionary in Python holds data items in key-value pairs of items. The
items in the dictionary are separated with the comma and enclosed in the
curly brackets{}. Dictionaries permit faster access to data. Every key is
separated from its value using a colon(:) sign. The key value pairs of a
dictionary can be accessed using the key. Keys are usually of string type and
their values can be of any data type. In order to access any value in the
dictionary, we have to specify its key in square brackets[]. 227
 #Creating dictionary dict1 Data S
Cont
In[]: dict1 = {'Fruit':'Apple','Climate':'Cold','Price(Kg)':120}

In[]: dict1 #printing the contents of

dictionary dict1

Out[]: {'Fruit': 'Apple', 'Climate': 'Cold', 'Price(Kg)': 120}

In[]: dict1['Climate'] #Getting value by specifying the

key

Out[]:Cold

In[]: dict1.keys() #printing all the Keys in the

dictionary

Out[]: dict_keys(['Fruit', 'Climate', 'Price(Kg)'])

In[]: dict1.values() #printing all the values in the

dictionary

Out[]: dict_values(['Apple', 'Cold', 120])

10.7.7 Set
In Python, aset is an orderd collection of data type that is iterable, mutable
and has no duplicate elements. The order of elements in a set is undefined
though it may consist of various elements. The major advantage of using a
set, as opposed to a list, is that it has a highly optimized method for checking
whether a specific element is contained in the set.

Sets can be created by using the built-in set() function with an iterable object
or a sequence by placing the sequence inside curly braces, separated by
‘comma’. A set contains only unique elements but at the time of set creation,
multiple duplicate values can also be passed. The order of elements in a set is
undefined and is unchangeable. Type of elements in a set need not be the
same, various mixed-up data type values can also be passed to the set.

In[]: set1 = set("IGNOU MCA BATCH") #creating

set set1

In[]: set1
#displaying contents of set1

Out[]: {' ', 'A', 'B', 'C', 'G', 'H', 'I', 'M', 'N', 'O', 'T', 'U'}

In[]: set2 = set([2, 3, 2, 'MCA', 'IGNOU', 1, 'IGNOU']) #set with

the use of mixed values

In[]: set2

Out[]: {1, 2, 3, 'IGNOU', 'MCA'}

228
 Data Structures and
Control Statements
Check your progress - 5: in Python

Q17. Which of these is not a core data type?

a) Lists
b) Dictionary
c) Tuples
d) Class

Q18. What data type is the object below?

L = [1, 23, ‘hello’, 1]
a) List
b) Dictionary
c) Tuple
d) Array

Q19. What will be the output of the following Python code?

In[]:str=”hello”
In[]: str[:2]
a) he
b) lo
c) olleh
d) hello

Q20. In python we do not specify types, it is directly interpreted by the

compiler.So consider the following operation to be performed:
x = 13 ? 2
objective is to make sure x has a integer value, select all that apply
a) x = 13 // 2
b) x = int(13 / 2)
c) x = 13 % 2
d) all of the above

Q21. What is the result of print(type({}) is set)

a) True
b) False

Q22. What is the data type of print (type(10))?

a) float
b) integer
c) int

Q23. If we convert one data type to another, then it is called

a) Type Conversion
b) Type Casting
c) Both of the above
229
 d) None of the above Data S
Cont

Q24. In which data type, indexing is not valid?

a) list
b) string
c) distionary
d) None of the above

Q25. In which of the following data type duplicate items are not allowed?
a) list
b) set
c) dictionary
d) None of the above

Q26. Which statement is correct?

a) List is immutable && Tuple is mutable
b) List is mutable && Tuple is immutable
c) Both are mutable
d) Both are immutable

10.8 DATA STRUCTURES

Data Structures are used to organize, store and manage data for efficient
access and modification. Some literatures on Python categorize List, Tuple,
Dictionary and Set as data types and some categorize these as primitive data
structures. We had already introduced the above mentioned structures in the
data type. Lets discuss them in detail here:

10.8.1 List
A list a container data type that acts as a dynamic aray. That is to say, a list is
a sequence that can be indexed into and that can grow and shrink. A few
characteristics of lists are:

 A list has a (current) length – Get the length of a lsit with len()
function.
 A list has an order – the items in a list are ordered, order going from
left to right.
 A list is heterogeneous –different types of objects can be inserted into
the same list.
 Lists are mutable and one can extend, delete, insert or modify items in
the list.

The syntax for creating list is,

list_name = [item_1, item_2, item_3, ………., item_n]

230
Any item can be stored in a list like string, number, object, another variable Data Structures and
Control Statements
and even another list. In a list, we can have a mix of different item types and in Python
these item types need not have to be homogeneous. For example, we can
have a list which is a mix of type numbers, strings and another list itself. The
contents of the list variable are displayed by executing the list variable name.

Examples :

In[]: list_name = [ ] #empty list

without any items

#when each item in the list is string

In[]: stringlist = [“mahesh”, “ramesh”, “suresh”, “vishnu”,

“ganesh”]

#when each item in the list is number

In[]: numlist = [4, 6, 7, 10, 15, 13]

#when list contains mixed items

In[]: mixed_list = [‘cat’, 87.23, 65, [9, 8, 1]]

10.8.1.1 Indexing and Slicing in Lists

As an ordered sequence of elements, each item in a list can be individually,

through indexing. The expression inside the bracket is called the index. Lists
use square brackets [ ] to access individual items, with the first item at index
0, the second item at index 1 and so on. The index provided within the square
brackets indicates the value being accessed.

The syntax for accessing an item in a list is,

list_name [index]

where index should always be an integer value and indicates the item to be
selected.

In[]: stringlist[0] #to access first item in the stringlist

Out[]: ‘mahesh’

In[]: numlist[4] #to access fifth item in the

numlist

Out[]: 15

In[]: numlist[6] #if index value is more than the number

of items in the list, it will raise an error

Output would be :
231
 Traceback (most recent call last): Data S
Cont
File “<stdin>”, line 1, in <module>

numlist[6]

IndexError : List index out of range

Here, in numlist index numbers range from 0 to 5 as it contains 6 items.

In addition to positive index numbers, one can also access items from the list
with a negative index number, by counting backwards from the end of the
list, starting at -1. It is useful of the list is long and we want to locate an item
towards the end of a list.

In[]: stringlist[-2] #to access second list item from

the list

Out[]: ‘vishnu’

The slice operator also works on lists:

In[]: numlist[1:3]

Out[]: [6, 7]

In[]: mixed_list[:3]

Out[]: [‘cat’, 87.23, 65]

In[]: mixed_list[2:]

Out[]: [65, [9, 8, 1]]

In[]: numlist[:]

Out[]: [4, 6, 7, 10, 15, 13]

If the first index is omitted, the slice starts at the beginning and if the second
index is omitted, the slice goes to the end. So, if both indexes are omitted, the
slice is a copy of the whole list.

10.8.1.2 List Operations

The + operator concatenates lists:

In[]: a = [1, 2, 3]

In[]: b = [4, 5, 6]

In[]: a + b

Out[]: [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]

Similarly, the * operator repeats a list given a number of times:

232
 In[]: c = [‘pass’] Data Structures and
Control Statements
in Python
In[]: c * 3

Out[]: [‘pass’, ‘pass’, ‘pass’]

== operator is used to compare the two lists.

In[]: a == b

Out[]: False

in and not in membership operator are used to check for the presence of an
item in the list.

In[]: 2 in a

Out[]: True

In[]: 4 not in [a]

Out[]: True

10.8.1.3 The list() function

The built-in-list() function is used to create a list. The syntax for list()
function is,

list([sequence])

where the sequence can be a string, tuple or list itself. If the optional
sequence is not specified then an empty list is created.

In[]: greet = “How are you doing?” #string declaration

In[]: greet

Out[]: ‘How are you doing?’

In[]: str_to_list = list(greet) #string converted to list

using list()

In[]: str_to_list

Out[]: [‘H’,’o’,’w’,’ ‘,’a’,’r’,’e’,’ ‘,’y’,’o’,’u’,’ ‘,’d’,’o’,’i’,’n’,’g’,’?’]

In[]: friend = “nidhi” #string declaration

In[]: str_to_list + friend #list concatenated with

string

TypeError: can only concatenate list (not “str”) to list

In[]: str_to_list + list(friend) #list concatenated with

list
233
 Out[]:[‘H’,’o’,’w’,’ ‘,’a’,’r’,’e’,’ ‘,’y’,’o’,’u’,’ Data S
Cont
‘,’d’,’o’,’i’,’n’,’g’,’?’,’n’,’i’,’d’,’h’,’i’]

10.8.1.4 Modifying items in Lists

Lists are mutable in nature as the list items can be modified after a list has
been created. Also, a list can be modified by replacing the older item with a
newer item in its place and without assigning the list to a completely new
variable.

In[]: stringlist[1] = “umesh”

In[]: stringlist

Out[]: [‘mahesh’, ‘umesh’, ‘suresh’, ‘vishnu’, ‘ganesh’]

When an existing list variable is assigned to a new variable, an assignment

(=) on lists does not make a new copy. Instead, assignment makes both the
variables names point to the same list in memory. That’s why any change in
one list will reflect in other list also.

In[]: listofstrings = stringlist

In[]: listofstrings[1] = “ramesh”

In[]: listofstrings

Out[]:[‘mahesh’, ‘ramesh’, ‘suresh’, ‘vishnu’, ‘ganesh’]

In[]: stringlist

Out[]:[‘mahesh’, ‘ramesh’, ‘suresh’, ‘vishnu’, ‘ganesh’]

10.8.1.5 Traversing a list

The most common way to traverse the elements of a list is with a for loop.

In[]: for names in stringlist :

print(names)

Out[]: mahesh

ramesh

suresh

vishnu

ganesh

This works well if one needs to read the elements of the list. But if one wants
to write or update the elements, one needs the indices. For this one needs to
combine the functions range and len:
234
 In[]: for i in range(len(numlist)) : Data Structures and
Control Statements
in Python
numlist[i] = numlist[i] * 2

In[]: numlist

Out[]: [8, 12, 14, 20, 30, 26]

This loop traverses the list and updates each element. The command len
returns the number of elements in the list.The command range returns a list of
indices from 0 to n-1, where n is the length of the list. Each time through the
loop, the variable i gets the index of the next element. The assignment
statement in the body uses i to read the old value of the element and to assign
the new value.

10.8.1.6 List Methods

Python provides methods that operate on lists. For example, append adds a
new element to the end of a list:

In[]: numlist.append(50)

In[]: numlist

Out[]: [8, 12, 14, 20, 30, 26, 50]

extend takes a list as an argument and appends all of the elements:

In[]: nlist = [25, 35, 45]

In[]: numlist.extend(nlist)

In[]:numlist

Out[]: [8, 12, 14, 20, 30, 26, 50, 25, 35, 45]

sort arranges the elements of the list from low to high:

In[]: numlist.sort()

In[]: numlist

Out[]: [8, 12, 14, 20, 25, 26, 30, 35, 45, 50]

pop is used to delete elements from a list if the index of the element is
known:

In[]: numlist.pop(5)

Out[]: 26

In[]: numlist

Out[]: [8, 12, 14, 20, 25, 30, 35, 45, 50]

235
 pop modifies the list and returns the element that was removed. If the Data S
Cont
removed element is not required then one can use the del operator:

In[]: del numlist[0]

In[]: numlist

Out[]: [12, 14, 20, 25, 30, 35, 45, 50]

To remove more than one element, del can be used with a slice index

In[]: del numlist[0:2]

In[]: numlist

Out[]: [20, 25, 30, 35, 45, 50]

If element from the list is known which needs to be removed and not the
index, remove can be used:

In[]: numlist.remove(30)

In[]: numlist

Out[]: [20, 25, 35, 45, 50]

The return value for remove is none.

To get a list of all the methods associated with the list, pass the list function
to dir()

In[]: dir(list)

TABLE 11 : Various List Methods

List Syntax Description

Methods

append() list.append(item) The append() method adds a single item

to the end of the list. This method does
not return new list and it just modifies the
original.

count() list.count(item) The count() method counts the number of

times the item has occurred in the list and
returns it.

insert() list.insert(index, The insert() method inserts the item at the

item) given index, shifting items to the right.

extend() list.extend(list2) The extend() method adds the items in

list2 to the end of the list.

236
index() list.index(item) The index() method searches for the Data Structures and
Control Statements
given item from the start of the list and in Python
returns its index. If the value appears
more than once, you will get the index of
the first one. If the item is not present in
the list then ValueError is thrown by this
method.

remove() list.remove(item) The remove() method searches for the

first instance of the given item in the list
and removes it. If the item is not present
in the list then ValueError is thrown by
this method.

sort() list.sort() The sort() method sorts the items in place

in the list. This method modifies the
original list and it does not return a new
list.

reverse() list.reverse() The reverse() method reverses the items

in place in the list. This method modifies
the original list and it does not return a
new list.

pop() list.pop([index]) The pop() method removes and returns

the item at the given index. This method
returns the rightmost item if the index is
omitted.

Note: Replace the word”list” mentioned in the syntax with your actual list
name in your code.

10.8.1.7Built-In Functions Used on Lists

There are many built-in functions for which a list can be passed as an
argument.

TABLE 12 : Built – In Functions Used on Lists

Built-In Description
Functions

len() The len() function returns the numbers of items in a list.

sum() The sum() function returns the sum of numbers in the list.

any() The any() function returns True if any of the Boolean

values in the list is True.

all() The all() function returns True if all the Boolean values

237
 in the list are True, else returns False. Data S
Cont
sorted() The sorted() function returns a modified copy of the list
while leaving the original list untouched.

In[]: len(stringlist)

Out[]: 5

In[]: sum(numlist)

Out[]: 175

In[]: max(numlist)

Out[]: 50

In[]: min(numlist)

Out[]: 20

In[]: any([1, 1, 0, 0, 1, 0])

Out[]: True

In[]: all([1, 1, 1, 1])

Out[]: True

In[]: sorted_stringlist = sorted(stringlist)

In[]: sorted_stringlist

Out[]: [‘ganesh’, ‘mahesh’, ‘ramesh’, ‘suresh’, ‘vishnu’]

10.8.1.8 Nested List

A list inside another list is called a nested list and you can get the behavior of
nested lists in Python by storing lists within the elements of another list. The
syntax for nested lists is:

nested_list_name = [[item_1, item_2, item_3],

[item_4, item_5, item_6],

[item_7, item_8, item_9]]

Each list inside another list is separated by a comma. One can traverse
through the items of nested lists using the for loop.

In[]: asia = [[“India”, “Japan”, “Korea”],

[“Srilanka”, “Myanmar”, “Thailand”],

238
 [“Cambodia”, “Vietnam”, “Israel”]] Data Structures and
Control Statements
in Python
In[]: asia[0]

Out[]: [‘India’, ‘Japan’, ‘Korea’]

In[]: asia[0][1]

Out[]: ‘Japan’

In[]: asia[1][2]

Out[]: ‘Thailand’

Program 10.1 : Write a Program to Find the Transpose of a Matrix

1. matrix = [[10, 20],

2. [30, 40],
3. [50, 60]]
4. matrix_transpose = [[0, 0, 0],
5. [0, 0, 0]]
6. for rows in range(len(matrix)):
7. for columns in range(len(matrix[0])):
8. matrix_transpose[columns][rows] = matrix[rows][columns]
9. print("Transposed Matrix is")
10. for items in matrix_transpose:
11. print(items)

Fig 1 : Screen Shot of execution of Program 10.1

Check your progress – 6 :

Q27. Empty list in python is made by?
a) l = []
b) l = list()
239
 c) Both of the above Data S
Cont
d) None of the above

Q28. If we try to access the item outside the list index, then what type of
error it may give?
a) List is not defined
b) List index out of range
c) List index out of bound
d) No error

Q29. l = [1,2,3,4], then l[-2] is?

a) 1
b) 2
c) 3
d) 4

Q30. The marks of a student on 6 subjects are stored in a list, list1 = [80, 66,
94, 87, 99, 95]. How can the students average marks be calculated?
a) print(avg(list1))
b) print(sum(list1)/len(list1))
c) print(sum(list1)/sizeof(list1))
d) print(total(list1)/len(list1))

Q31. What will be the output of the following Python code?

list1=[“Python”, “Java”, “c”, “C”, “C++”]
print(min(list1))
a) c
b) C++
c) C
d) Min function can’t be used on string elements

Q32. The elements of a list are arranged in descending order:

Which of the following two will give same outputs?
a) print(list_name.sort())
b) print(max(list_name))
c) print(list_name.reverse())
d) print(list_name[-1])
i, ii
i, iii
ii, iii
iii, iv

Q33. What will be the output of below python code?

list1=[“tom”, “mary”, “simon”]
list1.insert(5,8)
print(list1)
240
 a) [“tom”, “mary”, “simon”, 5] Data Structures and
Control Statements
b) [“tom”, “mary”, “simon”, 8] in Python
c) [8, “tom”, “marry”, “simon”]
d) Error

Q34. What will be the output of below python code?

list1=[1,3,5,2,4,6,2]
list1.remove(2)
print(sum(list1))
a) 18
b) 19
c) 21
d) 22

Q35. What will be the output of below python code?

list1=[3,2,5,7,3,6]
list1.pop(3)
print(list1)
a) [3,2,5,3,6]
b) [2,5,7,3,6]
c) [2,5,7,6]
d) [3,2,5,7,3,6]

10.8.2 Tuple
In mathematics, a tuple is a finite ordered list (sequence) of elements. A tuple
is defined as a data structure that comprises an ordered, finite sequence of
immutable, heterogeneous elements that are of fixed sizes. Often, we may
want to return more than one value from a function. Tuples solve this
problem. They can also be used to pass multiple values through one function
parameter.

10.8.2.1 Creating Tuples

A tuple is a finite ordered list of values of possibly different types which is

used to bundle related values together without having to create a specific type
to hold them. Tuples are immutable. Once a tuple is created, one cannot
change its values. A tuple is defined by putting a comma-separated list of
values inside parantheses(). Each value inside a tuple is called an item. The
syntax for creating tuples is,

tuple_name = (item_1, item_2, item_3, ……………….., item_n)

Syntactically, a tuple is a comma-separated list of values:

In[]: t = ‘a’, ‘b’, ‘c’, ‘d’, ‘e’

241
 Although it is not necessary, it is common to enclose tuples in parantheses to Data S
Cont
help us quickly identify tuples when Python code is looked at:

In[]: t = (‘a’, ‘b’, ‘c’, ‘d’, ‘e’)

It is actually the comma that forms a tuple making the commas significant
and not the parentheses.

To create a tuple with a single element, one must include the final comma:

In[]: t1 = (‘a’,)

In[]: type(t1)

Out[]: tuple

In Python, the tuple type is tuple. Without the comma Python treats (‘a’) as
an expression with a string in parentheses that evaluates to a string:

In[]: t2 = (‘a’)

In[]: type(t2)

Out[]: str

One can create an empty tuple without any values. The syntax is,

tuple_name = ()

In[]: empty_tuple = ()

In[]: empty_tuple

Out[]: ()

One can store any type of type string, number, object, another variable, and
even another tuple itself. One can have a mix of different types of items in
tuples, and they need not be homogeneous.

In[]: socis = (‘mca’,’6 sem’,’3-6 yrs’,54000)

In[]: ignou = (‘soe’,’soh’,socis,’soms’)

In[]: ignou

Out[]: (‘soe’, ‘soh’, (‘mca’, ‘6 sem’, ‘3 – 6 yrs’, 54000), ‘soms’)

10.8.2.2 Basic Tuple Operations

Most list operators also work on tuples. The bracket operator indexes an
element:

In[]: t[0]

Out[]: ‘a’
242
And the slice operator selects a range of elements. Data Structures and
Control Statements
in Python
In[]: t[1:3]

Out[]: (‘b’, ‘c’)

But if you try to modify one of the elemnts of the tuples, one will get an
error:

In[]: t[0] = ‘A’

TypeError: ‘tuple’ object does not support item assignment

We can’t modify the elements of a tuple, but can replace one tuple with
another:

In[]: t = (‘A’,) + t[1:]

In[]: t

Out[]: (‘A’, ‘b’, ‘c’, ‘d’, ‘e’)

Here, + operator is used to concatenate two tuples together. Similarly, *

operator can be used to repeat a sequence of tuple items.

In[]: t * 2

Out[]: (‘A’, ‘b’, ‘c’, ‘d’, ‘e’, ‘A’, ‘b’, ‘c’, ‘d’, ‘e’)

in and not in membership operator are used to check for the presence of an
item in a tuple.

Comparison operators like <, <=, >, >=, == and != are used to compare
tuples.

Python starts by comparing the first element from each sequence. If they are
equal, it goes on to the next element, and so on, until it finds elements that
differ. Subsequent elements are not considered even if they are really big.

In[]: (0, 1, 2) < (0, 3, 4)

Out[]: True

In[]: (0, 1, 500000) < (0, 3, 4)

Out[]: True

10.8.2.3 The tuple() Function

The built-in tuple() function is used to create a tuple. The syntax for the
tuple() function is:

tuple([sequence])

243
 where sequence can be a number, string or tuple itself. If the optional Data S
Cont
sequence is not specified, then an empty tuple is created.

In[]: t3 = tuple()

In[]: t3

Out[]: ()

If the argument is a sequence (string, list or tuple), the result of the call to
tuple is a tuple with the elements of the sequence:

In[]: t3 = tuple(‘IGNOU’)

In[]: t3

Out[]: (‘I’, ‘G’, ‘N’, ‘O’, ‘U’)

In[]: t4 = (1, 2, 3, 4)

In[]: nested_t = (t3, t4)

In[]: nested_t

Out[]: ((‘I’, ‘G’, ‘N’, ‘O’, ‘U’), (1, 2, 3, 4))

10.8.2.4Built-In Functions Used on Tuples

There are many built-in functions as listed in TABLE for which a tuple can
be passed as an argument.

TABLE 13: Built-In functions Used on Tuples

Built-In Functions Description

len() The len() function returns the number of items

in a tuple.

sum() The sum() function returns the sum of numbers

in the tuple.

sorted() The sorted() function returns a sorted copy of

the tuple as a list while leaving the original tuple
untouched.

In[]: len(t3)

Out[]: 5

In[]: sum(t4)

Out[]: 10

In[]: t5 = sorted(t3)
244
 In[]: t5 Data Structures and
Control Statements
in Python
Out[]: [‘G’, ‘I’, ‘N’, ‘O’, ‘U’]

10.8.2.5 Tuple assignment

One of the unique syntactic features of the Python language is the ability to
have a tuple on the left side of an assignment statement. This allows one to
assign more than one variable at a time when the left side is a sequence.

In this example we have a two-element list (which is a sequence) and assign

the first and second elements of the sequence to the variables x and y in a
single statement.

In[]: m = [‘good’, ‘luck’]

In[]: x, y = m

In[]: x

Out[]: ‘good’

In[]: y

Out[]: ‘luck’

Python roughly translates the tuple assignment syntax to be the following:

In[]: m = [‘good’, ‘luck’]

In[]: x = m[0]

In[]: y = m[1]

Stylistically, when we use a tuple on the left side of the assignment statement,
we omit the parentheses, but the following is an equally valid syntax:

In[]: (x, y) = m

10.8.2.6 Relation between Tuples and Lists

Though tuples may seem similar to lists, they are often used in different
situations and for different purposes. Tuples are immutable, and
usuallycontain a heterogeneous sequence of elements that are accessed via
unpacking or indexing. Lists are mutable, and their items are accessed via
indexing. Items cannot be added, removed or replaced in a tuple.

If an item within a tuple is mutable, then you can change it. Consider the
presence of a list as an item in a tuple, then any changes to the list get
reflected on the overall items in the tuple.

In[]: ignou = [‘soe’, ‘soms’, ‘socis’]

In[]: univ = (‘du’, ‘ggsipu’, ‘jnu’, ignou)

245
 In[]: univ Data S
Cont
Out[]: (‘du’, ‘ggsipu’, ‘jnu’, [‘soe’, ‘soms’, ‘socis’])

In[]: univ[3].append(‘soss’)

In[]: univ

Out[]: (‘du’, ‘ggsipu’, ‘jnu’, [‘soe’, ‘soms’, ‘socis’, ‘soss’])

10.8.2.7 Tuple Methods

To get a list of all the methods associated with the tuple, pass the tuple
function to dir().

Various methods associated with tuple are listed in the TABLE.

