Question

OBJECTIVE:
How to implement EOF successfully to stop the infinite loop?

part where the function is called:

do {
    pId = readInputField(fptr, DELIMITER_SPACE);
    pName = readInputField(fptr, DELIMITER_SEMICOLON);
    pDob = readInputField(fptr, DELIMITER_SPACE);
    pHobbyList = readInputField(fptr, DELIMITER_NEWLINE);
} while (NULL != pId
         && NULL != pName
         && NULL != pDob
         && NULL != pHobbyList);

function definition:

char* readInputField(FILE* fPtr, const char delimiter) {
    int numCharRead;
    char bufferString[MAX_LENGTH_INPUT];
    char *pBufferString;

    numCharRead = 0;

    // flush: if spaces are found
    ' ' == (bufferString[numCharRead] = fgetc(fPtr)) ? 0 : numCharRead++;

    // get chracter array before delimiter
    while (delimiter != bufferString[numCharRead - 1]
            && numCharRead < MAX_LENGTH_INPUT) {
        bufferString[numCharRead++] = fgetc(fPtr);
    }

    // exclude delimiter from the string
    bufferString[numCharRead - 1] = '\0';

    printf("numCharRead=  \"%d\"\n", numCharRead);

    printf("delimiter:    \"%c\"\n", delimiter);
    printf("bufferString: \"%s\"\n", bufferString);

    pBufferString = malloc(sizeof(char*) * strlen(bufferString));

    /* deleted:
    pBufferString = bufferString;
    return EOF == bufferString[numCharRead - 1] ? NULL : pBufferString;
    */
}

sample input:

VIC Lee, Victoria; 02/25/90 Knitting;Photography;Dance;

sample output:

numCharRead=  "4"
delimiter:    " "
bufferString: "VIC"
numCharRead=  "14"
delimiter:    ";"
bufferString: "Lee, Victoria"
numCharRead=  "9"
delimiter:    " "
bufferString: "02/25/90"
numCharRead=  "28"
delimiter:    "
"
bufferString: "Knitting;Photography;Dance;"

// after this, infinite loop begins with garbage data

My call is to look at return statement above. For some reason, it does not detect if it is EOF.

Any help is appreciated! Thanks!

---

updated:
Thanks @JoachimPileborg! I have updated my code below:

  // check for EOF
    if(bufferString[numCharRead-1] == EOF) {
        return NULL;
    } else {
        pBufferString = malloc(sizeof(char*));
        strcpy(pBufferString, bufferString);
        return pBufferString;
    }

Answer 1

Check for EOF where you read from file, as

// flush: if spaces are found
' ' == (bufferString[numCharRead] = fgetc(fPtr)) ? 0 : numCharRead++;
if(bufferString[numCharRead-1] == EOF)
    return NULL;

while (delimiter != bufferString[numCharRead - 1]
            && numCharRead < MAX_LENGTH_INPUT) {
    bufferString[numCharRead++] = fgetc(fPtr);
    /* check for EOF */
    if(bufferString[numCharRead-1] == EOF)
        return NULL;
}

You also have problems that mentioned in comments by @Joachim Pileborg

• fgetc returns int not char
• You are returning bufferString which is local to function.