How do you reverse a string in place in C or C++?

Question

How do you reverse a string in C or C++ without requiring a separate buffer to hold the reversed string?

Answer 1

#include<stdio.h>
#include<conio.h>

int main()
{
    char *my_string = "THIS_IS_MY_STRING";
    char *rev_my_string = my_string;

    while (*++rev_my_string != '\0')
        ;

    while (rev_my_string-- != (my_string-1))
    {
        printf("%c", *rev_my_string);
    }

    getchar();
    return 0;
}

This is optimised code in the C language for reversing a string... And it is simple; just use a simple pointer to do the job...

Answer 2

I like Evgeny's K&R answer. However, it is nice to see a version using pointers. Otherwise, it's essentially the same:

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

char *reverse(char *str) {
    if( str == NULL || !(*str) ) return NULL;
    int i, j = strlen(str)-1;
    char *sallocd;
    sallocd = malloc(sizeof(char) * (j+1));
    for(i=0; j>=0; i++, j--) {
        *(sallocd+i) = *(str+j);
    }
    return sallocd;
}

int main(void) {
    char *s = "a man a plan a canal panama";
    char *sret = reverse(s);
    printf("%s\n", reverse(sret));
    free(sret);
    return 0;
}

Answer 3

Read Kernighan and Ritchie

#include <string.h>

void reverse(char s[])
{
    int length = strlen(s) ;
    int c, i, j;

    for (i = 0, j = length - 1; i < j; i++, j--)
    {
        c = s[i];
        s[i] = s[j];
        s[j] = c;
    }
}

Answer 4

Share my code. As a C++ learner, as an option to use swap(), I am humbly asking for comments.

void reverse(char* str) {
    int length = strlen(str);
    char* str_head = str;
    char* str_tail = &str[length-1];
    while (str_head < str_tail) 
        swap(*str_head++, *str_tail--);
}

Answer 5

But I think the XOR swap algorithm is the best...

char str[]= {"I am doing reverse string"};
char* pStr = str;

for(int i = 0; i != ((int)strlen(str)-1)/2; i++)
{
    char b = *(pStr+i);
    *(pStr+i) = *(pStr+strlen(str)-1-i);
    *(pStr+strlen(str)-1-i) = b;
}

Answer 6

If you are using ATL/MFC CString, simply call CString::MakeReverse().