TABLE 14: Various Tuple Methods

Tuple Syntax Description

Methods

count() tuple_name.count(item) The count() method counts the

number of times the item has
occurred in the tuple and returns
it.

index() tuple-name.index(item) The index() method searches for

the given item from the start of
the tuple and returns its index. If
the value appears more than
once, you will get the index of
the first one. If the item is not
present in the tuple, then
ValueError is thrown by this
method.

Note: Replace the word “tuple_name” mentioned in the syntax with your
actual tuple name in the code.

In[]: channels = (“dd”, “star”, “sony”, “zee”, “dd”, “sab”)

In[]: channels.count(“dd”)

Out[]: 2

In[]: channels.index(“dd”)

Out[]: 0

In[]: channels.index(“zee”)

Out[]: 3
246
 In[]: channels.count(“sab”) Data Structures and
Control Statements
in Python
Out[]: 1

PROGRM 10.2 : Program to Populate with User-Entered Items

1. tuple_items = ()
2. total_items = int(input("Enter the total number of items: "))
3. for i in range(total_items):
4. user_input = int(input("Enter a number: "))
5. tuple_items += (user_input,)
6. print(f"Items added to tuple are {tuple_items}")
7. list_items = []
8. total_items = int(input("Enter the total number of items: "))
9. for i in range(total_items):
10. item = input("Enter an item to add: ")
11. list_items.append(item)
12. items_of_tuple = tuple(list_items)
13. print(f"Tuple items are {items_of_tuple}")

Fig 2 : Screen Shot of execution of Program 10.2

247
 Data S
Cont

Items are inserted into the tuple using two methods: using continuous
concatenation += operator and by converting list items to tuple items. In the
code, tuple_itemsis of tuple type. In both the methods, the total number of
items are specified which will be inserted to the tuple beforehand. Based on
this number, the for loop is iterated using the range() function. In the first
method, the user entered items are continuously concatenated to the tuple
using += operator. Tuples are immutable and are not supposed to be changed.
During each iteration, each original_tuple is replaced by original_tuple +
(new_element), thus creating a new tuple. Notice a comma after
new_element. In the second method, a list is created. For each iteration, the
user entered value is appended to the list_variable. This list is then converted
to tuple type using tuple() function.

Program 10.3 : Program to Swap Two Numbers without Using

Intermediate/Temporary Variable. Prompt the User for Input.

1. a = int(input("Enter a value for the first number "))

2. b = int(input("Enter a value for the second number "))
3. b, a = a, b
4. print("After Swapping")
5. print(f"Value for first number {a}")
248 6. print(f"Value for second number {b}")
Fig. 3 : Screen Shot of Program 10.3 Data Structures and
Control Statements
in Python

The contents of variables a and b are reversed. The tuple variables are on the
left side of the assignment operator and, on the right side, are the tuple
values. The number of variables on the left and the number of values on the
right has to be the same. Each value is assigned to its respective variable.

Check your progress – 7 :

Q36. A python tuple can also be created without using parentheses
a) False
b) True

Q37. What is the output of the following?

aTuple = “Yellow”, 20, “Red”
a, b, c = aTuple
print(a)
a) (‘Yellow’, 20, ‘Red’)
b) TypeError
c) Yellow

Q38. Choose the correct way to access value 20 from the following tuple
aTuple = (“Orange”, [10, 20, 30], (5, 15, 25))
a) aTuple[1:2][1]
b) aTuple[1:2](1)
c) aTuple[1:2][1]
d) aTuple[1][1]

Q39. Select which is true for python tuple

a) A tuple maintains the order of items
b) A tuple is unordered
c) we cannot change the tuple once created
d) we can change the tuple once created

Q40. What will be the output of below python code: 249

 tuple1=(2, 4, 3) Data S
Cont
tuple2=tuple1*2
print(tuple2)
a) (4, 8, 6)
b) (2, 4, 3, 2, 4, 3)
c) (2, 2, 4, 4, 3, 3)
d) Error

Q41. What will be the output of below python code:

tupl = (“annie”, “hena”, “sid”)
print(tupl[-3:0])
a) (“annie”)
b) ()
c) None
d) Error as slicing is not possible in tuple

Q42. Which of the following options will not result in an error when
performed on tuples in python where tupl = (5, 2, 7, 0, 3)?
a) tupl[1] = 2
b) tupl.append(2)
c) tupl1 = tupl + tupl
d) tupl.sort()

10.8.3 Dictionaries
In the real world, you have seen your Contact-list in your phone. It is
practically impossible to memorize the mobile number of everyone you come
across. In the Contact-list, you store the name of the person as well as his
number. This allows you to identify the mobile number based on a person’s
name. One can think of a person’s name as the key that retrives his mobile
number, which is the value associated with the key. So, dictionary can be
thought of :

- an un-ordered collection of key-value pairs, with the requirement

that the keys are unique within a dictionary.
- as a mapping between a set of indices (which are called keys) and
a set of values. Each key maps to a value. The association of a key
and a value is called a key-value pair or sometimes an item.
- has a length, specifically the number of key-value pairs.
- provides fast look up by key.

The keys of the dictionary must be immutable object types and are case
sensitive. Keys can be either a string or a number. But lists can not be used as
keys. A value in the dictionary can be of any data type including string,
number, list or dictionary itself.
250
Dictionaries are constructed using curly braces {}, wherein a list of key:value Data Structures and
Control Statements
pairs get separated by commas. There is a colon(:) separating each of these in Python
keys and value pairs, where the words to the left of the colon operator are the
keys and the words to the right of the colon operator are the values.

The syntax for creating a dictionary is :

dictionary_name = {key_1:value_1, key_2:value_2, key_3:value_3, ……..

, key_n : value_n}

In[]: eng2sp = {‘one’ : ‘uno’, ‘two’ : ‘dos’, ‘three’ : ‘tres’}

In[]: eng2sp

Out[]:{‘one’ : ‘uno’, ‘two’ : ‘dos’, ‘three’ : ‘tres’}

With Python 3.6 version, the output of dictionary statements is ordered

key:value pairs. Here, ordered means “insertion ordered”, i.e, dictionaries
remember the order in which the key:value pairs were inserted. The elements
of a dictionary are never indexed with integer indices. Instead, the keys are
used to look up the corresponding values:

In[]: eng2sp[‘two’]

Out[]: ‘dos’

The key ‘two’ always maps to the value ‘dos’ so the order of the items
doesn’t matter. If the key isn’t in the dictionary, one get an exception:

In[]: eng2sp[‘four’]

Out[]: KeyError: ‘four’

Slicing in dictionaries is not allowed since they are not ordered like lists.

10.8.3.1 Built –In Functions Used on Dictionaries

There are many built-in functions for which a dictionary can be passed as an
argument. The main operations on a dictionary are storing a value with some
key and extracting the value for a given key.

TABLE 15: Built-In Functions Used on Dictionaries

Built – in Description
Functions

len() The len() function returns the number of items

(key:value pairs) in a dictionary.

all() The all() function returns Boolean True value if all the
keys in the dictionary are True else retuens False.

any() The any() function returns Boolean True value if any

251
 of the key in the dictionary is True else returns False. Data S
Cont
sorted() The sorted() function by default returns a list of items,
which are sorted based on dictionary keys.

In[]: len(eng2sp)

Out[]: 3

len() function can be used to find the number of key:value pairs in the
dictionary eng2sp. In Python, any non-zero integer value is True, and zero is
interpreted as False. With all() function, if all the keys are Boolean True
values, then the output is True else it is False.

In[]: dict_func = {0 : True, 1 : False, 4 : True}

In[]: all(dict_func)

Out[]: False

For any() function, if any one of the keys is True then it results in a True
Boolean value else False Boolean value.

In[]: any(dict_func)

Out[]: True

The sorted() function returns the sorted list of keys by default in ascending
order without modifying the original key:value pairs. For list of keys sorted
in descending order by passing the second argument as reverse = True.

In[]: sorted(eng2sp)

Out[]: [‘one’, ‘three’, ‘two’]

In[]: sorted(eng2sp, reverse=True)

Out[]: [‘two’, ‘three’, ‘one’]

The in operator works on dictionaries; it tells whether something appears as a

key in the dictionary (appearing as a value is not good enough).

In[]: ‘one’ in eng2sp

Out[]: True

In[]: ‘uno’ in eng2sp

Out[]: False

The in operator uses different algorithms for lists and dictionaries. For lists, it
uses a linear search algorithm. As a list gets longer, the search time gets
252 longer in direct proportion to the length of the list. For dictionaries, Python
uses an algorithm called a hash table, so, the in operaor takes about the same Data Structures and
Control Statements
amount of time no matter how many items there are in a dictionary. in Python

10.8.3.2 Dictionary Methods

Various methods associated with dictionary are listed below:

TABLE 16: Various Dictionary Methods

Dictionary Syntax Description

Methods

clear() dictionary_name.clear() The clear() method removes all the key:value pairs
from the dictionary.

fromkeys() dictionary_name.fromkeys The fromkeys() method creates a new dictionary from

(seq[, value]) the given sequence of elements with a value provided
by the user.

get() dictionary_name.get(key[, The get() method returns the value associated with the
default]) specified key in the dictionary. If the key is not present
then it returns the default value. If default is not given,
it defaults to None, so that this method never raises a
KeyError.

items() dictionary_name.items() The items() method returns a new view of dictionary’s

key and value pairs as tuples.

keys() dictionary_name.keys() The keys() method returns a new view consisting of aall
the keys in the dictionary.

pop() dictionary_name.pop(key[, The pop() method removes the key from the dictionary
default]) and returns its value. If the key is not present, then it
returns the default value. If the default is not given and
the key is not in the dictionary, then it results in
KeyError.

popitem() dictionary_name.popitem( The popitem() methos removes and returns an arbitrary

) (key, value) tuple pair from the dictionary. If the
dictionary is empty, then calling popitem() results in
KeyError.

setdefault() dictionary_name.setdefault The setdefault() method returns a value for the key
(key[, default]) present in the dictionary. If the key is not present, then
insert the key into the dictionary with a default value
and return the default value. If key is present, default
defaults to None, so that this methos never raises a
KeyError.

update() dictionary_name.update([o The update() method updates the dictionary with the
key:value pairs from other dictionary object and it
253
 ther]) returns None. Data S
Cont
values() dictionary_name.values() The values() method returns a new view consi
all the values in the dictionary.

Note: Replace the word “dictionary_name” mentioned in the syntax with the
actual dictionary name.

In[]: million_dollar = {“sanju” : 2018, “tiger zindahai” : 2017,

“baahubali 2” : 2017, “dangal” : 2016, “bajrangibhaijaan” : 2015}

In[]: bolwd_million_dollar =
million_dollar.fromkeys(million_dollar, “1,00,00,000”)

In[]: bolwd_million_dollar

Out[]: {'sanju': '1,00,00,000',

'tiger zindahai': '1,00,00,000',

'baahubali 2': '1,00,00,000',

'dangal': '1,00,00,000',

'bajrangibhaijaan': '1,00,00,000'}

In[]: million_dollar.get("bahubali 1")

In[]: million_dollar.get("bahubali 1", 2015)

Out[]: 2015

In[]: million_dollar.keys()

Out[]: dict_keys(['sanju', 'tiger zindahai', 'baahubali 2', 'dangal',

'bajrangibhaijaan'])

In[]: million_dollar.values()

Out[]: dict_values([2018, 2017, 2017, 2016, 2015])

In[]: million_dollar.items()

Out[]: dict_items([('sanju', 2018), ('tiger zindahai', 2017),

('baahubali 2', 2017), ('dangal', 2016), ('bajrangibhaijaan', 2015)])

In[]: million_dollar.update({"bahubali 1" : 2015})

In[]: million_dollar

Out[15]:

{'sanju': 2018,

'tiger zindahai': 2017,

254
 'baahubali 2': 2017, Data Structures and
Control Statements
in Python
'dangal': 2016,

'bajrangibhaijaan': 2015,

'bahubali 1': 2015}

One of the common ways of populating dictionaries is to start with an empty

dictionary{}, then use the update() method to assign a value to the key using
assignment operator. If the key doesnot exist, then the key:value pairs will be
created automatically and added to the dictionary.

In[]: states ={}

In[]: states.update({"Haryana":"Chandigarh"})

In[]: states.update({"Bihar":"Patna"})

In[]: states.update({"west bengal" : "kolkata"})

In[]: states

Out[23]: {'Haryana': 'Chandigarh', 'Bihar': 'Patna', 'west

bengal': 'kolkata'}

If a dictionary is used as the sequence in a for statement, it traverses the keys

of the dictionary. This loop prints each key and the corresponding value:

In[] : for key in states :

print(key, states[key])

Out[]:

Haryana Chandigarh

Bihar Patna

west bengalkolkata

Program 10.4 : Write a Program that Accepts a Sentence and Calculate

the Number of Digits, Uppercase and Lowercase Letters

1. sentence = input("Enter a sentence : ")

2. construct_dictionary = {"digits":0, "lowercase":0, "uppercase":0}
3. for each_character in sentence :
4. if each_character.isdigit() :
5. construct_dictionary["digits"] += 1
6. elifeach_character.isupper() :
7. construct_dictionary["uppercase"] += 1
8. elifeach_character.islower() :
9. construct_dictionary["lowercase"] += 1
10. print("The number of digits, lowercase and uppercase letters are") 255
 11. print(construct_dictionary) Data S
Cont
Fig. 4: Screen Shot of execution of Program 10.4

To delete the key:value pair, use the del statement followed by the name of
the dictionary along with the key you want to delete.

In[]: del states[“west bengal”]

In[]: states

Out[]: {‘Haryana’: ‘Chandigarh’, ‘Bihar’ : ‘Patna’}

10.8.3.3 Relation between Tuples and Dictionaries

Tuples can be used as key:value pairs to build dictionaries.

In[]:pm_year =
(('jln',1947),('lbs',1964),('ig',1966),('rg',1984),('pvn',1991),('abv',1998),('n
m',2014))

In[]: pm_year

Out[]:
(('jln', 1947),
('lbs', 1964),
('ig', 1966),
('rg', 1984),
('pvn', 1991),
('abv', 1998),
('nm', 2014))
In[]: pm_year_dict = dict(pm_year)

In[]: pm_year_dict

Out[]:
256
 {'jln': 1947, Data Structures and
Control Statements
'lbs': 1964, in Python
'ig': 1966,
'rg': 1984,
'pvn': 1991,
'abv': 1998,
'nm': 2014}

The tuples can be converted to dictionaries by passing the tuple name to the
dict() function. This is achieved by nesting tuples within tuples, wherein each
nested tuple item should have two items in it. The first item becomes the key
and the second item as its value when the tuple gets converted to a
dictionary.

Check your progress - 8:

Q43. In Python, Dictionaries and its keys both are immutable.
a) a)True, True
b) True, False
c) False, True
d) False, False

Q44. Select correct ways to create an empty dictionary:

a) sampleDict = {}
b) sampleDict = dict()
c) sampleDict = dict{}

Q45. Items are accessed by their position in a dictionary and all the keys in a
dictionary must be of the same type.
a) True
b) False

Q46. To obtain the number of entries in dictionary, d which command do we

use?
a) d.size()
b) len(d)
c) size(d)
d) d.len()

Q47. Which one of the following is correct?

a) In python, a dictionary can have two same keys with different
values.
b) In python, a dictionary can have two same values with different
keys.
c) In python, a dictionary can have two same keys or same values but
cannot have two same key-value pair.
d) In python, a dictionary can neither have two same keys nor two same
257
 values. Data S
Cont

Q48. What will be the output of above Python code?

d1={"abc":5,"def":6,"ghi":7}
print(d1[0])
a) abc
b) 5
c) {"abc":5}
d) Error

Q49. What will the above Python code do?

dict={"Phy":94,"Che":70,"Bio":82,"Eng":95}
dict.update({"Che":72,"Bio":80})
a) It will create new dictionary as dict={"Che":72,"Bio":80} and old dict
will be deleted.
b) It will throw an error as dictionary cannot be updated.
c) It will simply update the dictionary as
dict={"Phy":94,"Che":72,"Bio":80,"Eng":95}
d) It will not throw any error but it will not do any changes in dict

Q50. Select all correct ways to remove the key ‘marks‘ from a dictionary
student = {
“name” : “Emma”,
“class” : 9,
“marks” : 75
}
a) student.pop(“marks”)
b) del student[“marks”]
c) student.popitem()
d) dict1.remove(“key2”)

Q51. Select all correct ways to copy a dictionary in Python

a) dict2 = dict1.copy()
b) dict2 = dict(dict1.items())
c) dict2 = dict(dict1)
d) dict2 = dict1
10.8.4Sets
A set is an unordered collection with no duplicate items. Primary uses of sets
include membership testing and eliminating duplicate entries. Sets also
support mathematical operations, such as union, intersection, difference, and
symmetric difference.

Curly braces{} or the set() function can be used to create sets with a comma-
separated list of items inside curly brackets{}. Note: to create an empty set
you have to use set() and not{} as the latter creates an empty dictionary.

258
Sets are mutable. Indexing is not possible in sets, since set items are Data Structures and
Control Statements
unordered. One cannot access or change an item of the set using indexing or in Python
slicing.

In[]: basket = {'apple', 'orange', 'apple', 'pear', 'orange', 'banana'}

In[]: basket

Out[]: {'apple', 'banana', 'orange', 'pear'}

A set is a collection of unique items. Duplicate items are removed from the
set basket. Here, the set will contain only one item of ‘orange’ and ‘apple’.

In[]: 'orange' in basket

Out[]: True

In[]: 'grapes' in basket

Out[]: False

One can test for the presence of an item in a set using in and not in
membership operators.

In[]: len(basket)

Out[]: 4

In[]: sorted(basket)

Out[]: ['apple', 'banana', 'orange', 'pear']

Total number of items in the set basket is found using the len() function. The
sorted() function returns a new sorted list from items in the set.

In[]: a = set('abrakadabra')

In[]: a

Out[]: {'a', 'b', 'd', 'k', 'r'}

In[]: b = set('alexander')

In[]: b

Out[]: {'a', 'd', 'e', 'l', 'n', 'r', 'x'}

In[]: a-b #letters present in set a, but not in set b

Out[]: {'b', 'k'}

In[]: a | b #Letters present in set a, set b, or both

Out[]: {'a', 'b', 'd', 'e', 'k', 'l', 'n', 'r', 'x'}

In[]: a & b #letters present in both set a and set b

259
 Out[]: {'a', 'd', 'r'} Data S
Cont
In[]: a ^ b #letters present in set a or set b, buth not both

Out[]: {'b', 'e', 'k', 'l', 'n', 'x'}

10.8.4.1 Set Methods

A list of all the methods associated with the set can be obtained by passing
the set function to dir().

Various methods associated with set are listed in the TABLE.

TABLE 17 : Various Set Methods

Set Methods Syntax Description

add() set_name.add(item) The add() method adds an item to the set

set_name.

clear() set_name.clear() The clear() method removes all the items

from the set set_name.

difference() set_name.difference( The difference() method returns a new set

*others) with items in the set set_name that are not
in the others sets.

discard() set_name.discard(ite The discard() method removes an item

m) from the set set_name if it is present.

intersection() set_name.intersectio The intersection() method returns a new set

n(*others) with items common to the set set_name
and all other sets.

isdisjoint() set_name.isdisjoint(o The isdisjoint() method returns True if the

ther) set set_name has no items in common with
other set. Sets are disjoint if and only if
their intersection is the empty set.

issubset() set_name.issubset(ot The issubset() method returns True if every

her) item in the set set_name is in the other set.

issuperset() set_name.issuperset( The issuperset() method returns True if

other) every element in other set is in the set
set_name.

pop() set_name.pop() The method pop() removes and returns an

arbitrary item from the set set_name. It
raises KeyError if the set is empty.

remove() set_name.remove(ite The method remove() removes an item

m) from the set set_name. It raises KeyError if
260
 the item is not contained in the set. Data Structures and
Control Statements
in Python
symmetric_d set_name.symmetric The method symmetric_difference()
ifference() _difference(other) returns a new set with items from the set
set_name and all other sets.

union() set_name.union(*oth The method union() returns a new set with

ers) items from the set set_name and all others
sets.

update() set_name.update(*ot Update the set set_name by adding items

hers) from all others sets

Note: Replace the words “set_name”, “other” and “others” mentioned in the
syntax with your actual set names in your code.

In[]: flowers1 = {'sunflower', 'roses', 'lavender', 'tulips',

'goldcrest'}

In[]: flowers2 = {'roses', 'tulips', 'lilies', 'daisies'}

In[]: flowers2.add('orchids')

In[]: flowers2.difference(flowers1)

Out[]: {'daisies', 'lilies', 'orchids'}

In[]: flowers2.intersection(flowers1)

Out[]: {'roses', 'tulips'}

In[]: flowers2.isdisjoint(flowers1)

Out[]: False

In[]: flowers2.issuperset(flowers1)

Out[]: False

In[]: flowers2.issubset(flowers1)

Out[]: False

In[]: flowers2.symmetric_difference(flowers1)

Out[]: {'daisies', 'goldcrest', 'lavender', 'lilies', 'orchids',

'sunflower'}

In[]: flowers2.union(flowers1)

Out[]:
{'daisies',
'goldcrest',
'lavender', 261
 'lilies', Data S
Cont
'orchids',
'roses',
'sunflower',
'tulips'}

In[]: flowers2.update(flowers1)

Out[]: flowers2

Out[]:
{'daisies',
'goldcrest',
'lavender',
'lilies',
'orchids',
'roses',
'sunflower',
'tulips'}

In[]: flowers2.discard("roses")

In[]: flowers2

Out[]:
{'daisies',
'goldcrest',
'lavender',
'lilies',
'orchids',
'sunflower',
'tulips'}

In[]: flowers1.pop()

Out[]: 'roses'

In[]: flowers2.clear()

In[]: flowers2

Out[]: set()

10.8.4.2Traversing of Sets

One can iterate through each item in a set using a for loop.

In[]: for flower in flowers1 :

262
 print(f”{flower} is a flower”) Data Structures and
Control Statements
in Python
Out[]: lavender is a flower

tulips is a flower

goldcrest is a flower

sunflower is a flower

10.8.4.3Frozenset

A frozenset is basically the same as a set, except that it is immutable. Once a

frozenset is created, its items cannot be changed. Since they are immutable,
they can be used as members in other sets and as dictionary keys. The
frozensets have the same functions as normal sets, except none of the
functions that change the contents (update, remove, pop, etc.) are available.

In[]: fs = frozenset(["g","o","o","d"])
#creating/declaring frozenset

In[]: fs #displaying the contents

of frozenset

Out[]: frozenset({'d', 'g', 'o'})

In[]: pets = set([fs, "horse", "cow"]) #Frozenset type

is used within a set

In[]: pets

Out[]: {'cow', frozenset({'d', 'g', 'o'}), 'horse'}

In[]: lang_used = {"english":59, "french":29, "spanish":21}

In[]: frozenset(lang_used) #keys in a dictionary are

returned when a dictionary is
passed as an argument to
frozenset() function.

Out[]: frozenset({'english', 'french', 'spanish'})

In[]: frs = frozenset(["german"])

#Frozenset is used as a key in dictionary

In[]: lang_used = {"english":59, "french":29, "spanish":21, frs:6}

In[]: lang_used

Out[]: {'english': 59, 'french': 29, 'spanish': 21, frozenset({'german'}): 6}

Check your progress - 9:

263
 Q52. Select which is true for Python set: Data S
Cont
a) Sets are unordered.
b) Set doesn’t allow duplicate
c) sets are written with curly brackets {}
d) set Allows duplicate
e) set is immutable
f) a set object does support indexing

Q53. What is the output of the following union operation?:

set1 = {10, 20, 30, 40}
set2 = {50, 20, “10”, 60}
set3 = set1.union(set2)
print(set3)
a) {40, 10, 50, 20, 60, 30}
b) {40, ’10’, 50, 20, 60, 30}
c) {40, 10, ’10’, 50, 20, 60, 30}
d) SynatxError: Different types cannot be used with sets

Q54. What is the output of the following set operation?:

set1 = {“Yellow”, “Orange”, “Black”}
set2 = {“Orange”, “Blue”, “Pink”}
set3 = set2.difference(set1)
print(set3)
a) {‘Yellow’, ‘Black’, ‘Pink’, ‘Blue’}
b) {‘Pink’, ‘Blue’}
c) {‘Yellow’, ‘Black’}

Q55. What is the output of the following set operation?:

set1 = {“Yellow”, “Orange”, “Black”}
set1.discard(“Blue”)
print(set1)
a) {‘Yellow’, ‘Orange’, ‘Black’}
b) KeyError: ‘Blue’

Q56. The isdisjoint() method returns True if none of the items are present in
both sets, otherwise, it returns False.
a) True
b) False

Q57. Select all the correct ways to copy two sets

a) set2 = set1.copy()
b) set2 = set1
c) set2 = set(set1)
d) set2.update(set1)

264
Q58. The symmetric_difference() method returns a set that contains all items Data Structures and
Control Statements
from both sets, but not the items that are present in both sets. in Python
a) False
b) True

10.9 CONTROL FLOW STATEMENTS

Python supports a set of control flow statements that you can integrate into
your program. The statements inside your Python program are generally
executed sequentially from top to bottom in the order that they appear. Apart
from sequential control flow statements, you can employ decision making
and looping control flow statements to break up the flow of execution thus
enabling your program to conditionally execute particular block of code. The
term control flow details the direction the program takes.

