How can I calculate the number of elements in a char array?
c++, char, sizeof, string, windows
Solution
If you are looking for the size of the string then you need to use `strlen`, if you use `sizeof` it will tell you the allocated amount not the size of the null terminated string:
std::cout << "strlen(binaryPath: " << strlen(binaryPath) << std::endl;
You will need to add `#include <cstring>` on the top.
Problem
I was trying to calculate the number of elements in an array, and was told that the line ``` int r = sizeof(array) / sizeof(array[0]) ``` would give me the number of elements in the array. And I found the method does work, at least for int arrays. When I try this code, however, things break. ``` #include <iostream> #include <Windows.h> using namespace std; int main() { char binaryPath[MAX_PATH]; GetModuleFileName(NULL, binaryPath, MAX_PATH); cout << "binaryPath: " << binaryPath << endl; cout << "sizeof(binaryPath): " << sizeof(binaryPath) << endl; cout << "sizeof(binaryPath[0]: " << sizeof(binaryPath[0]) << endl; return 0; } ``` When this program runs binaryPath's value is ``` C:\Users\Anish\workspace\CppSync\Debug\CppSync.exe ``` which seems to have a size returned by sizeof (in bytes? bits? idk, could someone explain this too?) of 260. The line ``` sizeof(binaryPath[0]); ``` gives a value of 1. Obviously then dividing 260 by one gives a result of 260, which is not the number of elements in the array (by my count it's 42 or so). Could someone explain what I'm doing wrong? I have a sneaking suspicion that isn't actually an array as I think of it (I come from Java and python), but I'm not sure so I'm asking you guys. Thanks!