How to write a function in c that counts words

I had an exam yesterday in which one of the questions was about counting words in a given string.

The definition of word would be a portion of a string that is divided by spaces and/or the beginning/end of the string

I am new to C, and was not able to create a condition where it increases the counter word when you find “space (characters) space”

int count_words(char *str)
int i = 0;
int word = 2;
while (str[i])
{ 
     if (str[i] == ‘ ‘)
     {
         int l = 1;
         while (str[i + l]
         {
             l++;
         }
         if (l != 1)
         {
             word++;
         }
      }
}

For starters the function should be declared like

size_t count_words(const char *str);

The function parameter should be declared with the qualifier const because the passed string is not being changed within the function and the function return type should be size_t that is the same return type as for example of standard string function strlen.

It is unclear why the variable word in your function is initialized by 2

int word = 2;

Or the variable i is not being changed within the function.

The function can look the following way as shown in the demonstration program below

#include <ctype.h>
#include <string.h>
#include <stdio.h>

size_t count_words( const char *s )
{
	size_t n = 0;

	while ( *s )
	{
		while ( isspace( ( unsigned char )*s ) ) ++s;

		if ( *s )
		{
			++n;
			while ( *s && !isspace( ( unsigned char )*s ) ) ++s;
		}
	}

	return n;
}

int main( void )
{
	const char *s = "How to write a function in c that counts words";

	size_t n = count_words( s );

	printf( "The string \"%s\"\ncontains %zu words\n", s, n );
}

The program output is

The string "How to write a function in c that counts words"
contains 10 words

If to use as delimiters only the space character ' ' then the header <ctype.h> should be removed and the function will look like

size_t count_words( const char *s )
{
	size_t n = 0;

	while ( *s )
	{
		while ( *s == ' ' ) ++s;

		if ( *s )
		{
			++n;
			while ( *s && *s != ' ' ) ++s;
		}
	}

	return n;
}

A more general function that can process any delimiters can look the following way

size_t count_words( const char *s, const char *delim )
{
	size_t n = 0;

	while (*s)
	{
		s += strspn( s, delim );

		if (*s)
		{
			++n;
			s += strcspn( s, delim );
		}
	}

	return n;
}

The function has a second parameter that specifies delimiters. For example the function can be called loke

size_t n = count_words( s, " \t?!:;,." );

Try this way:

# include<stdio.h>
# include<string.h>

# define MaxBufferSize 50
void main(){
    int count =0, size;
    char str[MaxBufferSize+2];
    printf("Enter string(max char 50 only): ");
    if(fgets(str,sizeof(str), stdin)) {
        if(strlen(str) > MaxBufferSize) printf("Max chars exceeded so chars before the limit were used!!!\n");
        str[strcspn(str, "\n")] = '
# include<stdio.h>
# include<string.h>
# define MaxBufferSize 50
void main(){
int count =0, size;
char str[MaxBufferSize+2];
printf("Enter string(max char 50 only): ");
if(fgets(str,sizeof(str), stdin)) {
if(strlen(str) > MaxBufferSize) printf("Max chars exceeded so chars before the limit were used!!!\n");
str[strcspn(str, "\n")] = '\0';
}
size = strlen(str);
int i=0;
if(size == 0) printf("Nothing entered\n");
else {
while(i<size){
while(!isalnum(str[i]) && i<size) i++;// ignores all spaces and other chars
if(str[i] == '\0') break;
while(isalnum(str[i]) && i<size) i++;// includes all words and numbers 
count++;
}
printf("Words in string: %d\n",count);
}
}
';
    }
    size = strlen(str);
    int i=0;
    if(size == 0) printf("Nothing entered\n");
    else {
        while(i<size){
            while(!isalnum(str[i]) && i<size) i++;// ignores all spaces and other chars
            if(str[i] == '
# include<stdio.h>
# include<string.h>
# define MaxBufferSize 50
void main(){
int count =0, size;
char str[MaxBufferSize+2];
printf("Enter string(max char 50 only): ");
if(fgets(str,sizeof(str), stdin)) {
if(strlen(str) > MaxBufferSize) printf("Max chars exceeded so chars before the limit were used!!!\n");
str[strcspn(str, "\n")] = '\0';
}
size = strlen(str);
int i=0;
if(size == 0) printf("Nothing entered\n");
else {
while(i<size){
while(!isalnum(str[i]) && i<size) i++;// ignores all spaces and other chars
if(str[i] == '\0') break;
while(isalnum(str[i]) && i<size) i++;// includes all words and numbers 
count++;
}
printf("Words in string: %d\n",count);
}
}
') break;
            while(isalnum(str[i]) && i<size) i++;// includes all words and numbers 
            count++;
        }
        printf("Words in string: %d\n",count);
    }
}

hope it helps...!

    #include <stdio.h>

int count_words(char *str) {
    int i, count=0;
    int in_word = 0; // Flag to track if we're currently inside a word or not
    
    // Loop through each character in the string
    for(i=0; str[i]!='
    #include <stdio.h>
int count_words(char *str) {
int i, count=0;
int in_word = 0; // Flag to track if we're currently inside a word or not
// Loop through each character in the string
for(i=0; str[i]!='\0'; i++) {
// If current character is not a space or newline and we're not already inside a word, increment word count
if((str[i]!=' ' && str[i]!='\n') && !in_word) {
count++;
in_word = 1; // Set flag to indicate we're currently inside a word
}
// If current character is a space or newline, set flag to indicate we're not inside a word
else if(str[i]==' ' || str[i]=='\n') {
in_word = 0;
}
}
return count;
}
'; i++) {
        // If current character is not a space or newline and we're not already inside a word, increment word count
        if((str[i]!=' ' && str[i]!='\n') && !in_word) {
            count++;
            in_word = 1; // Set flag to indicate we're currently inside a word
        }
        // If current character is a space or newline, set flag to indicate we're not inside a word
        else if(str[i]==' ' || str[i]=='\n') {
            in_word = 0;
        }
    }
    
    return count;
}

    #include <stdio.h>
    #include <string.h>
     
    void main()
    {
        char s[200];
        int count = 0, i;
     
        printf("Enter the string:\n");
        scanf("%[^\n]s", s);
        for (i = 0;s[i] != '
    #include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>
void main()
{
char s[200];
int count = 0, i;
printf("Enter the string:\n");
scanf("%[^\n]s", s);
for (i = 0;s[i] != '\0';i++)
{
if (s[i] == ' ' && s[i+1] != ' ')
count++;    
}
printf("Number of words in given string are: %d\n", count + 1);
}
';i++)
        {
            if (s[i] == ' ' && s[i+1] != ' ')
                count++;    
        }
        printf("Number of words in given string are: %d\n", count + 1);
    }

Use this code it will definitely works fine ):