The control flow statements in Python Programming Language are:

10.9.1 Sequential Control Flow Statements :This refers to the line by line
execution, in which the statements are executed sequentially, in the
same order in which they appear in the program.
10.9.2 Decision Control Flow Statements :Depending on whether a
condition is True or False, the decision structure may skip the
execution of an entire block of statements or even execute one block
of statements instead of other (if, if…else and if…elif…else).
10.9.3 Loop Control Flow Statements : This is a control structure that
allows the execution of a block of statements multiple times until a
loop termination condition is met (for loop and while loop). Loop
Control Flow statements are also called Repetition statements ot
Iteration Statements.

10.9.2.1 The if Decision Control Flow Statement

In order to write useful programs, we almost need the ability to check

conditions and change the behavior of the program accordingly. The Decision
Control Flow Statements give us this ability. The simplest form is the if
statement.

The syntax for if statement is:

if Boolean_Expression :
statement (s)
The Boolean expression after the if statement is called the condition. We end
the if statement with a colon character (:) and the line(s) after the if statement
are indented. The if statement decides whether to run statement (s) or not
depending upon the value of the Boolean expression. If the Boolean
expression evaluates to True then indented statements in the if block will be
executed,otherwise if the result is False then none of the statements are
executed. E.g.,
265
 is x > 0? Yes
If x >0 : Data S
Cont
print ( ‘x is positive’) print(‘x is positive’)

Fig. 5: If Logic
Here, depending on the value of x, print statement will be executed i.e. only
if x > 0.

There is no limit on the number of statements that can appear in the body, but
there must be at least one. In Python, the if block statements are determined
through indentation and the first unindented statement marks the end. You
don’t need to use the == operator explicitly to check if the variable’s value
evaluates to True as the variable name can itself be used as a condition.

Program 10.5:Program reads your age and prints a message whether

you are eligible to vote or not???

1. age = int(input(“Enter your age : ”))

2. if age >= 18 :
3. print (“Congratulations!!! you can vote”)
4. print (“!!! Thanks !!!”)
5. print (“Voting is your birth right. Use judicially”)

Fig. 6: Screen Shot of execution of Program 10.5

Here, condition or Boolean expression is true, indented block would be

executed

Here, condition is False, so indented block would not be executed and only
the unindented statement after the if block would be executed.

10.9.2.2 The if…else Decision Control Flow Statement

An if statement can also be followed by an else statement which is optional.

266 An else statement does not have any condition. Statements in the if block are
executed if the Boolean_Expression is True. Use the optional else block to Data Structures and
Control Statements
execute statements if the Boolean_Expression is False. The if…else in Python
statements allow for a two – way decision.

The syntax for if…else statement is:

if Boolean_Expression :
statement_blk_1
else
statement_blk_2

If the Boolean_Expression evaluates to True, then statement_blk_1 (single or

multiple statements) is executed, otherwise it is evaluated to False then
statement_blk_2 (single or multiple statements) is executed. Indentation is
used to separate the blocks. After the execution of either statement_blk_1 or
statement_blk_2, the control is transferred to the next statement after the if
statement. Also, if and else keywords should be aligned at the same column
position.

Program 10.6 : Program to find if a given number is odd or even

1. num = int(input(“Enter a number : “)

2. if num % 2 == 0 :
3. print (num,“ is even number”)
4. Else:
5. print (num,“ is odd number”)

No
Yes
num % 2 == 0

Print(‘num is odd’) Print(‘num is even’)

Fig. 6: IF – ELSE LOGIC

A number is read and stored in the variable named num. The num is checked
using modulus operator to determine whether the num is perfectly divisible
by 2 or not. Num entered is 15 which makes the evaluated expression False,
so the else statement is executed and num is odd.

Fig. 7: Screen Shot of execution of Program 10.6

267
 Data S
Cont

10.9.2.3 The if…elif…else Decision Control Statement

The if…elif…else is also called as multi-way decision control statement.

When you need to choose from several possible alternatives, an elif statement
is used along with an if statement. The keyword ‘elif’ is short for ‘else if’ and
is useful to avoid excessive indentation. The else statement must always
come last, and will again act as the default action.

The syntax for if…elif…else statement is,

if Boolean_Expression_1 :
statement_blk_1
elif Boolean_Expression_2 :
statement_blk_2
elif Boolean_Expression_3 :
statement_blk_3
:
:
:
else :
statement_blk_last

This if…elif…else decision control statement is executed as follows:

 In the case of multiple Boolean expression, only the first logical
Boolean expression which evaluates to True will be executed.
 If Boolean_Expression_1 is True, then statement_blk_1 is executed.
 If Boolean_Expression_1 is False and Boolean_Expression_2 is True,
then statement_blk_2 is executed.
 If Boolean_Expression_1 and Boolean_Expression_2 is False and
Boolean_Expression_3 is True, then statement_blk_3 is executed and
so on.
 If none of the Boolean_Expression is True, then statement_blk_last is
executed.

Program 10.7 : Write a program to prompt for a score between 0.0 and
1.0. If the score is out of range, print an error. If the score is between 0.0
and 1.0, print a grade using the following table
268
Score Grade Data Structures and
Control Statements
>= 0.9 A in Python
>= 0.8 B
>= 0.7 C
>= 0.6 D
< 0.6 F

1. score = float(input(“Enter your score : ”)) Yes

if score < 0
2. if score < 0 or score >1 : or score >1 Wrong Input’
3. print(‘Wrong Input’)
4. elif score >= 0.9 :
5. print(‘Your Grade is “A”’)
6. elif score >= 0.8 : Yes
7. print(‘Your Grade is “B”’) score >= 0.9 Your Grade is “A”
8. elif score >= 0.7 :
9. print(‘Your Grade is “C”’)
10. elif score >= 0.6 :
11. print(‘Your Grade is “D”’) Yes
12. else : score >= 0.8 Your Grade is “B”
13. print(‘Your Grade is “F”’)
Fig. 9: Screen Shot of execution of Program 10.7

Yes
score >= 0.7
Your Grade is “C”

Yes
score >= 0.6 Your Grade is “D”

Your Grade is “F”

Fig.8 : IF – ELIF ‐ ELSE LOGIC

10.9.2.4 Nested if Statement

In some situations, you have to place an if statement inside another statement.
An if statement that contains another if statement either in its if block or else
block is called a Nested if statement.

The syntax of the nested if statement is,

269
 if Boolean_Expression_1 : Data S
Cont
if Boolean_Expression_2 :
statement_blk_1
else :
statement_blk_2
else :
statement_blk_3
If the Boolean_Expression_1 is evaluated to True, then the control shifts to
Boolean_Expression_2 and if the expression is evaluated to True, then
statement_blk_1 is executed.If the Boolean_Expression_2 is evaluated to
False then the statement_blk_2 is executed. If the Boolean_Expression_1 is
evaluated to False, then the statement_blk_3 is executed.
A three – branch example could be written as :
if x == y :
print(‘x and y are equal’)
else :
if x <y :
print(‘x is less than y’)
else :
print(‘x is greater than y’)

The outer conditional contains two branches. The first branch contains a
simple statement. The second branch contains another if statement has two
branches of its own. Those two branches are both simple statements, although
they could have been conditional statements as well.

Ye No
x == y

Ye No
x<y
print(‘equal’)

print(‘less’) print(‘greater’)

Fig. 10 : NESTED IF LOGIC

PROGRAM 10.8 : Program to check if a given year is a leap year

1. year = int(input(‘Enter a year : ‘))
2. if year % 4 == 0 :
3. if year % 100 == 0 :
4. if year % 400 == 0 :
5. print(f’{year} is a Leap Year’)
6. else :
270 7. printf(f’{year} is not a Leap Year’)
 8. else : Data Structures and
Control Statements
9. print(f’{year} is a Leap Year’) in Python
10. else :
11. print(f’{year} is not a Leap Year’)

Fig. 11: Screen Shot of execution of Program 10.8

All years which are perfectly divisible by 4 are leap years except for century
years (years ending with 00) which is a leap year only it is perfectly divisible
by 400. For example, years like 2012, 2004, 1968 are leap years but 1971,
2006 are not leap years. Similarly, 1200, 1600, 2000, 2400 are leap years but
1700, 1800, 1900 are not.

Although the indentation of the statements makes the structure apparent,

nested conditional becomes difficult to read very quickly. In general, it is a
good idea to avoid them when you can.

10.9.3.1 The while loop

Computers are often used to automate repetitive tasks. Repeating identical or
similar tasks without making error is something that computers do well and
people do poorly. Because iteration is so common, Python provides several
language features to make it easier.
Orogrne form of iteration in Python is the while statement. The syntax for
while loop is :
while Boolean_Expression :
statement(s)
Program 10.9 : Program that counts down from five and then says
“Blastoff!”
1. n = 5
2. while n >0 :
271
 3. print(n) Data S
Cont
4. n=n–1
5. print(‘Blastoff!’)

Fig. 12: Screen Shot of execution of Program 10.9

You can almost read the while statement as if it were English. It means,
“While n is greater than 0, display the value of n and then reduce the value of
n by 1. When you get to 0, exit the while statement and display the word
Blastoff!”

More formally, the flow of execution for a while statement is :

1. Evaluate the condition or the Boolean_Expression, yielding True or
False.
2. If the Boolean_Expression is false,exit the while statement and then
continue execution at the next statement.
3. If the Boolean_Expression is true, execute the body and then go back.
This type of flow is called a loop because the third step loops back around to
the top. We call each time we execute the body of the loop an iteration. for
the above loop, we would say, “It had five iterations”, which means that the
body of the loop was executed five times.
The body of the loop should change the value of one or more variables so that
eventually the condition or the Boolean_Expression becomes false and the
loop terminates. We call the variable that changes each time the loop
executes and controls when the loop finishes the iteration variable. If there is
no iteration variable, the loop will repeat forever, resulting in an infinite loop.

PROGRAM 10.10 : Program to display the Fibonacci Sequences up to

nth term where n is provided by the user
1. nterms = int(input(‘How many terms?’))
2. current = 0
3. previous = 1
272
 4. next_term = 0 Data Structures and
Control Statements
5. count = 0 in Python
6. if nterms<= 0 :
7. print(‘Please enter a positive number’)
8. elifnterms == 1 :
9. print(‘Fibonacci Sequence’)
10. print(‘0’)
11. else :
12. print(“Fibonacci Sequence”)
13. while count <nterms :
14. print(next_term)
15. current = next_term
16. next_term = previous + current
17. previous = current
18. count += 1
Fig. 13: Screen Shot of execution of Program 10.10

In a Fibonacci sequence, the next number is obtained by adding the previos

two numbers. The first two numbers of the Fibonacci sequence are 0 and 1.
The next number is obtained by adding 1 and 1 which is 1. Again, the next
number is obtained by adding 1 and 1 which is 2 and so on. Get a number
from user up to which you want to generate Fibonacci sequence. Assign
273
 values to variables current, previous, next_term and count. The variable count Data S
Cont
keeps track of number of times the while block is executed. User is required
to enter a posititve number to generate a single number in the sequence, then
print zero. The next_term is obtained by adding the previous and current
variables and the statements in the while block are repeated until while block
conditional expression becomes False.

10.9.3.2 The for loop

Sometimes we want to loop through a set of things such as a list of words, the
lines in a file, or a list of numbers. When we have a list of things to loop
through, we can construct a definite loop using a for statement. We call the
while statement an indefinite loop because it simply loops until some
condition becomes False, whereas the for loop is looping through a known
set of items so it runs through as many iterations as there are items in the set.
The syntax for the for loop is :
for iteration_variable in sequence :
statement(s)
The for loop starts with for keyword and ends with a colon. The first item in
the sequence gets assigned to the iteration variableiteration_variable. Here,
iteration_variable can be any valid variable name. Then the statement block
is executed. This process of assigning items from the sequence to the
iteration_variable and then executing the statement continues until all the
items in the sequence are completed.

The for loop is incomplete without the use of range() function which is a
built-in function. It is very useful in demonstrating for loop. The range()
function generates a sequence of numbers which can be iterated through
using for loop. the syntax for range() function is,
range([start ,] stop [, step])
Both start and step arguments are optional and is represented with the help of
square brackets and the range argument value should always be an iteger.
start  value indicates the beginning of the sequence. If the start
argument is not specified, then the sequence of numbers start from zero by
default.
stop  generates numbers up to this value but not including the
number itself.
step  indicates the difference between every two consecutive
numbers in the sequence. The step value can be both negative and positive
but not zero.

PROGRAM 10.11 : Program to find the sum of all odd and even
numbers up to a number specified by the user.
1. number = int(input(“Enter a number”))
2. even = 0
274
 3. odd = 0 Data Structures and
Control Statements
4. for i in range(number) : in Python
5. if i % 2 == 0 :
6. even = even + i
7. else :
8. odd = odd + i
9. print(f”Sum of Even numbers are {even} and Odd numbers are
{odd}”)
Fig. 14: Screen Shot of execution of Program 10.11

A range of numbers are generated using range() function. As only stop value
is indicated in the range() function, so numbers from 0 to 9 are generated.
Then the generated numbers are segregated as odd or even by using the
modulus operator in the for loop. All the even numbers are added up and
assigned to even variable and odd numbers are added up and assigned to odd
variable and print the result. The for loop will be executed / iterated number
of times entered by user which is 10 in this case.
PROGRAM 10.12 : Program to find the factorial of a number.
1. number = int(input(‘Enter a number’))
2. factorial = 1
3. if number <0 :
4. print(“Factorial doesn’t exist for negative numbers”)
5. elif number == 0 :
6. print(“The factorial of 0 is 1”)
7. else :
8. for i in range(1, number + 1) :
9. factorial = factorial * i
10. print(f”The factorial of number {number} is {factorial}”)
Fig. 15: Screen Shot of execution of Program 10.12

275
 Data S
Cont

Read the number from user. A value of 1 is assigned to variable factorial. To find
the factorial of a number it has to be checked for a non – negative integer. If the user
entered number is zero then the factorial is 1. To generate numbers from 1 to the
user entered number range() function is used. Every number is multiplied with the
factorial variable and is assigned to the factorial variable inside the for loop. The for
loop block is repeated for all the numbers starting from 1 up to the user entered
number. Finally, the factorial value is printed.

10.9.3.3The continue and break Statements

The break and continue statements provide greater control over the execution
of code in a loop.Whenever the break statement is encountered, the execution
control immediately jumps to the first instruction following the loop. To pass
control to the next iteration without exiting the loop, use the continue
statement. Both continue and break statements can be used in while and for
loops.

PROGRAM 10.13 : Program that prints integers from zero to 5.

1. count = 0
2. while True :
3. count += 1
4. if count >5 :
5. break
6. print (count)

276
 Data Structures and
Control Statements
in Python
Fig. 16: Screen Shot of execution of Program 10.13

In the while loop, as soon as count value reaches 6, because of break

statement print statement will not be executed and control will come out of
the while loop.

PROGRAM 10.14 : Program that processes only odd integers from 0 to

10.
1. count = 0
2. while count <10 :
3. count += 1
4. if count % 2 == 0 :
5. continue
6. print (count)
Fig. 17: Screen Shot of execution of Program 10.14

The continue statement in the while loop will not let the print statement to execute if
the count value is even and control will go for next iteration. Here, loop will go
through all the iterations and the continue statement will affect only the statements
in the loop to be executed or not occurring after the continue statement. Whereas,
the break statement will not let the loop to complete its iterations depending on the
condition specified and control is transferred to the statement outside the loop.
PROGRAM 10.15 : Program to check whether a number is prime or not
277
 1. number = int(input(‘Enter a number: ‘)) Data S
Cont
2. prime = True
3. for i in range(2, number) :
4. if number % i == 0 :
5. prime = False
6. break
7. if prime :
8. print(f”{number} is a prime number”)
9. else :
10. print(f”{number} is not a prime number”)
Fig. 18: Screen Shot of Program 10.15

Check your progress-10 :

Q59. In a python program, a control structure:
a) Defines program-specific data structures
b) Directs the order of ececution of the statements in the program
c) Dictates what happens before the program starts and after it
terminates
d) None of the above

Q60. Which of the following is False regarding loops in python?

a) Loops are used to perform certain tasks repeatedly
b) While loop is used when multiple statements are to executed
repeatedly until the given condition becomes False
c) While loop is used when multiple statemenst are to executed
repeatedly until the given condition becomes True.
d) for loop can be used to iterate through the elements of lists.

Q61. We can write if/else into one line in python.

a) True
b) False

Q62. Given the nested if-else below, what will be the value x when the code
executed successfully?
x=0
278
a=5 Data Structures and
Control Statements
b=5 in Python
if a > 0:
if b < 0:
x=x+5
elif a > 5:
x=x+4
else:
x=x+3
else:
x=x+2
print(x)
a) 0
b) 4
c) 2
d) 3

Q63. if -3 will evaluate to true

a) True
b) False

Q64. What is the output of the following nested loop

numbers = [10, 20]
items = [“Chair”, “Table”]
for x in numbers:
for y in items:
print(x, y)
a) 10 Chair
10 Table
20 Chair
20 Table
b) 10 Chair
20 Chair
10 Table
20 Table

Q65. What is the value of x?:

X=0
While (x < 100):
x+=2
print(x)
a) 101
b) 99
c) None of the above, this is an infinite loop
d) 100

279
 Q66. What is the value of the var after the for loop completes its execution? Data S
Cont
var = 10
for i in range(10):
for j in range(2, 10, 1):
if var % 2 == 0:
continue
var += 1
var+=1
else:
var+=1
print(var)
a) 20
b) 21
c) 10
d) 30

Q67. Find the output of the following program:

a = {i :i * i for i in range(6)}
print (a)
Dictionary comprehension doesn’t exist
a) {0:0, 1:1, 2:4, 3:9, 4:16, 5:25, 6:36}
b) {0:0, 1:1, 4:4, 9:9, 16:16, 25:25}
c) {0:0, 1:1, 2:4, 3:9, 4:16, 5:25}

10.10 SUMMARY
After the completion of this chapter, I am sure, you would be able to learn
and understand the basics of Python language. Using the contents explained
in this chapter, you would be able to turn your logic into codes where
identifiers and variables would help you to form statements and expressions
using operators, lists, tuples, sets and dictionries which are the back bone of
Python language which makes it unique and easy to program with. All the
basic structures of Python can be bound together with the control flow
statements which ultimately form a Python program.However, this is not all;
there is still a long way to go. Python has many more unique features which
make it a programmer’s language. So, Happy Programming!

280
 Data Structures and
SOLUTIONS TO CHECK YOUR PROGRESS Control Statements
in Python

Answers to Check your Progress 1 to 10 :

1. a 2. d 3. d 4. a 5. c 6. d
7. b 8. e 9. b 10. a 11. b 12. a
13. d 14. c 15. b 16. e 17. d 18. a
19. a 20. d 21. b 22. c 23. c 24. c
25. b 26. b 27. b 28. b 29. c 30. b
31. c 32. b 33. b 34. c 35. a 36. b
37. c 38. d 39. a,c 40. b 41. b 42. c
43. c 44. a,b 45. b 46. b 47. b 48. d
49. c 50. a,b,c 51. a,b,c 52. a,b,c 53. c 54. b
55. a 56. a,c,d 57. a,c,d 58. b 59. b 60. b
61. a 62. d 63. a 64. a 65. d 66. b
67. d

281
 Functions and Files
UNIT 11 FUNCTIONS AND FILE HANDLING Handling in Python

IN PYTHON
Structure
11.0Introduction
11.1 Objectives
11.2Function definition and calling
11.3 Function Scope
11.4 Function arguments
11.5 Returning from a function
11.6 Function objects
11.7 Lambda / Anonymous Functions
11.8 File Operations
11.9 Summary

11.0 INTRODUCTION

Python provides a way of organizing the tasks into more manageable units called
functions. Functions make the code modular which is one of the characteristics of an
object oriented programming language (OOPs). Modularity is the process of
decomposing a problem into set of sub-problems so as to reduce the complexity of a
problem. It also makes the code reusable. File handling is another important aspect
discussed in this unit. File handling includes- creation, deletion and manipulations of
files using python programming.

11.1 OBJECTIVES

After completing this unit, you will be able to

 Perform functions definition and calling

 Understand scope of functions
 Define function objects
 Create lambda fnctions
 Understand basic file operations

11.2 FUCNTION DEFINITION AND

CALLING
A function is block of code that performs a specific task. When the size of a program
increases, its complexity also increases. Hence, it becomes important to organize the
program into more manageable units. Further, it makes the code reusable.

There are three types of functions in python-

279
 1. Built-in functions – these are the functions which are already defined in the Funct
language. Exampleprint( ), max( ), input( ), etc. Hand
2. User Defined functions- these are the functions that can be created or
defined by the users according to their needs.
3. Anonymous functions

11.2.1 Creating user defined functions

A function can be defined using def statement and giving suitable name to a
function by following the rules of identifiers. The process of defining a function is
called function definition.

Syntax of function definition

Deffunction_name( list_of_parameters ) :
Statement (s)

Where,

function_name() - is the name of the function. A function name must be followed

by a set of parenthesis. Any name can be given to a function following the rules of
identifiers.

List_of _parameters –is an optional field which is used to pass values or inputs to a
function. It can be none or a comma separated list of variables.

Statements(s) – is a set of statements or commands within the function. Each time

the function is called, all the statements will be executed. These statements together
form the body of a function.

Even if the function is defined, it can never be executed till the time it is called.
Hence, for using a function, it must be called using function call statement. A
function can be called by its name with set of parenthesis and optional list of
arguments.

Syntax of Function Calling

function_name(list_of_arguments)

Example1. A function to display HELLO WORLD

Function needs to be defined only once, but it can be called any number of times by
using calling statements. They can not only be called in the same program, but they
can also be called in different programs. This will further be discussed in the next
chapter.

280
Another example shown below is the program having a function to calculate Functions and Files
factorial of a number. Handling in Python

Example2. A function to display factorial of a number.

11.3 FUNCTION SCOPE

Part of a code in which a variable can be accessed is called Scope of a variable.
Scope of a variable can be global or local.

Local variables are the variable created within a function’s body or function’s
scope. They cannot be accessed outside the function. Their scope is only limited to
the function in which they are created.
Global variables are the variable created outside any function. Their scope is
global, hence can be used anywhere. Global variables can also be created within
function using keyword global.

Example 3. Use of local and global variables.

In Example 3, variable created x is global, hence, can be used both inside and
outside any function. Variable y is created inside function test(), therefore, its scope
is only limited to this function and hence cannot be used outside.Global variables
can be created in functions using global keyword as shown in example 4.
281
 Example 4: Program to create global variable inside function. Funct
Hand

If we create a variable inside function having same name as that of global variable,
then a separate variable of same name gets created. Function in this case can access
local variable and hence, cannot refer to global variable as shown in example 5.

Example 5: Program showing use of Local and global variables of same name.

In python, global variable can be accessed in function directly (as shown in Example
3) but they cannot be directly modified inside the function (shown in example 6).
Then how can we modify global variables inside function? Answer to this question
is throughglobal keyword. It can not only be used for creating global variables
inside functions, but it can also be used for modifying global variables inside
functions. See example 7.

Example 6: Program to show modification of global variable is not allowed inside

function

282
 Functions and Files
Example 7: Program to show modification of global variable using global keyword Handling in Python

Check your Progress 1

Ex1. What are the benefits of using functions? Also differentiate between function
definition and function calling.

Ex2. What is Scope of a variable? Explain local and global variables with example.

