Arrays: Finding Smallest String

[aznballerlee]

My task for this function is to find the index of the <= string in the array. If more than one string, then retrun the smallest index of such string. Retunr -1 if no elements in array.

I came out with a rough code. I hope what I did was in the right direction ..

int indexOfMin(const string a[], int n);
int indexOfMin(const string a[], int n)
{

if (n==0)
{
    return -1;
}

else
{    
    int i = 0;
    string min = a[i];

    for (i=1; i<n; i++)
    {    
        if (a[i] < min)
        {
        min = a[i];
        }
    }
        return -1;
}

}

[TylerSBreton]

there's a function in C called strlen which returns the length of the string (in characters) you should probably use this method in your program. This website describes the function:

http://www.space.unibe.ch/comp_doc/c_manual/C/FUNCTIONS/strlen.html

[aznballerlee]

That would work out, but unfortunately, I cannot implement that in my task .. :sad:

[John A]

How come your function never returns anything besides -1? You still need to implement that.

Everything else looks good.

[aznballerlee]

I wrote a newer function .. still doesn't work when I use assert.

int indexOfMin(const string a[], int n);
int indexOfMin(const string a[], int n)
{

    for (int i=0; i<n; i++)
    {    
        if (a[i] >= a[i+1])
        {
            int min = i+1;
        }
    }
        
        if (n>=0)
        {    
            int min;
            return min;
        }
        else
            return -1;


}

Can anyone tell me what's wrong?

[Nick Evan]

var 'min' is declared twice.

And what does 'n' do?

[may4life]

This is how to implement your function. Check it out, hope it helps

int indexOfMin(const string a[], int n) // i'm assuming n is the number of                                         
{                                        // elements in the array??
    int min=0; // minimum of all strings
    
    if (n<0) // check if empty first
    {
        return (-1);
    } else
    {
        for (int i=0; i<n; i++)
        {    
            if (a[i] >= a[i+1])
            {
                min = (i+1);
            }
        }
        return (min);
    }
}

[may4life]

sorry, not (n<0) to check if empty, but (n==0)...

[aznballerlee]

Thanks for the help! It worked out ..
:lol: