Convert Linux C Char Array to Int

Question

need some advice on this one as im struggling abit and cannot figure it out.

i have a file that gets updated on a PC to indicate a system ran and what time it ran. i am writing a very simple linux console app (will eventually be a nagios plugin). that reads this file and responds depending on what it found within the file.

i am a total newbie to programming on Linux and using C so please be patient and if you would explain any answers it would really be appreciated.

basically i want to convert a char array containing 5 characters into an integer, however the 5th char in the array is always a letter. so technically all i want to-do is convert the first 4 chars in the array to a integer... how?? ive tried multiple ways with no success, my problem is that presently i do not have a good grasp of the language so have no real ideas on what it can and cannot do.

here is the source to my program.

basically the buf array will be holding a string taken from the file that will look something like this

3455Y (the number will be random but always 4 chars long).

Sorry for the poor formatting of the code, but i cannot get this stupid window for love nor money to format it correctly....

include <fcntl.h>
include <unistd.h>
include <stdio.h>
include <stdlib.h>
include <time.h>
include <string.h>

define COPYMODE 0644

int main(int argc, char *argv[])  
{
  int  i, nRead, fd;
  int  source;
  int  STATE_OK = 0;
  int  STATE_WARNING  = 1;
  int  STATE_CRITICAL = 2;
  int  STATE_UNKNOWN  = 3;
  int  system_paused  = 0; 

  char buf[5]; 
  int  testnumber;

  if((fd = open(argv[1], O_RDONLY)) == -1)
    {
      printf("failed open : %s", argv[1]);
      return STATE_UNKNOWN;
    }
      else
    {
      nRead = read(fd, buf, 5);
    }

  close(source);

  if (buf[4] == 'P')
    {
      printf("Software Paused");
      return STATE_WARNING;
    }
      else
    {
      return STATE_OK;
    }
    time_t ltime; /* calendar time */  
    struct tm *Tm;
    ltime=time(NULL); /* get current cal time */  
    Tm=localtime(&ltime);


    int test;
    test = Tm->tm_hour + Tm->tm_min;
    printf("%d", test);

    printf("%d", strtoi(buf));

}

Answer 1

You can use sscanf to do the job:

int num = 0;
sscanf(buf, "%4d", &num);

Then num should hold the number from the line in the file.