Ex3. Write a function named patternto display the pattern given below-
1
12
123
1234
12345

11.4 FUNCTION ARGUMENTS

Arguments are a way of passing values or input to a function. Arguments are passed
to a function during function calls. Their values replace the functions parameters in
the function definition.

Python provides various mechanisms of passing arguments to a function.

1. Required arguments
2. Default arguments
3. Keyword arguments
4. Arbitrary arguments

1. Required Arguments or Positional Arguments

In required arguments, number of arguments should match number of function
parameters and should be given in same order. If number of arguments is not the
same, then error will be shown and if correct order is not followed then output can
be incorrect.

Example 8: Passing arguments to a function.

283
 Funct
Hand

2. Default arguments

Default values of variables can be given in the parameters itself. So if any argument
is not given at the calling time, it will be replaced by the default value. Default
values can be given for any number of arguments. It must be taken care that default
argument must follow non-default arguments.

Example 9: Use of Default Arguments

3. Keyword Arguments

We have seen above that arguments must be given in the order in which parameters
are defined otherwise the result will be effected. Keyword arguments are one way by
which we can give arguments in any order. They are given by specifying the
parameter name with each argument during function call. In this case position does
not matter but name matters hence they are also called named arguments.

284
Example 10: Use of Keyword Arguments Functions and Files
Handling in Python

4. Arbitrary Arguments
Sometimes it is required to pass different number of arguments to a same function or
it is not known at function definition time that how many arguments could be used at
calling time. Python provides the feature of arbitrary arguments to deal with this
issue. Arbitrary arguments can be declared using * symbol.

Example11: Use of Arbitrary Arguments

11.5 RETURNING FROM A FUNCTION

As we can pass values as input to function parameters, similarly we can also return
or extract values out of a function. This can be done using return statement. By
default when we do not include return statement, value None is returned from the
function.

Syntax of returning from function

deffunction_name( arg1,arg2.... ) :
......................
......................
return value

285
 Example12: Function with return statement Funct
Hand

There can be only one return statement in a function. It doesn’t mean that we can
return only one value. It means that the return statement can return only one object
and object in python can contain single (variable) or multiple values (List, tuple).
Hence, we can return multiple values with a single return statement.See example13.
Example 13: Function returning more than one value

Various benefits of using return statement -

1. Valuesreturned by function can be used again in the rest of the program.
2. They can also be passed as argument to other functions providing better
flow of control. See example 14.
3. They can also be used to break out of function in the middle.

Example 14: Function returning more than one value

286
 Functions and Files
It is also possible to break out of a function in the middle of statements in function Handling in Python
using return. The statements following the return statement will never be executed.
In example 15, inside a function, there is loop ranging from 1 to 9, but it will only be
executed 4 times, since the function will return when value of i reaches 5, hence
remaining iterations will be skipped.

Example 15: Function returning in between the loop

Check your Progress 2

Ex 1. What are the various ways of passing arguments to a function?

Ex 2. Write a function which takes list of numbers as argument and returns a list of
unique elements from it.
Ex 3. Write a function to display all prime numbers between a range which is passed
as arguments.

11.6 FUNCTION OBJECTS

In python, data is represented as objects. Like Lists, Strings etc, functions are also
treated as objects. Functions in python are first class objects. Since functions are
objects,it provides various features with additional to the existing ones. These are-

1. functions can be assigned to a variable

2. functions can be used as elements of data structures
3. functions can be sent as arguments to another function
4. functions can be nested

1. Functions assigned to variable

As functions are object, they can be assigned to a variable (object). Hence, function
can then be called using variable and set of parenthesis. Assigning function to a
variable creates a reference to the same function or a function with two names. If
one function or variable is deleted, function can still be referenced by another name.
Following is the example of function assigned to a variable. (example 16)

287
 Funct
Example 16: Function assigned to variable Hand

In the following console window it can be clearly seen that after deleting a
function, it cannot be accessed with the same name. But it can still be called using
another name as shown in example 17.
Example 17: Deleting reference to a function

2. Functions as element of data structure

Functions can be passed as an element to any data structure. This is very useful at
times when we want to apply different functions to same input. Below is the
example 18 to show that. We are using various built-in functions to demonstrate
that.

Example 18: Function assigned as elements to List

3. Function as argument to another function

Objects can be passed as arguments to a function. Since functions are objects in

python, they can also be passed as arguments to functions. This technique allows
application of multiple operations on a particular set of inputs. Given below is an
example of function calling another function as arguments.
Example 19: Function calling another function as argument

288
 Functions and Files
Handling in Python

4. Nested function

Functions created within another function are called nested function. This is one of
the unique properties in python since functions are objects. The inner function which
is created within some outer function has access to all the variables of enclosing
scope. Inner functions can never be directly called outside outer function. Hence, it
provides security feature called Encapsulation. It can only be called by the use of
enclosing function.

Example 20: Nested function

11.7 LAMBDA / ANONYMOUS FUNCTIONS

Python allows to create functions without names called Anonymous functions. They
are not declared with def keyword, instead lambda keyword is used to create these
functions. Hence, these functions are also called lambda functions.Like other
289
 functions, these functions can also contain arguments but there can be only one Funct
statement in the body of these functions. Statement is evaluated and the result is Hand
returned. There are situations when a function needs to be created for a short
operation (similar to macros in C language) or usable for a short period of time, in
that case lambda functions are best suited.

Syntax of Anonymous function

Variable = lambda arg : statement

Here,arg is one or more arguments passed to a function and statement consists of

operation performed by a function.

Given below is example 21 in which two lambda functions are created. First
function calculates cube of a given argument and second function gives addition to
two given arguments. Lambda function is then assigned to a variable (function
assigned to variable, discussed in previous section), which can then be used to call
function with arguments and set of parenthesis.

Example 21: Use of Lambda function

Lambda functions are mostly used as argument to other high-order function like map
() and filter () function.

map() function : map () is a built-in function which takes two arguments, first
argument given is function (can be lambda function), second argument is given as a
list. map () function returns a list of elements obtained by applyinggiven function to
each element of alist.

filter() function : filter() is another built-in function which takes two arguments.
First argument is a function and second is list of elements, just as map() function.
Here, given function is applied to each of the elements of list and returns a list of
items for which the function evaluates to True.

Syntax of map and filter function

map ( function , [ list ] )

filter ( function , [ list ] )

290
Example 22: Application of map() function with lambda function Functions and Files
Handling in Python

Example 22: Application of filter() function with lambda function

Check your Progress 3

Ex 1. Write a program to find cube of numbers in a list using lambda function.

Ex 2. Write a program to add two given lists using map function.

Ex 3. Write a program to display vowels from a given list of characters using filter
function.

11.8 FILE OPERATIONS

Main memory is volatile in nature, hence, nothing can be stored permanently. File
handling is a very important functionality which must be provided by any language
to deal with this problem. Inputs can be taken from files instead of users, output can
be displayed and saved permanently in files which can further be accessed later and
appended or updated. All these functionalities come under file handling. Like other
languages, python also provides various built-in functions for file handling
operations.

There are two types of files supported by python- Binary and Text.

Binary files – These are the files that can be represented as 0’s and 1’s. These files
can be processed by applications knowing about the file’s structure. Image files are
example of binary files.
291
 Text files – These files are organized as sequence of characters. Here, each line is Funct
separated by a special end of line character. Hand

Any file handling operation can be performed in three steps-

1. Opening a file
2. Operating on file – read , write , append etc
3. Closing a file

1. Opening a file

A file can be opened in a Python using built-in function open(). By default the files
are opened in read text (‘r’) file mode.

Syntax of open() function

file = open ( “file_name.ext ”,’’mode_of_operation’’)

Where,

File_name.ext - is the name of the file to be opened and ext is the extension of file.

Mode_of_operation - is the mode in which file is needed to be opened.

file – is the object returned by the function. This object can be used for further
operations on file

The possible mode of operations in python –

Mode of opening file Functionality

‘r’ Opens a file for reading. It is default mode

‘w’ Opens a file for writing. Overwrites a file if already exists.

Creates new file if does not exist.

‘a’ Opens a file for appending.

‘r+’ Opens a file for both reading and writing.

‘w+’ Same as ‘r+’ but creates new file if does not exist and
overwrites if exists

‘a+’ Opens a file for appending and reading

‘x’ Creates new file. Fails if already exists. Added in python 3.

‘rb’ Opens a file for reading in binary mode.

‘wb’ Same as ‘w’ except data is in binary

‘ab’ Same as ‘a’ except data is in binary

292
 Functions and Files
Handling in Python
2. Operating on file

There are various operations -

2.1 Reading from a file

There are many ways to read from a file. Given below are the functions
available for reading from a file.
In the below table assume that file is the object returned from open()
function.
Function Syntax Description

read() file.read () Returns entire file contents as a

string

file.read (n) Returns n characters from

beginning of file as string

readline() file.readline() Returnssingle line of file at a time.

First line in this case.

readlines() file.readlines() Returns a list of all lines

2.2 Writing to a file

Similar to read operations, functions are there in python to write data to

file.

Function Syntax Description

write() file.write(“text”) Writes text or string to a file

2.3 Operations on file

Python allows many other operations to be done in with files. Listed

below are some functions used for file handling.

Function Syntax Description

tell() file.tell() Returns the current cursor

position in file

seek() file.seek(pos) Places the file cursor to

the position pos

os.stat() os.stat(filename) This method is used to get

display status of the file
given as argument.
293
 os.path.exists() os.path.exists(‘arg’) Returns true if the file or Funct
directory of name ‘arg’ Hand
exist

os.path.isfile() os.path.isfile(‘arg’) Returns true if the file of

name ‘arg’ exists

os.path.isdir() os.path.isdir(‘arg’) Returns true if the

directory of name ‘arg’
exists

shutil.copy() shutil.copy(src,dst) Copies a file from src to

des file.

os.path.getsize() os.path.getsize(filename) Returns the size of file

3. Closing a file

After completing all the operations on file, it must be closed properly. This step
frees up the resources and allows graceful termination of file operations.

Syntax of closing a file

file.close()

11.8.1 Reading data from a file

There are various ways to read a file by following the steps explained in the above
section. For reading data from the file, it must be existing. Below is given the
program (Example 23) to read a file named “first.txt” in the directory files within the
present directory.

Example 23: Program to display file contents

It may be noted that the file that we want to read or write, may be present in some
other directory or folder. In that case, we can give absolute or relatative path of that
294 file along with its name, shown in the example below. The path separated by \ must
be proceeded by one more \ (backslash) to turn-off special feature of this character. Functions and Files
If the file to be read or written is in the same folder, in which python program is Handling in Python
present, we need not give its path.

11.8.2 Creating a file

For creation of new file, the file can be opened in ‘w’ mode. If the file already
exists, the contents can be overwritten. Also, if we want to be sure that no existing
file gets overwritten, then ‘x’ mode can be used to create new file. If the file already
exists, it will show error message. Given below is the example to open a file and
write contents to it.
Example24 : Program to create file and add contents to it.

After executing this program a file name second.txt gets created in the mentioned
drive with the added contents.

Reading, writing, appending with with statement

The methods of dealing with files used in the above section may not be safe
sometimes. It may happen that an exception occurs as a result of operations on file
and the code exits without closing the file. To make it more convenient python
introduced another statement called with statement which ensures that file is closed
when the code within with is exited. Call to close() function is not required
explicitly. The syntax of how to use with statement for reading, writing and
appending file is given below.

295
 Syntax of read,write and append with with statement: Funct
Hand

11.8.3 Copying a file

To copy a file from one to another various methods can be used. One such way of
copying file is by importing a module named ‘shutil’ which contains a built-in
function to create copy of a file.

Example 25 : Program to copy a file from ‘second.txt’ to ‘third.txt’.

11.8.4Deleting a file or folder

A file can be deleted using remove() function from os module. Before using this
function you should move to the directory in which the file to be removed exists.
Similarly, to delete a folder or directory, os.rmdir() function can be used. The
directory to be removed must be empty or otherwise error will be shown. In the
example given below, we want to delete a file name “delete_123.py”. os.listdir()
function is used to display the list of files present in a directory.

Example 26: Deleting a file.

Check your Progress 4

Ex 1. Write a program to display frequency of each word in a file.

296 Ex 2. Write a program to display first n lines from a file, where n is given by user.
 Functions and Files
Ex 3. Write a program to display size of a file in bytes. Handling in Python

11.9 SUMMARY
A Function is a block of code that performs a specific task. In this chapter, we
have discussed various aspects of functions such as how to create functions,
their scope, passing arguments to function, andLambda functions. In addition
to these topics, file handling operations are also discussed in detailssuch as
how to interact with file, copying, deleting, etc.

SOLUTIONS TO CHECK YOUR PROGRESS

Check your Progress 1

Ex 1. The various benefits of using functions are –

i) It decomposes a larger problem into more manageable units

ii) It allows reusability of code
iii) It reduces duplication
iv) It makes code easy to understand, use and debug

The process of defining a function is called function definition. It actually

describes the working of a function. It includes – function name, list of
arguments and function body.

Syntax deffunction_name():
….. # body of function
……
Even if the function is defined, it can never be executed till the time it is called.
Hence, for using a function, it must be called using function call statement.
Calling of a function includes function name and list of arguments (no function
body).

Syntax function_name()

Ex 2. Part of a code in which a variable can be accessed is called Scope of a

variable.

Local variables are the variable created within a function’s body or function’s
scope. They cannot be accessed outside the function. Their scope is only
limited to the function in which they are created.
Global variables are the variable created outside any function. Their scope is
global, hence can be used anywhere. Global variables can also be created
within function using keyword global.

deff():
s =1 # s is local variable
print(s)
r ="IGNOU" # r is global variable
f() 297
 print(
(r) Fu
Ex 3. Ha

Check you
ur Progress 2

Ex 1.Pythonn provides vaarious mechannisms of passiing arguments to a functionn.

11. Requiredd arguments

2
2. Default arguments
a
3
3. Keywordd arguments
4
4. Arbitraryy arguments

Ex 2.

Ex 3.

Check you
ur Progress 3

Ex 1.

298
8
Ex
x 2. Functions aand Files
Handling in
n Python

Ex
x 3.

Ch
heck your Progress
P 4

Ex
x 1.

Ex
x 2.

Ex
x 3.

299
 UNIT 12 MODULES AND PACKAGES
Structure
12.0 Introduction
12.1 Objectives
12.2 Module Creation and Usage
12.3 Module Search Path
12.4 Module Vs Script
12.5 Package Creation and Importing
12.6 Standard Library Modules
12.7 Summary

12.0 INTRODUCTION

Modules are files that contain various functions, variables or classes which are
logically related in some manner. Modules like functions are used to implement
modularity feature of OOPs concept. Related operations can be grouped together in
a file and can be imported in other files. Package is a collection of modules and
other sub-modules. Modules can be well organized and easily accessible if
collectively stored in a package.

12.1 OBJECTIVES

Afetr going through this unit, you will be able to :

 Understand usage of Modules

 Create your own Modeules
 Compare Modules and scripts
 Import packages and Create your own packages
 Understand the standard library modules

12.2 MODULE CREATION AND USAGE

Module is a logical group of functions , classes, variables in a single python file
saved with .pyextension.In other words, we can also say that a python file is a
module. We have seen few examples of built-in modules in previous chapters like
os, shutil which are used in the program by import statement. Python provides many
built-in modules. We can also create our own module.

A major benefit of a module is that functions, variable or objects defined in one

module can be easily used by other modules or files, which make the code re-usable.
A module can be created like any other python file. Name of the module is the same
as the name of a file. Let us create out first module- series.py.

In this module, we have created three functions- to find factorial of a number,

fibinacci series upto given number of terms and a function to display exponential
300 series and it sum. After creating a file, save it with name series.py.
Note: it is important to check where we have saved this file or module. Currently, it Modules and
is saved in my present working directory. You can check current working directory Packages
by using built-in function getcwd() under os module by using following syntax in
console window or python prompt.

Example 1: Creating module named series.py

Our module is successfully created. Now let us test our module by importing in
some other file and check whether it is working or not. For verifying that, in a new
file, two steps are needed to be done-

1. Import the module we have created to make it accessible

2. Call the functions of that module with module name and a dot (.) symbol.

Example 2: Accessing function in module created in Example 1.

301
 Similar to the above example, we can call another function created in the module
fibonacci() by following the same process.

import series

Series. fibonacci ( 2, 10 )

When a module is imported in a file, a folder named __pycache__ folder gets

created by interpreter which contains .pyc file of a module imported. This file
contains the compiled bytecode of module so that conversion from source code to
bytecode can be skipped for subsequent imports and making execution faster.

Importing a module

Importing is the process of loading a module in other modules or files. It is

necessary to import a module before using its functions, classes or other
objects. It allows users to reference its objects. There are various ways of
importing a module.
1. using import statement
2. using from import statement
3. using from import * statement

1. Importing Complete module

In this method, we can import the whole module all together with a single
import statement. In this process, after importing the module, each function
(or variable, objects etc.) must be called by the name of the module followed
by dot (.) symbol and name of the function.

Syntax of function calling within module

import module
module.function_name()

For example, let us import the built-in module random, and call its function
randint(), which generates a random integer between a range given by user.

302
This can be done by running the code below in console window directly or in Modules and
Packages
a python file.

In this method, other functions or objects present in module random can be

called similarly.

Here,random () is function present within module random.

2. Importing using from import statement

In this method of importing, instead of importing the entire module function

or objects, only a particular object needed can be imported. In this method,
objects can be directly accessed with its name.

Let us take an example of another module called math. This module contains
various functions and variables. One such variable is pi, which contains value
of π.

In this example, only a variable called pi is imported from math module,

hence it can be directly accessed with its name. In this case, module name
cannot be used for calling its objects, doing this will show NameError. Also
other functions within the module math cannot be accessed, since only one
variable pi is imported. You will be able to access them only after importing
them individually with from import statement.

303
 3. Importing entire module using from import *

This method can be used to import the entire module using from import *
statement. Here,*represents all the functions of a module. Like previous
method, an object can be accessed directly with its name.

Check your Progress 1

Ex 1. What are modules in Python and how can we create modules ?
Ex 2. What are the various ways of importing modules ?
Ex 3. Name any 3 built-in modules in python.

12.3 MODULE SEARCH PATH

When we use import statements to import a module, it is searched in a list of
directories or search paths stored by the environment variable
PYTHONPATH.This list of directories can be checked using sys.path
variable.

These directories include:

1. The current directory in which user is working [‘ ’]
2. Installation dependent paths
3. Directories stored in variable PYTHONPATH

Upto now, we were able to import our modules without doing anything
special because they were all created in the same current directory. But if we
move to some other directory, and try to import modules located in previous
directories, we will not be able to use it.

In example 1 of this unit, we have created a module named series.py and used
304 this module in a file named demo.py in example2. We were able to import
modulessince both of themwere in the same directory. But when we re-start Modules and
Packages
shell, we move to python’s default location. In this location, we will not be
able to import of series.py module. Shown in example 3 below.

Example 3:

Therefore, any modules created must be located inpython’s search path for its
global identification. This can be done in either of the ways-
1. Creating module in one of the locations already present in search path
2. Adding your module path in the search path using sys.path.
3. Updating PYTHONPATH environment variable.
4.

Adding module location to search path

A module path can be added to python’s module search path by appending

the sys.path variable. This can be done by using the append( ) function of
sys.path. Directory in which your module is located should be appended as
shown below example 4.

Example 4: Adding module path to search path

305
 As we can see in above example, our directory is now present in the list of
search directories. Hence, now we can import series module from any
location. This method is not robust since it adds modules only for current
session. For each new session, path needs to be added again.

12.4 MODULE VS SCRIPT

For large number of instructions to be used together instead of directly
running in shell or console, we used to write the code text files. These files
can be modules or scripts. Extension of both the files is .py. Though there are
several similarities, there are few differences as well.

SCRIPTS
Scripts are the files with sequence of instructions, which are executed each
time the script is executed. There are various ways to execute a script,
provided by different IDEs. It can also be executed in the console ( shell in
Unix/Linux and cmd in windows) using the command given below.

It should be noted that this command should be run in the directory where
your python script exists otherwise no file or directory exists error will be
shown.

306
MODULES Modules and
Packages
Functions which can be called from multiple scripts should be created within
a module or we can say that a module is a file which is created for the
purpose of importing. They are used to organize code in hierarchy. Module
after creation should be added to search path.

When a module is imported, it runs the file from top to bottom. But when a
module is executed, it runs the entire file and set the __name__ attribute to
the value “__main__”. This allows us to put a special code in a particular
section which we want and we execute only when the module is executed
directly. This section will not be executed during import.

Here, a module named module_2.py is created. If this module is executed,

output received is given in the below screenshot. The whole file will be
executed.

But when the above module is imported, the section under if

__name__=”__main__”: will not be executed as show below.

12.5 PACKAGE CREATION AND

IMPORTING

Packages like modules are also used to organize the code in a better way. A
package is a directory which contains multiple python modules. It is used to
group multiple related python modules together. A python package in
addition to modules must contain a file called __init__.py. This file may be
empty or contains data like other modules of package.

307
 File __init__.py
It is a file that makes the package importable. When a package is imported in
a script, this file is automatically executed. It initializes variables, objects and
makes the functions in the package accessible.

Let us create a package namedpack and within this package create two
modules first.py and second.py .

The __init__.py file created is empty. Module one contains function abc()
and module two contains function xyz().

Packages can be imported in the same way as we import modules.

The various ways in which we can import from package are-

importpack.first
pack.first.abc()

from pack import first

first.abc()

from pack.first import abc

abc()

There are more methods to import. We have used * to import all the functions
from a module in the previous section. This method can also be used here.
But by default importing package modules using * will show error.

308
 Modules and
Packages

This can be made possible using __all__ variable. This variable when added
to __init__.py file, can make modules within package accessible outside
using from import * statement.
Hence, we need to add __all__ statement in __init__.py

__all__= [‘ first ’]

The above statement makes module first.py accessible using from import *
statement.

Adding statement __all__ to __init__.py file.

Now another way to import the module is given below:

Syntax to import using from import *

from pack import *

first.abc()

Here, we can clearly see that first.py module is now accessible, since we have
added it to __all__ variable. But second.py module is not
accessiblesimultaneously, since it was not added to __all__ attribute in
__init__.py.
309
 Check your Progress 2
Ex. 1 What are packages ?How are they different from modules ?

Ex. 2 What is module search path ?How can we check it ?State the ways of
adding a user defined module to search path.

Ex. 3 Create a package named Area and create 3 module in it named –

square, circle and rectangle each having a function to calculate area of
square, circle and rectangle respectively. Import the module in separate
location and use the functions.

12.6 STANDARD LIBRARY MODULES

Python standard library provides number of built-in modules. They are
automatically loaded when an interpreter starts. We have already used few of
them in previous chapters. It should be noted that before using any module, it
should be imported first. Some of the commonly used library modules are-

 sys
 os
 math
 random
 statistics

Module Attributes

There are some attributes or functions that work for every module whether it
is built-in library module or custom module. These attributes help in smooth
operations of these modules. Some of them are explained below:

1. help () – it is a function used to display modules available for use in

python or to get help on specific module.

310
2. dir ()- it is a function which is used to display objects or functions present Modules and
Packages
in a specific module.Before using dir() function, module should be first
imported.

3. __name__ attribute
This attribute returns name of the module. By default its value is the same as
the name of the module.
When a module or script is executed, its value becomes ‘__main__’. Also,
when called without module name, it returns ‘__main__’.

4. __file__ attribute
This attribute returns the location or path of the module.

5. __doc__ attribute

This attribute displays documentation given at the beginning of the module

file.

OS MODULE

This is a module responsible for performing many operating system tasks. It

provides functionality like- creating directory, removing directory, changing
directory, etc.Some of the functions in os modules are given in the table

311
 below. It should be noted that before using these functions, the module
should be imported.

importos

function Description

os.mkdir(“location”) Creates new directory in a given location.

os.rmdir(“location”) Removes directory given by user. It should be taken care

that current working directory cannot be removed and the
directory to be removed should be empty.

os.getcwd() Displays the current working directory.

os.chdir(“location”) Changes current working directory to a given location.

os.listdir(“location”) Displays list of files and directories in a given location. If

location is not given, files of current directory will be
displayed.

SYS MODULE

This module contains various variables and functions that can manipulate
python runtime environment. Some of them are listed intable given below:

Function Description

sys.path Shows list of directories used to search python

modules

sys.argv Displays list of values passed as command

line arguments to python program

sys.maxsize Returns the largest integer value a variable

can store

sys.version Returns string representing python version

sys.getsizeof(object) Returns size of an object in bytes

sys.exit Used to exit from a program in case of

exception

MATH MODULE

This module provides various mathematical functions and constant variables.

