Menu
Why this distinction? I've landed up with terrible problems, assuming itoa to be in stdlib.h and finally ending up with linking a custom version of itoa with a different prototype and thus producing some crazy errors.
So, why isn't itoa not a standard function? What's wrong with it? And why is the standard partial towards its twin brother atoi?
736
atoi is the 'ascii to integer' function and itoa is the reverse, the 'integer to ascii' function. You would use atoi to convert a string, say, “23557” to the actual integer 23557. Similarly, you would use itoa to convert an integer, say 44711, to the equivalent string “44711”. Very handy.
C Programming/stdlib. h/itoaThe itoa (integer to ASCII) function is a widespread non-standard extension to the standard C programming language. It cannot be portably used, as it is not defined in any of the C language standards; however, compilers often provide it through the header <stdlib.
itoa () function is used to convert int data type to string data type in C language.
here is the function prototype of itoa function: char* itoa(int val, char* string, int base); It converts val(integer) to a string and stores it in string(character array) and returns the same.
No itoa has ever been standardised so to add it to the standard you would need a compelling reason and a good interface to add it.
Most itoa interfaces that I have seen either use a static buffer which has re-entrancy and lifetime issues, allocate a dynamic buffer that the caller needs to free or require the user to supply a buffer which makes the interface no better than sprintf.
84
An "itoa" function would have to return a string. Since strings aren't first-class objects, the caller would have to pass a buffer + length and the function would have to have some way to indicate whether it ran out of room or not. By the time you get that far, you've created something similar enough to sprintf that it's not worth duplicating the code/functionality. The "atoi" function exists because it's less complicated (and arguably safer) than a full "scanf" call. An "itoa" function wouldn't be different enough to be worth it.
44
If you love us? You can donate to us via Paypal or buy me a coffee so we can maintain and grow! Thank you!
Donate Us With