It includes logarithmic, trigonometric functions etc. Some of the functions are
listed in table below:
312
 Function Description Modules and
Packages
math.pow(x,y) Returns x to the power y i.e. x**y

math.sqrt(x) Returns square root of x i.e.√𝑥

math.pi Returns value of π

math.e Returns value of e, Euler’s number

math.radians(x) Converts angle x from degree to radians

maths.degree(x) Converts angle x from radians to degree

math.sin(x) Returns sin() of angle x in radians

math.log(x) Returns natural log of x

math.log10(x) Returns log base 10 of x

math.floor(x) Returns largest integer <=x

math.ceil(x) Returns smallest integer >=x

STATISTICS MODULE

This module contains various functions used in statistics. These functions are
widely used for data analysis or data science.

Function Description

Statictics.mean(list) Returns arithmetic mean of list or data

given by user

Statistics.median(list) Returns median value of list given by

user

Statictics.mode(list) Returns mode (highest frequency) value

given by user

Statistics.stdev(list) Returns standard deviation of list given

by user

Statistics.variance(list) Returns variance of list given by user

12.7 SUMMARY
In this unit, we have discussed modules and package creations in details.
Modules are python files which can be imported in other files. A package is a
folder which can store multiple modules and sub-packages within. Moreover,
313
 built-in modules are also discussed in details that add real power to python
programming.

SOLUTION TO CHECK YOUR PROGRESS

check your Progress 1

Ex.1AModule is a logical group of functions , classes, variables in a single python

file. A major benefit of a module is thatfunctions, variable or objects defined in one
module can be easily used by other modules or files, which make the code re-usable.

A module can be created like any other python file i.e. with .py extension. Name of
the module is the same as the name of a file.

Ex. 2 The various methods of importing a module are

1. using import statement

2. using from import statement
3. using from import * statement

1. import module
module.function()

This method is used to import the entire module. Individual functions

can be used with module name and .symbol.

2. from module import function

function()

This method is used to import individual function from a module. In this

method, function can be directly called with its name.

3. From module import *

function()

This method can be used to import the entire module using from import
* statement. Here, * represents all the functions of a module. Like
previous method, an object can be accessed directly with its name.

Ex. 3 The 3 built-in modules in python are –os, math, random.

check your Progress 2

Ex. 1 A package is a directory which contains multiple python modules. It is

used to group multiple related python modules together. A python package in
addition to modules must contain a file called __init__.py. This file may be
empty or may contain data like other modules of package.

314
Exx. 2 When wew use imporrt statementss to import a module, it is searched in a Mod
dules and
P
Packages
ories or search paths stored by the environment variaable
listt of directo
PYYTHONPAT TH. This is called
c modu ule search ppath. This list of directoories
cann be check ked using syys.path varriable. Any modules crreated mustt be
loccated in pyth
hon’s search path for its global identtification.

Mo
odules can be
b added to search
s path by
b either of tthe ways-
1. Creatin
ng module in
n one of the locations
l alrready presennt in search ppath
2. Addingg module patth in the searrch path usinng sys.path.
3. Updatinng PYTHON NPATH envvironment vaariable.

Exx. 3 First of all,ceate a folder naamed area and place 4 file nameed –
cirrcle.py, squaare.py, rectanngle.py and __init__.py
_ in folder.
circle.py
c

square.py

reectangle.py

No
ow, we can import
i the paackage alongg with all thee modules inn any file.

315
 MCS-201
Programming in C
Indira Gandhi National Open University
School of Computer and Information
Sciences (SOCIS)
and Python

Advanced features in python 4

 MCS-201

Block

4
ADVANCED FEATURES IN PYTHON
UNIT 13
Classes in Python 317
UNIT 14
Exception Handling in Python Programming 339
UNIT 15
Python-Advance Concepts 350
UNIT 16
Data Access Using Python 361
BLOCK 4 INTRODUCTION

Python is the most popular high-level programming language that can be

used for real-world programming. It is a dynamic and object-oriented
programming language thatcan be used in a vast domain of applications,
especially data handling. Python was designed as a very user-friendly
general-purpose language with a collection of modules and packages and
gained popularity in the recent times. Wheneverwe think of machine
learning, big data handling, dataanalysis, statisticalalgorithms, python is the
only name which comes first in our mind. It is a dynamically typed language,
which makes it highly flexible. Furthermore, creating a database and linking
of the database is very fast and secure.It makes the program to compile and
run in an extremely flexible environment can support different styles of
programming, including structural and object-oriented. Its ability to use
modular components that were designed in other programming languages
allows a programmer to embed the code written in python for any interface.
Due to its enormous features, python has become the first choice of learners
in the field of data science and machine learning.
This block is specially designed for beginners to understand the concepts of
object oriented programming in python and extend the understanding to
create and connect database in python. You will learn to connect data through
SQL as well as CSV files with the help of real dataset (PIMA Indian
Dataset), used most commonly by researchers and academia in data analysis.
This block consists of 4 units and is organized as follows:
Unit - 13Introduces you about the Concept of Classes in Python

Unit - 14Makes you to understand the concept of exception handling in

Python
Unit – 15 provides understanding of decorators, iterators, generators and co-
routines in Python.

Unit - 16 introduces you to work with databases and datasets in Python.

Happy Programming!!
 Indira Gandhi
National Open University MCS-201
School of Computer and
Information Sciences PROGRAMMING IN
C AND PYTHON

Block

4
ADVANCED FEATURES IN PYTHON
UNIT 13
Classes in Python 317
UNIT 14
Exception Handling in Python Programming 339
UNIT 15
Python-Advance Concepts 350
UNIT 16
Data Access Using Python 361
PROGRAMME/COURSE DESIGN COMMITTEE

Prof. (Retd.) S.K. Gupta Prof. V.V. Subrahmanyam

IIT, Delhi Director
SOCIS, IGNOU, New Delhi
Prof. T.V. Vijay Kumar
Dean, Prof P. Venkata Suresh
School of Computer & System Sciences, SOCIS, IGNOU, New Delhi
JNU, New Delhi
Dr.ShashiBhushan
Prof.Ela Kumar, Associate Professor
Dean, Computer Science &Engg SOCIS, IGNOU, New Delhi
IGDTUW, Delhi
Shri Akshay Kumar
Prof.GayatriDhingra Associate Professor
GVMITM, Sonipat, Haryana SOCIS, IGNOU, New Delhi
Mr.MilindMahajani Shri M. P. Mishra
Vice President Associate Professor
Impressico Business Solutions SOCIS, IGNOU, New Delhi
Noida UP
Dr.Sudhansh Sharma
Asst. Professor
SOCIS, IGNOU, New Delhi

BLOCK PREPARATION TEAM

Dr.Sudhansh Sharma, Assistant Professor Prof S.R.N. Reddy, (Content Editor)
School of Computers and Information Sciences, HOD, Dept. of CSE,
IGNOU, New Delhi(Writer Unit-15) IGDTUW, Delhi

Dr.Parmod Kumar, Assistant Professor (Sr.G) , Prof.Parmod Kumar (Language Editor)

Department of Computer Applications, SRM School of Humanities, IGNOU,
Institute of Science and Technology, Delhi New Delhi (Unit-15)
NCR Campus, Modinagar, U.P.(Writer Unit-13
& 14)
Dr.DevenderTanwar,(Language
Ms.Sofia Goel, Research Scholar Editor)Associate Professor,Department of
School of Computers and Information Sciences, English, AryabhattCollge Delhi
IGNOU,NewDelhi(Writer Unit-16) University(Unit-13,14,& 16)

Course Coordinator: Dr.Sudhansh Sharma

PRINT PRODUCTION
Mr.Tilak Raj Mr.Yashpal
Assistant Registrar (Publication) Assistant Registrar (Publication)
MPDD, IGNOU, New Delhi MPDD, IGNOU, New Delhi
March, 2021
© Indira Gandhi National Open University, 2021
ISBN-
All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced in any form, by mimeograph or any
other means, without permission in writing from the Indira Gandhi National Open University.
Further information, about the Indira Gandhi National Open University courses may be obtained
from the University’s office at MaidanGarhi, New Delhi-110 068.
Printed and published on behalf of the Indira Gandhi National Open University by Registrar,
MPDD, IGNOU, New Delhi
Laser Composed by Tessa Media & Computers, C-206, ShaheenBagh, Jamia Nagar, New Delhi

All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced in any form, by mimeograph or any other means,
without permission in writing from the Indira Gandhi National Open University.

Further information on the Indira Gandhi National Open University courses may be obtained from the
University’s office at MaidanGarhi, New Delhi-110 068.
UNIT 13 CLASSES IN PYTHON
Structure
13.0 Introduction to Object-Oriented Paradigms
13.1 Objectives
13.2 Classes and instances
13.3 Classes method calls
13.4 Inheritance and Compositions
13.5 Static and Class Methods
13.6 Operator Overloading
13.7 Polymorphism
13.8 Summary

13.0 INTRODUCTION TO OBJECT

ORIENTED PARADIGMS
Object-oriented programming is a programming paradigm which define a
class(a group of similar types of objects )and objects (containing both data and
methods) to achieve the modularity and portability of the various components of the
programs.
In Python programming language, we can define new classes. These classes
are customized to a particular application which helps the user to perform its task in
an easy way and maintain all the things required in the application.

The reason to define a new class helps in solving the structured application
program in terms of object-oriented programming.In structured programming,
language functions are defined. These functions are used by the users, but the
implementations are hidden by the users. Similarly, a class defines methods and
these methods are used by the users but how these methods are implemented are
hidden from the users. A customized namespace is associated with every class and
objects.

13.1 OBJECTIVES
After going through this unit you will be able to :

 Understand concepts of Object Oriented programming in Python

 Create your own Classes and Objects of classes
 Apply the concept of Inheritance
 Understand the concept of Overloading and Overriding

317
 13.2 CLASSES AND INSTANCES
Classes

A class is a group of similar types of objects.For example, a university is a class, and

various objects of the class are open_university, government_university,
central_university, state_private_university, private_university, deemed_university.

To create a class we use keyword ‘class’. Following is the syntax of class:

Classclass_name:
class_variable1= value_of_variable
class_variable2= value_of_variable
class_variable3= value_of_variable
…
defclass_method1(self,arg1,arg2,…):
method1_code
def class_method2(self,arg1,arg2,…):
method2_code
…
The first class we defined is a Rectangle.

>>>
class Rectangle:
defsetsides (self,x,y):
self.height=x
self.width=y
print('The sides of the rectangle are {} and
{}:'.format(self.height,self.width))
def area(self):
return(self.height*self.width)
def parameter(self) :
return(2*(self.height*self.width))
It’s a convention to write the name of a class with the first character in a capital
letter. But it supportsa small letter also. After writing the name of a class,it must be
preceded by a colon ‘:’. In C++ or Java, we were using pair brackets () but python-
support colon ‘:’ only.The statement is written after the colon ‘:’ will be taken by the
Python interpreter as part of the class document.

When we create a class,a namespace is created for the class Rectangle. This
namespace store all the attributes of the class Rectangle. This namespace will
specify the names of class Rectangle method.

318
Object

In Python, whatever value we are storing everything is taken as an object. For

example, the string value ‘IGNOU University’ or the list [‘IGNOU’,22] or the
integer value 28 all are stored in memory as an object. We can think object as a
container which stores value in computer memory (RAM).Objects are the containers
used to store the values, and it hides the details of the storage from the programmers
and only gives the information which is required during the implementation.
Each object contains two things: typesandvalues.
The type specifies what type of values can be assigned to object or the type of
operations that can be operated by the objects.
>>>object1=Rectangle()

In Python, a namespace is created for each class. Each namespace is specified with a
name, and this name is same asclass name—all the attributes of the class use this
namespace for the storage.Thus in our example namespace Rectangle must contain
names of all the class methods.

Whenever an object object1is created of the class Rectangle(),the separate

namespace is created for the object1 also.

Object Object1 namespace

Let us describe the various methods of the class Rectangle:

setsides(x,y) : method to describe the sides of rectangle (height and width).

area() : method which return the area of rectangle.
parameter() : method which return the parameter of rectangle.

The function setsides(),area() and parameter() are defined in the name space. The
syntax of methodwould be:

defsetsides(self, x,y):
# implementation of setsides()
def area():
# implementation of area()
def parameter():
# implementation of parameter()
Instance
Variables that point to the object namespace is called instance variables.
Each instance variable containsa different value for different objects. All the
319
 variable define inside the __init__valiable are called as instance variables. And all
the variable defined inside the class but outside the __init__valiable is called class
variables.A class variable is also called as static variables.

Eample1: Program to calculate area and parameter of a rectangle.

13.3 CLASSES METHOD CALLS

To call a method of a class first, we have to create an object of the same class. After
object creation, we will envoke the method defined in a class with the dot ‘.’
operator.

When we create an object of the class, the constructors declared in the classenvoke
automatically to which it belongs. In Python, there is a unique method _ _init_ _ to
implement constructor of the class in which it is defined. The first argument of the
method _ _init _ _ must be self. Self is a reference to a class to which this object
belongs.

320
Example 2: Program to call a constructor

When two objects obj1 and obj2 are created __init__ method is called automatically.

Class Methods
Predefined word classis used to Predefined word defis used to describe
describe a class. the method of a class.
Each class statement defines a new type A def statement defines a new function
with a given name. with a given name.
Each class name is preceded by a colon Each method name is preceded by a
‘:’ statement. colon ‘:’ statement.
Example -- class Rectangle: Example -- defsetsides(self):

Table.13.1 Comparison between class and method

13.4 INHERITANCE AND

COMPOSITIONS
Inheritance is the mechanism by which object acquire the property of another object
derived in a hierarchy.

The class which is inherited is called a base class or parent class or superclass, and
the inheriting class is called the derived class or child class or subclass.For our
reference, we will use the term parent class and child class. A child class acquire all
the properties of the parent class, but the vice versa is not true; parent class can’t
access any features of a child class. The main motto behind the inheritance is code
reusability. Once a code is defined in a class if it is required by another class then by
inheriting the class code can be reused.

Syntax of inheritance:

class<Child Class>:
If this child class inherits the parent class, then the statement will be changed to
class<Child Class> (<Parent class>):

321
 Consider aclass Parent containing two methods methodA1() and methodA2() and a
class Child with method methodB1() and methodB2().Child class is defined to be
the subclass of Parent class.Therefore it inherits both the methods methodA1() and
methodA2() of Parent class .
Example 3: Inheritance of a parent class by child class

After inheritance class child contains methods methodB1() and methodB2() as well
as methods of class Parent , methodA1() and methodA2().

Example 4: Calling method of parent class by object of child class.

322
Multilevel inheritance:
Consider three classes class A,class B and class C

When an inherited class is inherited by another class, this is called multilevel

inheritance.
Consider Class B inherits class A, and class C inherits class B.
Class B is called subclass of Class A,and Class C is called subclass of class B.
Class C willcontain all the attributes and methods of class A and class B.

Multiple Inheritance:

When a single class inherit two or more classes,then it is called multiple

inheritances.

Consider two classes, class A with two methods methodA1(),methodA2() and class
B with methodB1() and methodB2(). If another class C inherits both class A and
class B,then class B will inherit the features of class A and B.

323
 Example 5: Implementation of multiple inheritance

The behaviour of constructor in inheritance:

Example 6: Constructor of class

Since the creation of an object of a class will automatically invoke the constructor of
the class. Here in the example class C1 object will call a constructor of class C1
automatically, and creation of an object of class C2 will call the constructor of class
C2 automatically.

Creating an object of child classwill first search the__init__method of the child

class. If __init__ method is in the child class then it will be executed first if it is not
in the child class then it will go to the __init__ method of the parent class.

324
Example 7:

If we want to call the init method of the parent class also then we can call it with the
help of keyword super.

Example 8: Use of super keyword to call a method of the parent class.

Thus when we create an object of the child class, it will call the init method of the
child class first. If we have called super, then it will first call init of the parent class
then it will call int of the child class.

If we have two classes, A and B inherited by class C. If init method is defined in all
three classes then what will happen if call inits of the parent class with the help of
super() keyword? Then which class init method will be called?

Example 9: Uses of the super keyword in multiple inheritances.

325
 It will first call the init method of the child class then with the help of super()
keyword it will call the init method of the left parent class that is A in our example.

In multiple inheritances, when we inherit the classes, then the method is executed
based on the order specified, and this is called Method Resolution Order (MRO).

If class A is inherited by class B and Class C and then class D inheriting class B and
class C.

Then according to the Method of Resolution Order (MRO) the orderof execution of
the methods and attributes are: class Dclass Bclass Cclass A

13.5 STATIC AND CLASS METHODS

A static variable is that variable whose value remainsthe same for all the objects of
the class. It creates one copy of the variable which is shared by all objects of the
class. To declare a static variable, it must be declared inside the class. No method is
used to declare a static variable it is declared without any method.

To use the static variable, we will use the class name to which this static variable
belong, or we will use the reference of the object. But it is always preferred to use
class name in place of reference of the object.

Example 10: Implementation of static variable.

326
In Python, there are three types of methods: Instance methods, class methods and
static methods.

Instance methods:

Example 11: Implementation of an instance method.

In the above example first method __init__ is a constructor of the class. The second
method avg(self )is the instance method of the class.This method contains one
parameter self, which points to the instance of the
classMyClass, 3.0 will be printed as an output.
When the method is called Python, replace the self argument with the instance of the
object.Thus instance method always works on the object.
Class method

327
 A class method is a method which is bound to the class and not the object of the
class. A special symbol called a decorator ‘ @’ followed by the keyword
classmethod is used to define the class method.
A class method can be called by the class or by the object of the class to which this
method belongs. The first parameter of the class method is class itself.Thus as an
instance method is used to call the instance variable similarly class method is used to
call class variables.

Static method
Suppose we are looking to a method which is not a concern to the instance variable
neither to the class variable. In that case, we will use a static method.Static method
in Python isused when such methods are called another class or methods are used to
perform some mathematic calculations based on the values received as an argument.
A special symbol called as a decorator ‘@’ is used followed by the
keywordstaticmethod is used to define a static method. Thus a static method can be
invoked without the use of the object of the class.

Thus if we want to work with the variables other then class variable and instance
variable, we will use static.

13.6 OPERATOR OVERLOADING

Consider an operator ‘+.’

>>>2+5

Here it performs arithmetic addition of two numbers.

328
>>>[2,3,4]+[5,6]

[2,3,4,5,6]

Here it performs concatenation of two lists.

>>> ‘IGNO’+ ‘U University’

IGNOU University

Here it performs concatenation of two strings.

The operator ‘+’ is said to be an overloaded operator. If an operator is defined for

more than one classes, then it is called the overloaded operator. For each class, the
implementation of the overloaded operator is different. In our example, the
overloaded operator ‘ +’ is defined for the in-class,list class and string class.
The Python interpreter will take the operator ‘+’ as x._ _ add_ _(y), and this is called
method invocation.
_ _add_ _(..)

x._ _ add_ _(y) equivalent to x+y

Thus when we are performing 2+5, it is

>>int(2)._ _ add(5)
7
>>>[2,3,4]._ _add_ _[5,6]
[2,3,4,5,6]

>>> ‘IGNO’. _ _add_ _ ‘U University.’

‘IGNOU University’

Operator Method Number List &String

n1 + n2 n1.__add__(n2) Adding n1&n2 Concatenation
n1–n2 n1.__sub__(n2) Subtracting n2 from n1 —
n1 * n2 n1.__mul__(n2) Multiplyingn1 & n2 Self concatenation
n1 / n2 n1.__truediv__(n2) Dividing n1 by n2 —
n1 // n2 n1.__floordiv__(n2) Integer division of n1 by n2 —
n1 % n2 n1.__mod__(n2) Remainder after division of n1 b y n2 —
n1 == n2 n1.__eq__(n2) n1 & n2 both are same
n1 != n2 n1.__ne__(n2) n1 & n2 both are different
n1>n2 n1.__gt__(n2) n1 is larger than n2
n1 >= n2 n1.__ge__(n2) n1 is large than n2or equal to n2
n1 < n2 n1.__lt__(n2) n1 is small than n2
n1<= n2 n1.__le__(n2) n1 is small than or equal to n2
repr(n1) n1.__repr__() Canonical representation of string n1
str(n1) n1.__str__() Informal representation of string n1
len(n1) n1.__len__() — Size of n1
<type>(n1) <type>.__init__(n1) Constructor
Table 13.2: Overloaded operators
329
 If we want to add a and b where a=2 and b= ‘RAM.’
>>>a+b
TypeError: unsupported operand type(s) for +: 'int' and 'str'
Because different types are not defined with the operator addition.

Consider a Student class

Example 14: Addition of two objects.

When we add two objects s1 & s2, it will show an error. Here it is not defined to the
Python interpreter to add two objects. Hence we have to overload operator add.
Example 15: Operator overloading

Here we overloaded operator add.

Suppose we want to compare s1and s2

Example 16: Implementation of a comparison operator

The comparison operator is not defined to the Python interpreter for the objects.
Hence we have to redefine it or overload it. The function which corresponds to the
symbol greater than ‘>’ is __gt__ (refer to table 13.2). So we have to overload this
operator by defining the function.
330
Example 17: Overloading operator ‘>.’

because the value of s2 is higher than s1 hence s2 wins.

Now, what will happen if we want to print object s1

>>>print(s1)
…
<__main__.Student object at 0x00000192B57EE390>
It will print the address of the object. Now we want to print the value of the object
then we have to redefined the function __str__().
>>>def __str__(self):
return (' {} , {}'.format(self.n1,self.n2))
The value of two objects s1 and s2 printed.

13.7 POLYMORPHISM
Poly means ‘multiple’ and Morph means ‘forms’. Thus polymorphism is multiple
forms. For example, human being behaves differently in a different environment.
The behaviour of a human in the office is different from his behaviour at home,
which is different from his behaviour with friends at a party.

Thus in terms of object orientation due to polymorphic characteristic object behave

differently in a different situation.

There are four ways to implement polymorphism in Python:

Duck Typing
Operator loading
Method Overloading
Method Overriding

Duck typing
There is a sentence in the English language “if this is a bird which is walking like a
duck,quacking like a duck and swimming like a duck then that bird is a duck”. It
means if the behaviour of the bird is like a duck, then we can say it a Duck.
X=4
and
X= ‘Mohit’
In the first statement, X is a variable storing integer value. The type of the X is int.
However, in the second statement X= ‘Mohit’ the storage memory taken by the
331
 variable is a string. In Python, we can’t specify the type explicitly. During the
runtime, whatever value we are storing in a variable the type is considered
automatically. And this is called Duck Typing principle.

Example 18: Duck Typing principle

In the above example, the obj is an object of class Animal. When we call the code of
Animal class, we have to pass an object ide. So before passing ide, we have to define
it at the object of Duck class,one more ide for the class dog is defined. At the
moment when we assign ide as an object of Dog class, then it will execute the dog
method.

Example 19:

So it doesn’t matter which class object we are passing the matter is that object must
have executed method. And this is called duck typing.

Operator Loading
Consider A=2 and B=5 are two variables. In a programming language, when we are
performing a+b, it will perform the addition of two integer numbers. If X= ‘Hello’
and Y= ‘Hi’ then x+y will perform addition of two strings.
A=2
B=5
332
>>>print(A+B)
…
7
Python interpretor will take it as print(init.__add__(a,b)), where add() is a method
of the init class.
>>>print(init.__add__(a,b))
7

X= ‘Hello’
Y= ‘Hi’
>>>print (X+Y)
HelloHi
Python interpretor will take print(X+Y) as print(str.__add__(X,Y)), where add()is a
method osstr class.
>>>print(str.__add__(X,Y))
HelloHi

Method Overloading
Consider two classes having methods with the same name, but with a different
number of parameters or different types of parameters, then the methods are called
overloaded. In overloaded methods, the number of arguments is different, or types of
arguments are different.
class student:
marks(a,b)
marks(a,b,c)
here two methods marks are defined one with two parameters and another having
three parameters. These two methods are called method overloading. Python does
not support method overloading.
If there are multiple methods in a class having the same name then Python will
consider only the method which is described at the end of the class.

Example 20: Implementation of method overloading.

Method Overriding
In Python, we can’t create the same methods with the same name and the same
number of parameters. But we can create methods of the same method in the classes 333
 derived in a hierarchy. Thus the child class redefined the method of the parent class,
and this is called method overriding.

Example 21: Implementation of method overriding.

A method which is overridden in a child class can also access the method of its
parent class with the help of keyword super().

Example 22: Method overriding with the super keyword

Check Your Progress - 1

1. Implement the class Circle that represents a circle. The class must contain the
following methods:
Circle_setradius():Takes one number of values as input and sets the radius of
the circle.
circle_perimeter(): Returns the perimeter of the circle.
Circle_area(): Returns the area of the circle.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

334
2. Define method overloading and constructor overloading in Python.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
3.Select the correct output generated from the following program code:
class code1:
def __init__(self,st="Welcome to Python World"):
self.st=st
def output(self):
print(self.st)
obj=code1()
obj.output()
a) The code result an error because constructor are defined with default
arguments
b) Output in not displayed
c) “Welcome to Python World” is printed
d) The code result an error because parameters are not defined in a function
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-------------------
4.What type of inheritance is illustrated in the following Python code?
class Class1():
pass
class Class2(Class1):
pass
class Class3(Class2):
pass
a) Multilevel inheritance
b) Multiple inheritance
c) Hierarchical inheritance
d) Single-level inheritance
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
5. What is polymorphism and what is the main reason to use it?
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

13.8 SUMMARY
In this unit, we discussed the concepts of classes and objects. Concept of a
namespace to store object and class in memory is also defined in this unit. Different
types of class methods namely static methods ,instance methods and class
methodsare discussed in this unit.

This unit also focused on inheritance and various types of inheritance: single level
inheritance,multilevel inheritance and multiple inheritances.

In this unit, it is described that the same operator can be used for multiple purposes,
and this is called operator overloading. I list of operators and corresponding
methods, also called as magic methods are also given in the unit.
335
 Polymorphism means it is the ability to behave differently in a different situation.
The concept of polymorphism and the implementation of polymorphism with Duck
Typing, Operator loading, Method Overloading and Method Overriding are also
described in the unit.

SOLUTIONS TO CHECK YOUR PROGRESS

Check Your Progress -1
1. class Circle:
defcircle_setradius(self, radius):
self.r = radius
defcicle_perimeter(self):
return 2 * 3.142 * self.r
defcicle_area(self):
returnself.x * self.x*3.142
2. Iftwo or methods are defined with the same then but they differ in return types
or having a different number of arguments or having different types of
arguments then these methods are called as method overloading.
Two constructors are overloaded when both are having different no or
different types of arguments.
In the python method overloading and constructor, overloading is not
possible.
3. C
4. A
5. Polymorphism is one of the main features of object-oriented programming
languages. With this characteristic, we can implement elegant software.

336
 Exception Handling in
UNIT 14 EXCEPTION HANDLING IN Python Programming

PYTHON PROGRAMMING

Structure
14.0 Introduction
14.1 Objectives
14.2 Default Exception Handler
14.3 Catching Exceptions
14.4 Raise an exception
14.5 User Defined Exceptions
14.6 Summary

14.0 INTRODUCTION
Programers always try to write an error-free program, but sometimes a
program written by the programmer generates an error or not execute due to
the error generated in the program. Some times the program code is correct,
but still, it generates an error due to the malicious data is given as an input to
the program. This malicious data may be given by the user or from a file that
causes an error generation during the execution. This type of error generally
occurs when we user server-side programs such as web programming and
gaming servers.

Every developer is writing a code that must not generate an error during
execution. We will study various types of errors that generate during the
program execution or before the execution of the program code.

14.1 OBJECTIVES
After going through this unit, you will be able to :

 Understand the requirement of exception handling in programming

 Raise and catch the exceptions
 Perform exception handling in python programming

14.2 DEFAULT EXCEPTION HANDLER

Consider the following examples in which syntax is correct (as per the
Python statement), but it causes an error.
Example 1.
>>>3/0
Name of Error will be ZeroDivisionError
339
 And the reason for the error is division by zero Excepti
Python

Example 2
>>> list1=[2, 3, 4, 5, 6]
>>>list1[5]

Name of Error is :IndexError

Reson of Error is : list index out of range

Example 3.
>>>x+3

Name of Error is : Name Error

Reason of Error is : name 'x' is not defined"

Example 4.
>>>int('22.5')

Name of Error is :ValueError

Reason of error is : invalid literal for int() with base 10: '22.5'

Example 5.
>>> '2'*'3'

Error name is :TypeError

Reason of Error is : can't multiply sequence by non-int of type 'str'

In each example syntax is correct, but it goes to an invalid state. These are
runtime errors. In such a situation, Python interpreter generates an exception
for run time errors. This exception generates an object which contains all
information related to the error. In Example 5 the error message displayed:
what is happening and at which line number it is happening (here line number
is one because there is only one statement in the code) and the type of error is
also printed.

It is the responsibility of python virtual machine to create the object

corresponding to the exception generated to handle the program code. If the
code responsible for handling the exception is not there in the program code,
then python interpreter will suspend the execution of the program code since
an exception is generated the python print the information about the
generated exception.

340
 Exception Handling in
14.3 CATCHING EXCEPTIONS Python Programming

In Python, every exception is class, and these classes are the derived class of
the BaseException class. ThusBaseException class is the topmost class in the
hierarchy of exception classes.
Exception handling using try-except:
try:
risky code(generating exception)
except:
corresponding to risky code(handler)
The code which generates an exception must be written in a block with the
name specify by 'try'and the code which will handle the exception will be
given in 'except' block.
If the three lines code are written in Python
print("IGNOU")
print(87/0)
print("Welcome to the University")
>>>
…
Here the first line will be executed, and IGNOU will be printed when Python
interpreter will execute 2nd lines of the program then it generates an
exception, and the default exception handler will print the error code
"division by Zero"then after the program is terminated. Thus the third line of
the program will not execute. And this is also called as abnormal termination.
If we rewrite the code with the try and except then the code will become
print("IGNOU") 341
 Example 1: Implementation of try and except block. Excepti
Python

Here program terminated successfully. We can also print the error message
by modifying the code as:
Example 2:

In the above code, the first line executed successfully and "IGNOU" will be
printed. When the python interpreter executes the print statement "(23/0)" an
exception is raised, and a message given in the print statement will be printed
with the name of the exception "division by zero". After that,the interpreter
executes the last statement, and it will print "Welcome to the University."

If there are more than one except block written in the try block,then the try
block will execute the except block which is responsible for the code.
Example 3: Try block with more than one except block.

342
 Exception Handling in
Python Programming

With the help of single except block, we can handle multiple exceptions:
Example 4: Multiple exception handling with a single try block and multiple
except block.

343
 Corresponding to each error there will be an except block if corresponding Excepti
Python
except block is not there then a except block written at the end of all except
block is used for the error. And it must be the last except block in all.
Example 5: Implementation of default except for block

Some times exceptions may or may not be raised, and sometimes exceptions
may or may not be handled. Irrespective of both of these we still want to
execute some code. And such codes are written in finally block.
try:
Code with Error
except:
Code to handle error
finally:
Necessary code
Example 6: Implementation of finally block.

Nested try-except block:

If a try block is written inside another try block, then it is called as nested.
The code having higher risk must be defined in the innermost try block. If
there is any exception raised by the innermost try block, then it will be
handled by the innermost except block. If the innermost except block is not
able to handle the errorthenexceptblock defined outside the inner try block
will handle the exception.
Example 7: Implementation of the nested try block

344
 Exception Handling in
Python Programming

A single except block can be used to handle multiple exceptions. Consider

the given an example:
Example 8:Single except block handling multiple exceptions.

In case of different types of error, we can use a default except for block. This
block is generally used to display normal error messages. The default except
block must be the last block of all except blocks.

Example 9: Implementation of default except for block.

345
 Excepti
14.4 RAISE AN EXCEPTION Python

Some times user want to generate an exception explicitly to inform that this is
the exception in this code. Such type of exceptions is called as user-defined
exceptions or customized exceptions.
This user-defined exception is a class defined by the user, and this class is
derived from the Exception class. Pythoninterpreter does not have any
information related to the user-defined exception class. Thus, it must be
raised explicitly by the user.
The keywordraise is used to raise the class when it is required.
Example 10: Implementation of user-defined exceptions.

14.5 USER-DEFINED EXCEPTIONS

A programmer can create his exception, called a user-defined exception or
custom exception. A user-defined exception is also a class derived from
exception class.
Thus, class, is the user define a class which is a subclass of the Exception
class.
There are two steps in using user-defined exception:
Step 1: By inheriting Exception class create a user-defined exception class.
Step 2: Raise this exception in a program where we want to handle the
exception.
Syntax :

classMyException(Exception):
pass
classMyException(Exception)
def __init__(self,argumnet):
346 self.msg=argumnet
 Exception Handling in
Python Programming
A raise statement is used to raise the statement.
Example 11: Program to raise an exception.

Check Your Progress

1. Give the name of the error generated by the following python codes.
a) 4 / 0
b) (3+4]
c) lst = [4;5;6]
d) lst = [14, 15, 16]
lst[3]
e) x + 5
f) '2' * '3'
g) int('4.5')
h) 2.0**10000
i) for i in range(2**100):
pass
2. Define the minimum number of except statements that can be possible in
the try-except block.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
3. Describe the conditions in which finally block executed.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
4. Select the keyword from the following, which is not an exception
handling in Python.
a) try
b) except
c) accept
d) finally
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
5. Give the output generated from the following Python code?
lst = [1, 2, 3, 4]
lst[4]
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
347
 6. What will be the output generated with the following code? Excepti
Python
def function1():
try:
function2(var1, 22)
finally:
print('after function2')
print('after function2?')
function1()
a)Output will not be generated
b) after f?
c) error
d) after f
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

14.6 SUMMARY
In this unit, it is defined that a program may produce an error even though the
programmer is writing error-free code. These are the mistakes that change the
behaviour of our program code.
In this unit, it is defined that the default exception handlers are there in
Python. How these exception handler works are described in this unit.
By default, there are exception handlers in Python. But a user can also raise
the exception which is a customized exception, not a language defined
exception.

SOLUTION TO CHECK YOUR PROGRESS

Check Your Progress
1.
a) ZeroDivisionError
b) SyntaxError
c) SyntaxError
d) IndexError
e) NameError
f) TypeError
g) ValueError
h) OverflowError
i) KeyboardInterrupt Error
2. At least one except statement.
3. Finally block is always executed.
4. C
5. IndexErrorbecause the maximum index of the list given is 3.
6. C, since function finction1 is not defined.

348
 UNIT 15 PYTHON-ADVANCE CONCEPTS
Structure
15.0 Introduction
15.1 Objectives
15.2 Decorators
15.3 Iterators
15.4 Generators
15.5 Co-routines
15.6 Summary

15.0 INTRODUCTION

In unit number 11 of this course we learned about the functions, we learned

that we have inbuilt functions and we also learned to develop our own
functions just for the sake of revision, some of the examples are listed below

Say the following lines of code are saved in functions.py

# In-Built Function

Name = “IGNOU-SOCIS”

print(len(Name))

executing the functions.py by running the command $ python function.py we

get the output 11, which is the length of the variable Name. here, len() is the
in-built function of python, which can be used to calculate length of any
string, we need not to write code agin and again to determne the length of any
string simply we need to use this built-in function and get the job done.

We also learned to define our own function just to recapitulate lets write our
function to add two numbers

# User-Defined Functions

defadd_two(a,b) :

returna+b

total = add_two(5,4)

print(total)

here add_two(a,b) is the user defined function that takes two numbers as
input and return their sum, which is stored in the varable total, the result of
350 total is printed subsequently.
We also learned the concept of anonymous functions i.e lambda functions or
Lambda expressions, the concept was introduced in python and later it was
adopted by many other languages be it C++ or Java. The advantage of using
the lambda function is that, they can we defined with in the code by writing
few lines and they doesn’t need any name, that’s amazing. One example of
Lambda expressions is sited below, here we will write the lambda expression
equivalent for the User-Defined Function add_two, which is given above

# Lambda Expressions (Anonymous Functions)

def add(a,b)

returna+b

add2 = lambda a,b : a+b

print(add2(2,3))

here, add2 collects the output of the lambda function, we can see the output
by calling lambda function, by writing print(add2(2,3))

Generally lambda functions are not meant for the user defined functions but
are used to facilitate the working of various built in functions like, map,
reduce, filter, etc.

Modern programming language emphasizes on code reusability, where one

need to work with the already written codes, but these codes needs to be
customized, i.e. their functionality is required to be enhanced, and to enhance
the functionality of already written functions, python has the concept of
decorators. We will learn about decorators in our subsequent section 15.2

15.1 OBJECTIVES

After going through this unit, you will be able to:

 Enhance the functionality of functions by using decorators

 Understand the concept of iterators and iterables
 Appreciate the concept of generators
 Understand the concept cooperative multitasking using co-routines

15.2 DECORATORS
Modern programming paradigm recommends the technique of code
reusability, where we need to customize the code as per our requirements,
without disturbing the actual functionality of the code which is already
written. To achieve this, python introduced the concept of decorators, this 351
 concept is used to enhance the functionality of functions, which are already
written, for example say we have two functions func1() and func2() as given
in the python code given below
# Decorators – to enhance functionality of other functions
deffuncA():
print (‘ this is functionA’)
deffuncB():
print (‘ this is functionB’)
funcA()
funcB()
on executing the above mentioned code by running deco.py we will get
output
this is function1
this is function2
but without disturbing the existing code if we want that along with, “this is
function1” the output should contain the line “this is a wonderful function”,
i.e. to enhance the already existing functionality, we need to exercise the
concept of decorators.
To understand this concept lets re-write the code given above
# Decorators – to enhance functionality of other functions
defdecorator_funcn (any_funcn):
defwrapper_funcn():
print(‘this is a wonderful function’)
any_funcn()
returnwrapper_funcn
deffuncA():
print (‘ this is functionA’)
deffuncB():
print (‘ this is functionB’)
variable = decorator_funcn (funcA)
variable( )
Lets understand the concept of Decorators through the above code. Here,
decorator_funcn is defined to enhance the functionality of any function (may
be funcA or funcnB) from printing “this is function A” to “this is a wonderful
function this is function A” or “this is function B” to “this is a wonderful
function this is function B”.

352
Without altering any line of code of already written functions. To achieve this
a decorator function decorator_funcn is defined, this function takes
any_funcn as input argument, it can be any function may it be funcnA or
funcnB. Inside the decorator_funcn, a wrapper function named
wrapper_funcn() is defined to wrapup the new features over the existing
features of the function taken as argument by the decorator_funcn(). The
body of the wrapper_funcn() includes the additional feature, in our case it is
print(‘this is a wonderful function’) an then the original function passed as an
argument to the decorator_funcn() i.e. any_funcn() is called, and finally the
output of wrapper_funcn is returned. To execute the decorator_funcn, the
decorator_funcn with argument funcA is called and its return value is
collected in variable, then variable() is executed and the output received is
“this is a wonderful function this is function A” or “this is a wonderful
function this is function B”.
Lets run some shortcuts also to work with the concept of decorators, which
involves one more concept of syntactic sugar, where w use @ symbol to use
the decorators before executing any function, i.e. to enhance its functionality.
# Decorators – to enhance functionality of other functions
# @ used for decorators
defdecorator_funcn (any_funcn):
defwrapper_funcn():
print(‘this is a wonderful function’)
any_funcn()
returnwrapper_funcn
@decorator_funcn
deffuncA():
print (‘ this is functionA’)
funcA()
@decorator_funcn
deffuncB():
print (‘ this is functionB’)
funcB()
whenever we use @decorator_funcn before any function the output of that
function preceeds with the output “this is a wonderful function”, later the
output of actual function turnsup. As in this code, calling funcA() leads to
output “this is a wonderful function this is function A” or calling funcB()
leads to output “this is a wonderful function this is function B”.

In this section we learned, the concept of decorators, as functionality

enhancers. Now we will study the concept of Iterators and Iterables.
353
 ☞ Check Your Progress 1
1) Compare built-in functions with user defined and Lambda functions
2) What are Decorators? Briefly discuss the utility of decorators.

15.3 ITERATORS

In Python Iterator is an object that can be iterated i.e. an object which will
return data or one element at a time. Iterators exist every where, but they are
implemented well in generators, comprehensions and even in for loops; but
are generally hidden in plain sights. In this section we will try to understand
this concept by exploring the functioning of for loops. In our earlier units we
learned about the concepts of Lists, Tuples, Dictionaries, Sets , Strings etc.,
infact most of these built in containers are collectively called, iterables. An
object is called iterable if we can get an iterator from it..In Python any
iterator object must follow the iterator protocol i.e. the implementation of
iter() and next() functions, the iter function returns an iterator, and an object
is called iterable if we can get an iterator from it (for this we use
iter()function). To understand what are iterables lets understand the
functioning of for loop.

We learned that numbers = [1,2,3,4] is a list and if we want to print the

elements of this list, we may use for loop for this purpose, and we will write

# Iterables

numbers = [1,2,3,4]

fori in numbers :

print (i)

now lets understand how for loop works behind the scenes, firstly the for
loop calls a function called iter() function, this iter function changes the
iterable to iterator i.e. it takes list as argument, so in out case we have
iter(numbers), and this is now an iterator. Subsequently the next function is
called whose argument is this iterator i.e. next(iter(numbers)), as the loop
progresses the next function provides the values from the iterable i.e. the list
numbers in our case, first run provides 1, second run provides 2 and so on. i.e
to see how the for loop works we write the logic of for loop as follows

# Iterables

numbers = [1,2,3,4]

number_iter = iter(numbers)

354 print(next(number_iter)) # Output will be 1

print(next(number_iter)) # Output will be 2

print(next(number_iter)) # Output will be 3

print(next(number_iter)) # Output will be 4

print(next(number_iter)) # Output will be Error as the iterable numbers

is upto 4 only

In this way only the for loop works on any of the iterables i.e. List or Tuple
or String. So, iterables are the python data types which uses the iter and next
functions, but iterator can directly use the next function. The iterables uses
the iter() function to generate iterator and then uses next function but iteartors
don’t use iter function they directly use the next function to get the job done.
In Python any iterator object must follow the iterator protocol i.e. the
implementation of iter() and next() functions, the iter function returns an
iterator, and an object is called iterable if we can get an iterator from it (for
this we use iter()function)

Now, we will learn about the iterators.

# Iterators

numbers = [1,2,3,4] # Iterables

Squares =map(lambda a : a**2, numbers) #Iterator

print( next(squares)) # output will be square of 1 i.e. 1

print( next(squares)) # output will be square of 2 i.e. 4

print( next(squares)) # output will be square of 3 i.e. 9

print( next(squares)) # output will be square of 4 i.e. 16

In this section we learned about the concept of Iterators and Iterables, now
we will extend our discussion to Generators, in the next section.

☞ Check Your Progress 2

1) What are Iterators? How iterators differ from iterables?
2) Discuss the execution of for loop construct, from iterators point of
view

15.4 GENERATORS

Generators are also a kind of iterators, but they are quite memory efficient i.e.
needs very less memory hence helps in improving the performance of any
programme. We learned in last section that iterators involves production of
355
 any sequence, the generators are also generating the sequence but their
modus operandi is quite different. Like List say L = [1,2,3,4] is a sequence
but it is an iterable, the generator is also a sequence but it is an iterator not a
iterable. You might be thinking that we already have a mechanism to refer a
sequence i.e. say List, then why do we need a generator. To understand this
we need to understand the memory utilization by list and generator. Say, we
are having a list with many numbers, when we create a list then it will take
some time , secondly these numbers will get stored in to the memory i.e
memory usage will also be on higher side. But, I the case of Generators, at
one time only one number is generated and the same is used for further
processing, i.e. both time and memory space are saved, they are
comparatively quite less in case of generators. So, while processing the list
entire list is loaded and processed, but in generators one by one elements are
generated and are processed accordingly.

Now you might be thinking that, when to use lists then ? the answer is that
when you need to use your sequence again and again (may be to perform
some functionality) then list is the best option, but when you simply need to
use the sequence for one time only, then its better to go for generators, you
will understand this, later in this section only.

Lets learn how to write a generator, for this you may use two techniques, i.e.
you may use generator function or generator comprehension, as technique to
develop your own generator. Generator comprehension is the technique
which is quite similar to list comprehension, which is used to generate list.

Firstly we will discuss about generator function, say we need to define a

function which is suppose to take a number as an argument and that function
is suppose to print number from 1 to that number say 10

We can write the following code to achieve the task:

defnums(n)

fori in range (1, n+1) : # n+1 because for loop goes upto n-1 th term

print(i)

nums(10) # calling the function nums with n = 10

this will print the numbers from 1 to 10, here function is not returning any
thing, but simply printing the numbers. This was quite simple, as you leraned
in your earlier units, but if we need to develop our generator to do the same
task then you need to replace the print command with yield keyword, and the
code will be

defnums(n)
356
fori in range (1, n+1) : # n+1 because for loop goes upto n-1 th term

yield(i)

nums(10)

This yield keyword will create a generator, on executing this code nothing
will be printed, but if in place of nums(10) i.e. the last line of the above code,
we write print(nums(10)) then on execution you will come to know a
generator object nums is produced.

Note : a) In normal function we either print or return but in generator

function we use yield keyword

b) yield is a keyword, and not a function, so we can write ‘yield i’ in

place of ‘yield(i)’

Now, lets understand how a generator function works, for this lets again
explore the functioning with for loop, refer to the code given below

defnums(n)

fori in range (1, n+1) : # n+1 because for loop goes upto n-1 th term

yield(i)

numbers = nums(10)

fornum in numbers :

print(num)

Executing the above code the sequence of numbers from 1 to 10 will be

generated, but if you again execute the for loop then nothing will be printed
i.e.

defnums(n)

fori in range (1, n+1) # n+1 because for loop goes upto n-1 th term

yield(i)

numbers = nums(10) # here nums(10) is a generator, we can transform

nums(10) into list by writing list(nums(10))

fornum in numbers :

print(num)

357
 fornum in numbers :

print(num)

execution of the second for loop will not produce any result because the
generaors generates the numbers one by one and they are not retained in to
the memory as in the case of lists. So the execution of first for loop will
produce a sequence from 1 to 10, i.e. the numbers are placed in to the
memory one by one, which is there after refreshed, so past instance is lost.
Thus the execution of second for loop has no databecausenums(n) function
only exists before first for loop not after it. If the nums(n) also exists after
first for loop then data for second for loop is also available.

defnums(n)

fori in range (1, n+1) # n+1 because for loop goes upto n-1 th term

yield(i)

numbers = list(nums(10)) #here nums(10) is a generator, we can transform

nums(10) into list by writing list(nums(10))

fornum in numbers :

print(num)

fornum in numbers :

print(num)

If we re-execute the above code with list and not generator i.e. with
list(nums(10)) and not nums(10), then the sequence from 1 to 10 will be
printed twice because the content of List persists in the memory, thus the
execution of both for loops will produce a separate sequence from 1 to 10.

☞ Check Your Progress 3

1) What are generators in Python? Briefly discuss the utility of
generators in python
2) Compare Generators and Lists

15.5 CO-ROUTINES

We learned about functions in our earlier units, and we knew that they are
also referred as procedures, subroutines, sub-processes etc. In fact a function
is packed unit of instructions, required to perform certain task. In a complex
function the logic is to divide its working into several self-contained steps,
which themselves are functions, such functions are called subroutines or
358
helper functions, these subroutines have single entry point. The coordination
of these subroutines is performed by the main function.

Subroutine‐1 Subroutine‐1 Subroutine‐1 Subroutine‐1

Main Function

The generalized co-routines are referred as subroutines, the working of co-

routines relates to cooperative multitasking i.e. when a process voluntarily
passes on (yield) the control to another process, periodically or when idle.
Co-routines are cooperative that means they link together to form a pipeline.
One co-routine may consume input data and send it to other which process it.
Finally there may be a co-routine to display result.

This feature of co-routine helps for simultaneous processing of multiple

applications. The Co-routines are referred as generalized subroutines, but
there is a difference between subroutine and co-routine, the same are given
below:

Subroutines Co-Routines
1. Co-routines have many entry 1. Subroutines have single entry
points for suspending and point for suspending and
resuming execution. resuming execution
2. Co-routine can suspend its 2. Subroutines can’t suspend its
execution and transfer control execution and transfer control to
to other co-routine and can other subroutine and can resume
resume again execution from again execution from the point it
the point it left off. left off.
3. In Co-routines there is no
main function to call co- 3. In Subroutines there is main
routines in particular order function to call subroutines in
and coordinate the results. particular order and coordinate
the results.

From the above discussion it appears that co-routines are quite similar to
threads, both seems to do the same job. But, there is a difference in between
the thread and the Co-routine, in case of threads, it is the operating system i.e.
the run time environment that performs switching in accordance with
scheduler. But, in the case Co-routines the decision making for switching is
performed by the programmer and programming language. In co-routines the
cooperative multitasking, by suspending and resuming at set points is under
the control of programmer.

359
 In Python, co-routines are similar to generators but with few extra methods
and slight change in how we use yield statement. Generators produce data for
iteration while co-routines can also consume data. A generator is essentially a
cut down (asymmetric) coroutine. The difference between a coroutine and
generator is that a coroutine can accept arguments after it's been initially
called, whereas a generator can't.In Python the Co-routines are declared with
the async or await syntax, it is the preferred way of writing asyncio
applications.

asyncio is a library to write concurrent code using the async/await

syntax. asyncio is used as a foundation for multiple Python asynchronous
frameworks that provide high-performance network and web-servers,
database connection libraries, distributed task queues, etc. To understand co-
routine refer to following example code

Example, the following snippet of code (requires Python 3.7+) prints “hello”,
waits 1 second, and then prints “world”:

importasyncio

asyncdef main() :

print (‘hello’)

awaitasyncio.sleep(1)

print (‘world’)

asyncio.run(main())

It is to be noted that by simply calling a co-routine, it will not be scheduled

for the execution. To actually run a co-routine, asyncio provides three main
mechanisms, listed below:

1. The asyncio.run() function to run the top-level entry point “main()”

function (see the above example.)
2. Awaiting on a co-routine. (see the example given below)

Example - The following snippet of code will print “hello” after waiting for
1 second, and then print “world” after waiting for another 2 seconds:

importasyncio

import time

asyncdeftell_after(delay_time, what_to_tell):

awaitasyncio.sleep(delay_time)

print(what_to_tell)
360
asyncdef main():

print(f”started at {time.strftime(‘%X’)}”)

awaittell_after(1,’hello’)

awaittell_after(2,’world’)

print(f”finished at {time.strftime(‘%X’)}”)

asyncio.run(main())

Expected output:

Started at 17:11:52

hello

world

finished at 17:11:55

3. The asyncio.create_task() function to run coroutines concurrently as

asyncio Tasks.

Let’s modify the above example and run

two tell_after coroutines concurrently:

asyncdef main() :

task1 = asyncio.create_task(tell_after(1,’hello’))

task2 = asyncio.create_task(tell_after(2,’world’))

print(f”started at {time.strftime(‘%X’)}”)

# wait until both tasks are completed (should take around 2 seconds)

awaittell_after(1,’hello’)

awaittell_after(2,’world’)

print(f”finished at {time.strftime(‘%X’)}”)

Expected Output:

Started at 17:24:32

hello

world
361
 finished at 17:24:34

Note that expected output now shows that the snippet runs 1 second faster
than before

☞ Check Your Progress 4

1) What are Co-routines? How they support cooperative multi-tasking in
python
2) Compare Subroutines and Co-routines
3) How Co-routines differ from threads

15.6 SUMMARY
In this you learned about decorators, a way to enhance the functionality of
already written functions, which ia useful concept for code reusability.
Further, the discussion was enhanced to the concepts of iterables and
iterators, through the understanding of the execution of For loop. There after
the concept of generators was discussed where the concept of yield keyword
and print command were mentioned, the comparative analysis between the
generator and a function also clars the concept of performance improvement
in python programming. Finally, the understanding of co-routines cleared the
learners understanding towards the cooperative multitasking.

362
 Data Access
UNIT 16 DATA ACCESS USING PYTHON Using Python

Structure
16.1 Introduction
16.2 Database Concepts
16.3 Creating Database
16.4 Querying Database
16.5 Using SQL to get more out of Database
16.6 CSV files in Python
16.7 Summary
16.8 Solutions to Check your Progress

16.1 INTRODUCTION
Python is the most popular high-level programming language that can be used for
real-world programming. It is a dynamic and object-oriented programming language
thatcan be used in a vast domain of applications, especially data handling. Python
was designed as a very user-friendly general-purpose language with a collection of
modules and packages and gained popularity in the recent times.Wheneverwe think
of machine learning, big data handling, dataanalysis, statisticalalgorithms, python is
the only name which comes first in our mind. It is a dynamically typed language,
which makes it highly flexible. Furthermore, creating a database and linking of the
database is very fast and secure.It makes the program to compile and run in an
extremely flexible environment can support different styles of programming,
including structural and object-oriented. Its ability to use modular components that
were designed in other programming languages allows a programmer to embed the
code written in python for any interface. Due to its enormous features, python has
become the first choice of learners in the field of data science and machine
learning.This unit is specially designed for beginners to create and connect database
in python. You will learn to connect data through SQL as well as CSV files with the
help of real dataset (PIMA Indian Dataset), used most commonly by researchers and
academia in data analysis.

16.2 DATABASE CONCEPTS

The database is a collection of an interrelated, organizedform of persistent data. It
has properties of integrity and redundancy to serve numerous applications. It is a
storehouse of all important information, not only for large business enterprises rather
for anyone who is handling data even at the micro-level. Traditionally, we used to
store data using file systems, which eventually taken by advanced Database
Management Systems software,whichstores, manipulates and secure the data in the
most promising manner. To access the data stored in the database, one must know
query language like SQL, MySQLetc., which can retrieve the information from the
database server and passes it to the client. Thus, client can easily approach the server

361
 for day to day transactions by hitting the database without worrying about the load
on the processor as it is very fast and consumes power to run the desired query only.
The nature of serendipity in the Python environment is an example of data analysis
in machine learning and datascience.Python is a bucket of packages and libraries
which enables us to perform data classification,prediction and analysis in a very
efficient way.

Now the question is, the database is stored in different forms in different software's
like Oracle, MS-Access etc.,so how any programming language like python can
accessit.For that, we need to learn about database connectivity in python. In this unit
you will learn how to create and connect database in python using MySQL along
with basic knowledge of database and its features.
Database Management system DBMS

Database management systems are software that serves the special purpose of
storing,managing, extracting and modifying data from a database. It contains a set of
programs that allows access to data contained in a database. DBMS also interfaces
with application programs so that data contained in the database can be used by
multiple application and users. It handles all access to the database and responsible
for applying the authorization checks and validation procedures. It acts as a bridge
between users and data, and the bridge is crossed using special query language like
SQL, MYSQL wrote in high-level languages.

A typical DBMS has users with different rights and permissions who use it for
different purposes. Some users retrieve data and some back it up. The users of a
DBMS can be broadly categorized as follows −

END USERS : who actually uses all benefits of DBMS .It could be an
individual or an organisation
DBMS

ADMINISTRATORS: maintain the DBMS and are responsible for

administrating the database.

DESIGNERS:who work to design the layout of the database .they

identify entity,relations and views

Fig 16.1 (a)Basic structure of users of DBMS

As we discussed no information processing is possible without a database. It is the

hub of data in the field of information technology.Some of the major advantages of
the database are listed below:

 Real-world entity − A modern DBMS is more realistic and uses real-world

entities to design its architecture. It uses the behaviour and attributes too. For
example, a school database may use students as an entity and their age as an
attribute.
 Reduced data redundancy: Centralized control of database of avoids
unnecessary duplication of data and effectively reduces the total amount of data
storage required, unlike the non-database system in which each department is
maintaining its own copy of data. Avoiding duplication of data also results in
362
 the elimination of data inconsistencies that tend to be present in duplicate data Data Access
Using Python
files.
 Data consistency: Centralized control over data, ensures data consistency as
there is no duplication of data. In the non-database system, there are multiple
copies of the same data with each department, whenever the data is updated, the
changes are not reflected in each department which leads to data inconsistency.
For example, change in address of the student is reflected in the teacher's record
but not in account department, which results in inconsistent data.
 Shared data: A database allows the sharing of data by multiple application,
users and programs like a database of students can be shared by the teachers for
making results as well as admin department to keep track of the fees account.
 Greater data integrity and independence from applications programs:
Integrity of data means that data stored in the database is both accurate and
consistent. Centralized control ensures that adequate checks are incorporated in
a database while entering data so that DBMS provide data integrity. DBMS
provide sufficient validations to make sure that data fall within a specified
range and are of the correct format.
 Improved data control: In many organizations, where typically each
application has its own private files. This makes the operational data widely
dispersed and difficult to control. Central database provide the easy
maintenance of the database Access to users through the use of host and query
languages
 Improved data security:The data is protected in a central system. Data is more
secured against unauthorized access control with authentication and encoding
mechanism. Different checks and rights can be applied for the access of
information from the database
 Reduced data entry, storage, and retrieval costs
 Facilitated development of new applications program

Limitations of Database:

 Substantial hardware and software start-up costs:Extensive conversion

costs is involved in moving from a file-based system to a database system
 Database systems are complex, difficult, and time-consuming to design.
 Damage to database affects virtually all applications programs
 Initial training required for all programmers and users.
 Cost: The cost of required hardware, DB development, and DB maintenance is
high.
 Complexity: Due to its complexity, the user should understand it well enough to
use it efficiently and effectively.
DBMS Architecture

DBMS is designed on the basis of architecture. This design can be of various forms
centralized, client-server systems, parallel systems, distributed and hierarchical. The
architecture of a DBMS can be seen as either a single tier or multi-tier. An n-tier
363
 architecture divides the whole system into related but independent n modules, which
can be independently modified, altered, changed, or replaced. Generally, three-tier
architecture is followed, which consist of three layers:

1. Presentation layer (laptop,PC, Tablet, Mobile, etc.)

2. Application layer (server)
3. Database Server

Client (Presentation layer) Server(Application layer) Database

Fig 16.1(b)Three tier architecture of DBMS

Multiple-tier database architecture is highly modifiable, as almost all its components

are independent and can be changed independently.
Data models

Once the architecture of DBMS is designed, then the next phase is modelling. The
data model represents the logical structure of the database. It decides how the data
will be stored, connected to each other, processed and stored. Many data models
were proposed to store the data like network model, hierarchical model and
relational model where each new model was invented with improved features. The
first model was based on Flat File, where data is stored in a single table in a file,
which could be a plain text file or binary file. It is suitable only for a small amount
of data. Records follow a uniform format, and there are no structures for indexing or
recognizing relationships between records. Later on, the concept of relation is
introduced where data is stored in the form of multiple tables and tables are linked
using a common field.It is suitable for handling medium to a large amount of data.
This is the most promising model ever implemented for DBMS solutions. So,let us
see in detail about the structure and features of the relational model.
Entity-Relationship Model

An Entity-relationship model (ER model) describes the logical structure of a

database with the help of a diagram, which is known as an Entity Relationship
Diagram (ER Diagram).It is based on the notion of real-world entities and
relationships among them. While formulating real-world scenario into the database
model, the ER Model creates an entity set, relationship set, general attributes and
constraints. ER Model is best used for the conceptual design of a database. ER
Model is based on − Entities and their attributes. Relationships among entities.
These concepts are explained below.

 Entity: An entity is a real-world object which can be easily identifiable like in

an employee database, employee, department, products can be considered as
entities.

364
  Attributes: Entities are represented by means of having properties called Data Access
Using Python
attributes. Every attribute is defined by its set of values called domain. For
example, in an employee database, an employee is considered as an entity. An
employee has various attributes like empname, age, department, salary etc.
 Relationship: describes the logical association among entities. These
relationships are mapped with entities in various ways, and the number of
association between two entities defines mapping cardinalities. Mapping
cardinalities are one to one, one to many,many to many and many to one.For
example, a doctor can have many patients in a database which shows one to
many relationships.
These E-R diagrams are represented by special symbols which are listed below:
Rectangle: Represents Entity sets.
Ellipses: Attributes
Diamonds: Relationship Set
Lines: They link attributes to Entity Sets and Entity sets to Relationship Set

Fig 16.1(c) E-R diagram

Now let us take an example of an organization where they want to design an entity
relationship between various departments and their employees. So, In the following
E-Rdiagram we have taken two entities Employee and Department and showing
their relationship. The relationship between Employee and Department is many to
one as a department can have many employees however aemployeecannotwork in
multiple departments at the same time. Employee entity has attributes such as
Emp_Id, Emp_Name&Emp_Addr and Department entity has attributes such as
Dept_ID&Dept_Name.

Emp_Name Dept_Id Dept_Name

Emp_Id Emp_Addr

Works I n
Employee Department

Fig 16.1(d)Sample E-R Diagram showing employee and department relationship.

365
 Structure of Database

A database system is a computer-based system to record and maintain information.

The information concerned can be anything of significance to the organization for
whose use it is intended.The contents of a database can hold a variety of different
things. To make database design more straight-forward, databases contents are
divided up into two concepts:

 Schema
 Data

The Schema is the structure of data, whereas the Data are the "facts". Schema can
be complex to understand to begin with, but really indicates the rules which the Data
must obey. Let us consider a real-world scenario where we want to store facts about
employees for an organization. Such facts may include Emp_ name, Emp_address,
Date of Birth, and salary. In a database, all the information on all employees would
be held in a single storage "container", called a table. This table is a tabular object
like a spreadsheet page, with different employees as the rows, and the facts (e.g.
their names) as columns..Let's call this table EMP, and it could look something like:

Table EMP

Emp_name Emp_address Date of Birth Salary

SmritiKumari B-15 ,ParkAvenue Delhi 1/3/1986 71000

Samishtha Dutta D- 45 ,Sector 37,Delhi 7/9/1989 93000

Rahul Sachdeva C- 6 ,sector 45 Noida 3/2/1982 78000

Fig 16.1(e) Schema of Employee Database

From this information, the Schema would define that EMP has four components,
"Emp_name","Emp_address","Date of Birth","Salary". As database designers, we
can call the columns what we like, a meaningful name helps. In addition to the
name, we want to try and make sure that people don't accidentally store a name in
the DOB column, or some other silly error. We can say things like:

 Emp_name is a string, holding a minimum of 12 characters.

 Emp_address is a string, holding a minimum of 12 characters
 Date of Birth is a date. The company can put validation for age must be greater
than 18 and less than 60 years.
 A salary is a number. It must be greater than zero.

Such rules can be enforced by a database.The three schema architecture separates

the user application and physical database. The internal level schema or Physical
Schema or internal Schema: determines the physical storage structure of the
database.The conceptual Schema is the high-level description of the whole
database. It hides the detail of the physical storage and focuses on the data types,
relationships user operations and constraints.The external view or is the user view
that describes the view of different user groups.
366
 RELATIONAL MODEL Data Access
Using Python
An eminent scientist E.F.Codd proposed a database model,based on the relational
structure of data.In this model data is organized in the form of tables,which is
acollection of records and each record in a table consist of fields. A relational
database allows the definition of data structures, storage and retrieval operations and
integrity constraints. It is proved to be the most effective way of storing data.
Database Design in Relational Model

 Table: A table is a set of data elements that is organized using a model of

vertical columns and horizontal rows. Each row is identified by a unique key
index or the key field.
 Columns/Field/Attributes: A column is a set of data values of a particularly
simple type, one for each row of the table. For eg.
Emp_Code,Emp_Name,Emp_Address etc.
 ROWS/ RECORDS /TUPLES: A row represents a single, data items in a table.
Each row in a table represents a set of related data,and every row in the table
has the same structure.
 DATA TYPES: -Data types are used to identify the type of data we are going to
store in the database.
In the relational model, every tuple must have a unique identification or key based
on the data. In this figure, an employee code(Emp_code) is the key that uniquely
identifies each tuple in the relation and declares as a primary key. Often, keys are
used to join data from two or more relations based on matching identification.
Primary Key: A primary key is a unique value that identifies a row in a table. These
keys are also indexed in the database, making itfaster for the database to search a
record. All values in the primary key must be unique and NOT NULL, and there can
be only one primary key for a table.
Foreign Key: The foreign key identifies a column or set of columns in one
(referencing) table that refers to a column or set of columns in another (referenced)
table.

TABLE EMPLOYEE

Primary key COLUMNS OR FIELD OR ATTRIBUTES

Emp_Code Emp_Name Emp_Address Sal DOB

101 Madhuri 112,Sector-45 85000 4.12.1982 Row Or record or Tuple 1

,Noida
102 Ankush 82,Sector-75 ,Noida 86000 14.11.1983 Row Or record or Tuple 2

103 Samay 172,Sector-35 78000 2.10.1981 Row Or record or Tuple 3

,Noida
Row Or record or Tuple 4
104 Tripti 52,Sector-85 ,Noida 91000 8.11.1980

Fig 16.1(f)Componentsof Relational Database

367
 The relational model indicates that each row in a table is unique. If you allow
duplicate rows in a table, then there's no way to uniquely address a given row via
programming. This creates all sorts of ambiguities and problems that are best
avoided. You guarantee uniqueness for a table by designating a primary key—a
column that contains unique values for a table. Each table can have only one primary
key, even though several columns or combination of columns may contain unique
values.

All columns (or combination of columns) in a table with unique values are referred
to as candidate keys, from which the primary key must be drawn. All other
candidate key columns are referred to as alternate keys. Keys can be simple or
composite. A simple key is a key made up of one column, whereas a composite key
is made up of two or more columns.

The relational model also includes concepts of foreign keys, which are primary keys
in one relation,that are kept as non-primary key in another relation ,to allow for the
joining of data.

Now let us see how to choose the primary key in the table.Consider the Product
table given below:

Relating to the employee Table presented in the last section, Now define a second
table, order as shown in the figure provided below:

PRODUCT TABLE

Product_ID EmpCode Order_Date Foreign Key in Product Table

P101 101 5/1/2020

P201 102 10/4/2020
P301 103 15/5/2020
P401 104 20/6/2020

Fig 16.1(g) Demo table of Foreign Key

Product_ID is the PrimaryKeyin above table Product.Emp_code is considered a

FOREIGN KEY in ProductTable, since it can be used to refer to given Product in
the Product table.

COMMANDS TO DEFINE STRUCTURE AND MANIPULATE THE DATA

In a database, we can define the structure of the data and manipulate the data using
some commands.The most common data manipulation language is SQL. SQL
commands are instructions used to communicate with the database to perform a
specific task that works with data. SQL commands can be used not only for
searching the database but also to perform various other functions like, for example,
you can create tables, add data to tables, or modify data, drop the table, set
permissions for users. SQL commands are grouped into four major categories
depending on their functionality:

368
 Data Definition Language (DDL) - These SQL commands are used for Data Access
Using Python
creating, modifying, and dropping the structure of database objects. The
commands are CREATE, ALTER, DROP, RENAME, and TRUNCATE.
 Data Manipulation Language (DML) - These SQL commands are used for
storing, retrieving, modifying, and deleting data. These commands are
SELECT, INSERT, UPDATE, and DELETE.
 Transaction Control Language (TCL) - These SQL commands are used for
managing changes affecting the data. These commands are COMMIT,
ROLLBACK, and SAVEPOINT.
 Data Control Language (DCL) - These SQL commands are used for
providing security to database objects. These commands are GRANT and
REVOKE.
 Some of the commonly used datatyes in SQL AND MYSQL are listed below:
Data type Description
CHAR(n) Character string, fixed length n ,with a maximum size of 2000
characters . Values of this data type must be enclosed in single
quotes '‘ .the storage size of the char value is equal to the
maximum size for this column i.e. nColumns , that will not be
used for arithmetic operations usually are assigned data types of
char.
CHARACTER Variable length character string , can store upto 4000 characters .
,VARYING(n) varchar is a variable-length data type, the storage size of the
or varchar value is the actual length of the data entered, not the
VARCHAR(n) maximum size for this column i.e .n
,VARCHAR2(n)
INT A normal-sized integer that can be signed or unsigned. If signed,
the allowable range is from -2147483648 to 2147483647.
DATE This data type allows to store valid date type data from January
1, 4712 BC to December 31, 4712 AD with standard oracle data
format DD-MM-YY.
TIME Stores the time in a HH:MM:SS format.
TIMESTAMP A timestamp between midnight, January 1st, 1970 and sometime
in 2037. This looks like the previous DATETIME format, only
without the hyphens between numbers; 3:30 in the afternoon on
December 30th, 1973 would be stored as 19731230153000
(YYYYMMDDHHMMSS ).

SQL COMMANDS

DDL COMMANDS[CREATE, ATLTER,DROP]

 CREATE

It is the mostly used, Data definition command in SQL . It is used to create table
index or view. This command describes the layout of the table. The create statement
specifies the name of the table , names and types of each column of the table . Each
table must have at least one column. The general syntax for creating table is shown
below:

369
 Syntax for CREATE TABLE is:
CREATE TABLE <table name>
(<attribute name><data type>[<size>]<coloumn constraint>,
(<attribute name><data type>[<size>]<coloumn constraint>,
…………………………………………………………………..)
where
<table name > : It is the name, of the table to be created
<attribute name > : It is the name of the column heading or the field in a table.
<data Type> : It defines the type of values that can be stored in the field or the
column of the table .
Example:
CREATE TABLE Student
( roll_no number (5),
name char(20),
birth_data date ) ;

 ALTER

Alter is a DDL command in SQL which is used to perform the following operations
in table.
1. Add column to the existing table
4. To modify the column of the existing table.

 Adding column(s) to a table

To add a column to an existing table, the ALTER TABLE syntax is:
ALTER TABLE table_name
(ADD column1_name column-definition);

Example :

ALTER TABLE PRODUCT ADD (SALESvarchar2 (50));

This will add a column called sales to the product table.

 Modifying column(s) in a table

To modify a column in an existing table, the ALTER TABLE syntax is:

ALTER TABLE table_name
MODIFY (column1_name column_type ,
[column2_name column_type,]
………………………………);
Example:

ALTER TABLE PRODUCT

MODIFY Prod_name varchar2(100) not null;

This will modify the column called prod_name to be a data type of varchar2(100)
and force the column to not allow null values.

 Drop column(s) in a table

To drop a column in an existing table, the ALTER TABLE syntax is:

370
ALTER TABLE table_name Data Access
DROP COLUMN column_name; Using Python

Example:

ALTER TABLE supplier DROP COLUMN Prod_name;

This will drop the column called prod_name from the table called Product.

DML COMMANDS –[INSERT,UPDATE,DELETE]

 INSERT Statement is used to add new rows of data to a tablet.The value of

each field of the record is inserted in the table.

Syntax :

INSERT INTO <table _name> [(col1, col2, col3,...colN)]

VALUES (value1, value2, value3,...valueN);
wherecol1, col2,...colN -- the names of the columns in the table into which you
want to insert data .

Example:If you want to insert a row to the employee table, the query would be like,

INSERT INTO employee (emp_id, emp_name, emp_dept, age, salary )

VALUES (105, 'Vaishnavi', 'Medical', 27, 33000);

NOTE: When adding a row, only the characters or date values should be enclosed
with single quotes.

 SQL SELECT Statement

The most commonly used SQL command is SELECT statement. The SQL SELECT
statement, the only data retrieval in SQL , used to query or retrieve data from a table
in the database.
Syntax of SQL SELECT Statement:

SELECT [distinct] column_list FROM table-name

[WHERE Clause]
[GROUP BY clause]
[HAVING clause]
[ORDER BY clause];

 table-name is the name of the table from which the information is

retrieved.
 column_list includes one or more columns from which data is retrieved.
 The code within the brackets are optional.
Example : Write the query in SQL to perform the following in the given
Table Student.

371
 R.No Name Course Age Stream Sports Marks Grade

11 Rajat BCA 15 Science Cricket 78 B

12 Anuja MCA 16 Science Football 80 B

13 Munil BCA 15 Science Cricket 78 B

14 Sonia MCA 16 Humanities Badminton 95 A

15 Adya MCA 15 Commerce Chess 96 A

a. Display the name of all students from the table Student .

b. Display the name of students who are in course 'MCA'
c. Display the name of students who play 'Chess'
d. Display the name of students according to the marks obtained in descending
order.

Solution

a. SELECT * FROM student;

SELECT ALL FROM student;

b. SELECT * FROM student where course=’MCA’;

c. SELECT * FROM student where sports=’Chess’;
d. SELECT * FROM student ORDERBY Marks Desc;

Note: SQL is case insensitive

 UPDATE

Update statement is used to modify the existing data of the tables .

UPDATE table_name
SET column1=value, column2=value2,...
WHERE <condition>

Remember : The WHERE clause in the UPDATE syntax specifies which record or
records that should be updated. If you remove the WHERE clause, all records will
be updated by default.

Example :Modify the marks of Anuja from 80 to 87 which was entered wrongly.

UPDATE student

SET marks=87

WHERE name=’Anuja' and marks='80';

372
 DELETE Statement Data Access
Using Python
The DELETE statement allows you to delete a single record or multiple records or
all records from the table.

Syntax:

DELETE FROM table

WHERE <condition>;

Example :

DELETE FROM Student WHERE course = 'MCA';

This would delete all records from the Student table where the course opted by
students is MCA

 DCL (Data Control Language)

DCL includes commands such as GRANT and REVOKE which mainly deals with
the rights, permissions and other controls of the database system.
Examples of DCL commands:
o GRANT-gives user's access privileges to database.
o REVOKE-withdraw user's access privileges given by using the GRANT
command.
 TCL (transaction Control Language)
TCL commands deals with the transaction within the database.
Examples of TCL commands:
o COMMIT– commits a Transaction.
o ROLLBACK– rollbacks a transaction in case of any error occurs.
o SAVEPOINT–sets a savepoint within a transaction.
o SET TRANSACTION–specify characteristics for the transaction.
CHECK YOUR PROGRESS:

1. Define the term database. List its four important features.

2. What do you understand by DDL and DML?
3. How will you explain the term entity and attributes in the table?
4. What is Primary Key?

16.3 CREATING DATABASE

The Python standard for database interfaces is the Python DB-API. Most Python
database interfaces follow this standard. Python Database API supports a wide range
of database servers such as MySQL, PostgreSQL, Microsoft SQL Server
2000,Informix,Interbase,Oracle,Sybase. As a data scientist, you have the freedom to
choose the appropriate server for our project.To do so,we need to download a
separate DB API module for each database you need to access. For example, if you
need to access an Oracle database as well as a MySQL database, you must download
both the Oracle and the MySQL database modules.

The DB API provides a minimal standard for working with databases using Python
structures and syntax wherever possible. This API includes the following −

 Importing the API module.

 Acquiring a connection with the database.
373
  Issuing SQL statements and stored procedures.
 Closing the connection

ANACONDA
JUPYTER /SPYDER
NOTEBOOK

MYSQL.CONNECTOR
MYSQL SERVER
5.1.33

Fig: shows all applications required to install for setting up database connectivity in
python with mysql.

Steps for setting python In Anaconda for Database connectivity

1. Install Anaconda — https://www.anaconda.com/distribution/
2. Select python version 3.7 (preferably )
3. MySQl Server (any version: we have used 5.1.33)
4. Mysql.connector or MySQLdb

NOTE: Anaconda is a python and R distribution that aims to provide everything you
need:

 core python language,

 python packages,
 IDE/editor — Jupyter and Spyder
 Package manager — Conda, (for managing your packages)

Once it is done, we are ready to have database connectivity in python.

Steps to install MySql Setup

1. Download and install MySql Community server —

https://downloads.mysql.com/archives/community/

2. During the installation setup, you will be prompted for a "root" password in the
server configuration step.

3. Launch workbench, at the home page, setup a new connection profile with the
configuration (Connection method: Standard (TCP/IP), Hostname:

374
 127.0.0.1,Port:3306,Username: root, Password: yourpassword) and test your Data Access
connection. Using Python

4. Double click on your local instance and it should bring you the schemas view
where you can see all your databases and tables.

The following screenshot gives a glimpse of the screen you may get:

Mysql.connector

It is an interface for connecting to a MySQL database server from python. It

implements the Python Database API v2.0 and is built on top of the MySQL C API.
It consist of four methods which are used to establish connection. The following
methods are listed below:

 Steps to install mysql.connector in Anaconda :

To install mysql.connector navigate to the anaconda prompt and type the
following command

1. Using terminal and conda to download

conda install -c anaconda mysql-connector-python
Another way to install mysql.connector is on windows command prompt for using
Python d

1. Download Mysql API, exe file and install it.(click here to download)

2. Install mysql-Python Connector (Open command prompt and execute command)

>pip install mysql-connector

3. Now connect Mysql server using python

4. Write python statement in python shell import mysql.connector

375
 If no error message is shown means mysql connector is properly installed.
Mysqlconnector has four important methods which is used to establish and retrieve
records from the database.
1. connect() : This method is used for creating a connection to our database it have
four arguments:
a. Host Name
b. Database User Name
c. Password
d. Database Name
2. cursor() : This method creates a cursor object that is capable for executing sql
query on
database.
3. execute (): This method is used for executing SQL query on database. It takes
a sql query
(as string) as an argument.
4. fetchone() : This method retrieves the next row of a query result set and returns
a single
sequence, or none if no more rows are available.
5. close (): This method close the database connection.

 In this chapter, we will be using Anaconda Jupyter notebook for

demonstration of all programs

Connect to MySql

1. Launch Anaconda-Navigator to bring you a list of applications available to

install. The application we are interested in is Jupyter Notebook which is a
web-based python IDE. Install and launch it.

2. In the notebook, create a new python file. In the first cell, write the following
code to test the mysql connection.
importmysql.connector

mydb = mysql.connector.connect( Optional required only

host="localhost", when this error comes:
user="root", ProgrammingError:
passwd="password",charset=’utf8’ 1115 (42000): Unknown
) character set: 'utf8mb4'

print(mydb)

3. If successful, you should get an object returned with its memory address
<mysql.connector.connection_cext.CMySQLConnection object at 0x10b4e1320>

376
 Data Access
Using Python
Cursor object: The MySQLCursor class instantiates objects that can execute
operations such as SQL statements. Cursor objects interact with the MySQL
server using a MySQLConnection object.
How to create a cursor object and use it import mysql.connector
Example
Following is the example of connecting with MySQL and display the version of the
database.

importmysql.connector

# Open database connection

creating a connection to our database

mydb = mysql.connector.connect (
host="localhost",
user="root",
passwd="admin123",charset=’utf8’
)

# prepare a cursor object using cursor() method

creates a cursor object that is capable for
mycursor=mydb.cursor()
executing sql query on database.

# execute SQL query using execute() method.

mycursor.execute("SELECT VERSION()")

# Fetch a single row using fetchone() method.

data=mycursor.fetchone() retrieves the next row of a query result set

print ("Database version :",data)

# disconnect from server

mydb.close() close the database connection.

While running this script, it is producing the following result in my machine. (It
could change in your system)
Database version : ('5.1.33-community',)

In the above code we are creating a cursor to execute the sql query to print
database version next line executes the sql query show databases and store
result in mycursor as collection ,whose values are being fetched in data. On
execution of above program cursor will execute the query and print version of
database shown.

Creating Database

1. Let's create a database called TEST_DB IN Python Anaaconda .

377
 importmysql.connector

mydb = mysql.connector.connect(
host="localhost",
user="root",
passwd="admin123",charset=’utf8’
)
mycursor = mydb.cursor()
mycursor.execute("CREATEDATABASETEST_DB")
Next, we will try to connect to this new database.

importmysql.connector

mydb = mysql.connector.connect(
host="localhost",
user="root",
passwd="admin123",charset=’utf8’,database= TEST_DB
)

CHECK YOUR PROGRESS

1. How will you create a database in mysql .Write the command to create a
database named as Start_db.
2. Name the four arguments required to set connection with
mysql.connector.connect.

16.4 QUERYING DATABASE

In this section, you will learn to execute SQL queries at run time of the Anaconda
environment. To perform SQL queries you need to create a table in the database and
then operations like insert, select, update and delete are shown with examples.

 Creating Table
Once a database connection is established, we are ready to create tables or records
into the database tables using the execute method of the created cursor.

Example
To create table EMPLOYEE in database TEST_DB with following data
FIRST_NAME,LAST_NAME,AGE,SEX,INCOME.

378
 Data Access
Using Python

 How to change table structure/(add,edit,remove column of a table) at run

time
To modify the structure of the table, we just have to use alter table query.
Below program will add a column address in the EMPLOYEE table.
import
mysql.connectormydb=mysql.connector.connect(host="localhost",user="root",
passwd ="root",database="school")
mycursor=mydb.cursor()
mycursor.execute("alter table student add (address varchar(2))")
mycursor.execute("desc employee")
for x in mycursor:
print(x)
Above program will add a column marks in the table student and will display the
structure of the table

 INSERT Operation
Insert is used to feed the data in the table created. It is required when you want to
create your records into a database table.

379
 Example
The following example, executes SQL INSERT statement to create a record into
EMPLOYEE table –

 UPDATE OPERATION
UPDATE Operation on any database means to update one or more records, which
are already available in the database. Here is an example to show where we run the
query to updates all the records having SEX as 'M'. Here, we increase the AGE of
all the males by one year.

Example

The above code will update the age of all the male employees in the table
EMPLOYEE.

 DELETE Operation
DELETE operation is required when you want to delete some records from your
database. Following example show the procedure to delete all the records from
EMPLOYEE where AGE is more than 20.

380
 Data Access
Using Python

The above code will delete all the records from the table EMPLOYEE where age is
greater than 20.

Steps to perform SQL queries in the database using Python

Step1. Import mysql.connector

Step 2. Create a variable and assign it to mysql.connector.connect().

Step3. Provide arguments host,user,passwd,database, charset to

mysql.connector.connect().

Step4. Call cursor() and assign it to variable.

Step5. Prepare SQL query (Insert or Update or delete)

Step 5. Disconnect from the server using close() function.

Please refer to the above examples with their screenshots which will help in better
understanding.

CHECK YOUR PROGRESS:

1. Write the syntax of the following commands in SQL : insert, update, delete

16.5 USING SQL TO GET MORE OUT OF

DATABASE

READ Operation
READ operation on any database means to fetch some useful information from the
database.

Once our database connection is established, you are ready to make a query into
this database. You can use either fetchone() method to fetch a single record
or fetchall() method to fetch multiple values from a database table.

 fetchall() − It fetches all the rows in a result set. If some rows have already
been extracted from the result set, then it retrieves the remaining rows from the
result set.
381
  fetchone() − It fetches the next row of a query result set. A result set is an
object that is returned when a cursor object is used to query a table.
 rowcount − This is a read-only attribute and returns the number of rows that
were affected by an execute() method.

 fetchall()

The method fetches all (or all remaining) rows of a query result set and returns a list
of tuples. If no more rows are available, it returns an empty list. The following
procedure queries all the records from the EMPLOYEE table

 fetchone()

To fetch one record from the table fetchone is used in the same manner as fetchall()
is shown in above code. This method retrieves the next row of a query result set and
returns a single sequence, or None if no more rows are available. By default, the
returned tuple consists of data returned by the MySQL server, converted to Python
objects.

# Fetch a single row using fetchone() method.

record = cursor.fetchone()

 rowcount()

Rows affected by the query. We can get a number of rows affected by the query by
using rowcount. We will use one SELECT query here.

382
 Data Access
Using Python

In the above code buffered=True. We have used mycursor as buffered cursor which
fetches rows and buffers them after getting output from MySQL database. It is used
as an iterator, but there is no point in using buffered cursor for the single record as in
such case if we don't use a buffered cursor, then we will get -1 as output from
rowcount.

 Manage Database Transaction

Database transaction represents a single unit of work. Any operation which modifies
the state of the MySQL database is a transaction. Python MySQL Connector
provides the following method to manage database transactions.

o Commit – MySQLConnection.commit() method sends a COMMIT

statement to the MySQL server, committing the current transaction.
o Rollback – MySQLConnection.rollback revert the changes made by the
current transaction.
o autoCommit – MySQLConnection.auto-commit value can be assigned as
True or False to enable or disable the auto-commit feature of MySQL. By
default, its value is False.

Steps to perform commit,rollback and auto-commit.

Step 1. Import the MySQL connector python module

Step 2. After a successful MySQL connection, set auto-commit to false, i.e.,
we need to commit
the transaction only when both the transactions complete successfully.
Step 3. Call the cursor() function .
Step4. Execute the queries using a cursor. Execute method.
Step 5 .After successful execution of the queries, commit your changes to
the database using
a conn.commit() .In case of an exception or failure of one of the
queries, you can revert your changes using a conn.rollback()
We placed all our code in the "try-except" block to catch the database
exceptions that may occur during the process.

The following code shows the role of commit, rollback and auto-commit while
performing SQL queries in python.

383
 In the above code if update query is successfully executed then commit() method
will be executed otherwise,anexception error part will be executed.Rollback issued
to revert of update query if happened due to error.Finally, we are closing cursor as
well as connection. Here the purpose of conn. Auto-commit = false is to activate the
role of rollback else rollback will not work.

CHECK YOUR PROGRESS:

1. What is the purpose of rollback and commit in SQL.

2. Fill in the blank provided :
importmysql.connector
mydb = mysql.________________.connect(
host="localhost",
_____="myusername",
passwd="mypassword"
)
mycursor = mydb.__________()
mycursor.___________("CREATE DATABASE mydatabase")

16.6 CSV FILES IN PYTHON

As we have studied various operations on databases, the next thing which comes in
our way to implement real dataset for machine learning purpose using python. For
the same, we should be aware about all the basic types of database connectivity
among which the most common type for connecting real dataset is CSV (Comma
Separated Values).

CSV files are ordinarily made by programs that handle a lot of information. Itis just
like a text file in a human-readable format which is used to store tabular data in a
spreadsheet or database.They are a helpful method to send out information from
spreadsheets and data sets just as import or use it in different projects. For instance,
you may trade the aftereffects of an information mining project to a CSV document
and afterwards import that into a spreadsheet to dissect the information, create charts
for an introduction, or set up a report for distribution. The separator character of
CSV files is called a delimiter.Default delimiter is comma (,) others are tab (\t), (: ),
(;) etc.

384
CSV documents are exceptionally simple to work for database connectivity. Any Data Access
Using Python
language that underpins text record info and string control (like python) can work
with CSV documents straightforwardly.

Some of the features of CSV are highlighted below, which makes it exceptionally
useful in the analysis of the large dataset.

 Simple and easy to use.

 Can store a large amount of data.
 He was preferred to import and export format for data handling.
 Each line of the file is a record.
 Each record consist of fields separated by commas(delimiter)
 They are used for storing tabular data in a spreadsheet or database.

Let us see how to import CSV file in python.In this unit, we will be using pandas
module in python to import the CSVfile.Pandas is a powerful Python package that
can be used to perform statistical analysis. In this chapter, you'll also see how to use
Pandas to calculate stats from an imported CSV file.
CASE STUDY OF PIMA INDIAN DATASET

The dataset used here isPima Indian diabetes data for learning purpose.Pima Indian
diabetes dataset describes the medical records for Pima Indiansand whether or not
each patient will have an onset of diabetes within given years.
Fields description follow:
preg = number of times pregnant
plas = Plasma glucose concentration a 2 hours in an oral glucose tolerance test
pres = Diastolic blood pressure (mm Hg)
skin = Triceps skin fold thickness (mm)
test = 2-Hour serum insulin (mu U/ml)
mass = Body mass index (weight in kg/(height in m)^2)
pedi = Diabetes pedigree function
age = Age (years)
class = Class variable (1:tested positive for diabetes, 0: tested negative for diabetes)

(This dataset can be downloaded from

https://www.kaggle.com/kumargh/pimaindiansdiabetescsv?select=pima‐indians‐
diabetes.csv)

It consists of above mentioned eight features, and one class variableandis very
commonly used in the research of diabetes.Given below are the steps and the code to
import CSV file in python.

Steps to import a CSV file into Python Using Pandas.

Step1. Import python module pandas.

385
 Step2. Capture the file path where CSV file is stored (don't forget to include
filename and file extension ).

Step3. Read the CSV file using read_csv

Step4. Print the desired file.

Step5 .Run the code to generate the output.

import pandas as pd

df = pd.read_csv ('F:\pimaindiansdiabetescsv\pima-indians-diabetes.csv')

print (df)

Note: #read the csv file (put 'r' before the path string to address any special
characters in the path, such as '\'). Don't forget to put the file name at the end of the
path + ".csv".

This path is taken for reference; it will change as per the location of the file.

Output

6 148 72 35 0 33.6 0.627 50 1

0 1 85 66 29 0 26.6 0.351 31 0
1 8 183 64 0 0 23.3 0.672 32 1
2 1 89 66 23 94 28.1 0.167 21 0
3 0 137 40 35 168 43.1 2.288 33 1
4 5 116 74 0 0 25.6 0.201 30 0
.. .. ... .. .. ... ... ... .. ..
762 10 101 76 48 180 32.9 0.171 63 0
763 2 122 70 27 0 36.8 0.340 27 0
764 5 121 72 23 112 26.2 0.245 30 0
765 1 126 60 0 0 30.1 0.349 47 1
766 1 93 70 31 0 30.4 0.315 23 0

[767 rows x 9 columns]

The above output consists of 769 rows and ninecolumns.TheCSV file is just like
excel file which consists of data in tabular form arranged as rows and columns.But
the columns are without heading.In the next example, column headings are provided
using

Colnames=[ ‘col1 ’,‘ col2’,‘col3’,‘col4 ’]

Any userdefined These are the field names or

name column names

 Calculate stats using Pandas from an Imported CSV File.

Finally you will learn to calculate the following statistics using the Pandas package:

 Mean
386  Total sum
  Maximum Data Access
 Minimum Using Python
 Count
 Median
 Standard deviation
 Variance
Simply functions for each of the above mentioned stats is available in pandas
package which can be easily applied in the following manner.

import pandas as pd
colnames=['pre','pgc','dbp','tsf','2hs','bmi','dpf','age','class']
df=pd.read_csv('F:\pimaindiansdiabetescsv\pima-
indiansdiabetes.csv',names=colnames)
mean1 = df['age'].mean()
sum1 = df['age'].sum()
max1 = df['age'].max()
min1 = df['age'].min()
count1 = df['age'].count()
median1 = df['age'].median()
std1 = df['age'].std()
var1 = df['age'].var()

# print block 1
print ('Mean Age: ' + str(mean1))
print ('Sum of Age: ' + str(sum1))
print ('Max Age: ' + str(max1))
print ('Min Age: ' + str(min1))
print ('Count of Age: ' + str(count1))
print ('Median Age: ' + str(median1))
print ('Std of Age: ' + str(std1))
print ('Var of Age: ' + str(var1))

Output:
Mean Age: 33.240885416666664
Sum of Age: 25529
Max Age: 81
Min Age: 21
Count of Age: 768
Median Age: 29.0
Std of Age: 11.76023154067868
Var of Age: 138.30304589037365

Here is a table that summarizes the operations performed in the code:

Variable Syntax Description

mean1 df[‘age’].mean() Average of all values under the age column.
sum1 df[‘age’].sum() Sum of all values under the age column.
max1 df[‘age’].max Maximum of all values under the age column.
min1 df[‘age’].min() Minimum of all values under the age column.
count1 df[‘age’].count() Count of all values under the age column.
median1 df[‘age’].median() Median of all values under the age column.
387
 std1 df[‘age’].std() Standard deviation all values under the age
column.
var1 df[‘age’].var() Variance of all values under the age column.

We have learnt how to calculate simple stats using Pandas and import any dataset
for machine learning purpose.

16.7 SUMMARY
 A database is an organized,logical collection of data.It is designed to facilitate
the access by one or more applications programs for easy access and analysis
and to minimize data redundancy.
 DBMS is a software system that enables you to store, modify, and extract
information from a database. It has been designed systematically so that it can
be used by multiple applications and users
 A relational database is a collection of related tables
 An entity is a person place or things or event.
 Tables in the database are entities.
 An attribute is a property of entity. Attributes are columns in the table.
 A relationship is the association between tables in the database.
 Each columns of the table correspond to an attribute of the relation and is
named
 Fields : Columns in the table are called fields or attributes.
 Rows of the relation is referred as tuples to the relation . A tuple or row
contains all the data of a single instance of the table such as a employee number
201.
 Records : Rows in a table often are called records . Rows are also known as
tuples.
 The values for an attribute or a column are drawn from a set of values known as
domain.
 Primary key : An attribute or a set of attributes which can uniquely identify
each record (tuple) of a relation (table). All values in the primary key must be
unique and not Null, and there can be only one primary key for a table.
 Foreign Key : An attribute which is a regular attribute in one table but a
primary key in another table.
 Mysql.connector is an interface for connecting to a MySQL database server
from python
 connect() is a method used for creating a connection to our database.
 Connect has four arguments:hostname,username,password,databasename .
 fetchall() − It fetches all the rows in a result set. If some rows have already
been extracted from the result set, then it retrieves the remaining rows from the
result set.

388
 fetchone() − It fetches the next row of a query result set. A result set is an Data Access
Using Python
object that is returned when a cursor object is used to query a table.
 rowcount − This is a read-only attribute and returns the number of rows that
were affected by an execute() method.
 Commit,rollback and autocommit are database transactions commands.

16.8 SOLUTIONS TO CHECK YOUR PROGRESS

Section 16.2Solutions

1. Database is a collection of interrelated, organized form of persistent data. It has

properties of integrity and redundancy to serve numerous applications. It is
storehouse of all important information, not only for large business enterprises
rather for anyone who is handling data even at micro level. Its features are
 Real world entity.
 Reduced data redundancy.
 Data consistency.
 Sharing of Data.
2. DDL and DML (Refer to section 16.2 SQL Commands)
3. Entity and attributes (Refer to section 16.2 Entity-Relationship Model)
4. Primary key: A primary key is a unique value that identifies a row in a table.
These keys are also indexed in the database, making it faster for the database to
search a record. All values in the primary key must be unique and NOT NULL,
and there can be only one primary key for a table.
Section 16.3 Solutions

1. Create a database called Start_db in Python Anaaconda.

importmysql.connector

mydb = mysql.connector.connect(
host="localhost",
user="root",
passwd="admin123",charset=’utf8’
)
mycursor = mydb.cursor()
mycursor.execute("CREATEDATABASEStart_db")
Next, we will try to connect to this new database.
importmysql.connector
mydb = mysql.connector.connect(
host="localhost",
user="root",
passwd="admin123",charset=’utf8’,database= Start_db)

2. Refer to question 1 second part (host,user,passwd,databse)

Section 16.4 Solutions

1. Syntax of Insert :
INSERT INTO TABLE_NAME (column1, column2, column3,...columnN)
389
 VALUES (value1, value2, value3,...valueN);

Syntax of Update:
UPDATE table_name
SET column1 = value1, column2 = value2...., columnN = valueN
WHERE [condition];

Syntax of Delete:
DELETE FROM table_nameWHERE [condition];

Section 16.5 Solutions

1. Rollback and commit(Refer to section 16.5 Manage Database transaction)

2. importmysql.connector
mydb = mysql.connector.connect(
host="localhost",
user="myusername",
passwd="mypassword"
)
mycursor = mydb.cursor()
mycursor.execute("CREATE DATABASE mydatabase")

MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTIONS

1. Which SQL keyword is used to retrieve a maximum value?
a. MAX
b. MIN
c. LARGE
d. GREATER
2. Which SQL keyword is used to specify conditional search?
a. SEARCH
b. WHERE
c. FIND
d. FROM
3. A relation /table is a
a. Collection of fields
b. collection of records
c. collection of data
d. collections of tables

4. ________________is a collection of interrelated data and a set of program

to access those data .
a. table
b. record
c. Database
d. Field
5. A row in a table is called as ___________
a. table
b. tuple
390
 c. Database Data Access
d. Field Using Python

6. Each table in a relational Database must have _______________.

a. primary key
b. candidate key
c. Foreign key
d. composite key
7. Attribute combinations that can serve as a primary key in a table are
a. primary key
b. candidate key
c. Alternate key
d. composite key
8. Duplication of data is known as _____________
a. Data redundancy
b. Data consistency
c. data management
d. data schema
9. _____________ is the total number of rows/tuples in the table .
a. degree
b. cardinality
c. records
d. domain
10. ___________ is the total number of columns/fields in the table
a. degree
b. cardinality
c. records
d. domain
11. A collection of fields that contains data about a single entity is called
a. table
b. record
c. database
d. Field
12. A set of related characters is called as
a. table
b. record
c. database
d. Field
13 _____________is the independence of application programs from the details
of the data representation and data storage.
a. Data redundancy
b. Data consistency
c. data independence
d. data schema
14. The ___________ is used for creating a connection to the database in
python.
a. connect()
b. cursor() 391
 c. execute()
d. close()
15. Which of the following module is provided by python to do several
operations on the CSV files?
a. py
b. xls
c. csv
d. os
Ans 1- a 2- b 3- b 4- c 5- b
6- a 7- b 8- a 9- b 10- a
11- b 12- d. 13- c 14- a. 15- c

392