Weblog Articles Tagged with '#code-snippet'

Weblog Articles

C++ Code Snippet - Print Stack Backtrace Programmatically with Demangled Function Names

Posted on 2008-09-01 22:30 by Timo Bingmann at Permlink with 35 Comments. Tags: #c++ #code-snippet #coding tricks #frontpage

Yesterday I was tasked to analyzed an inner function of a reasonably complex software package. The inner function was called thousands of times from many different parts of the program, a simple counter print-out showed that. However I was interested in which execution paths reach this inner function and how often the different parts access the function.

My straight-forward idea was to dump a stack backtrace each time the inner function is called, similar to the one printed by a debugger. However I needed some code snippet to dump the stack backtrace programmatically, without using gdb to halt the program each time.

Stack backtraces can be saved with backtrace(3), resolved into symbolic names using backtrace_symbols(3) and printed using backtrace_symbols_fd(3). These functions are well documented and fairly easy to use.

However I was debugging a C++ program, which made heavy use of templates and classes. C++ symbols names (including namespace, class and parameters) are mangled by the compiler into plain text symbols: e.g. the function N::A<int>::B::func(int) becomes the symbol _ZN1N1AIiE1B4funcEi. This makes the standard backtrace output very unreadable for C++ programs.

To demangle these strings the GNU libstdc++ library (integrated into the GNU Compiler Collection) provides a function called __cxa_demangle(). Combined with backtrace(3) a pretty stack backtrace can be outputted. The demangling function only works for programs compiled with g++.

The following header file contains a function print_stacktrace(), which uses backtrace(3), backtrace_symbols(3) and __cxa_demangle() to print a readable C++ stack backtrace.

This article continues on the next page ...

C++ Code Snippet - In-Place and String-Copy Uppercase/Lowercase Conversion of STL Strings

Posted on 2007-06-02 13:22 by Timo Bingmann at Permlink with 2 Comments. Tags: #c++ #code-snippet

This post completes the small C++ function collection of simple STL string manipulations. The following code snippet shows simple locale-unware uppercase and lowercase conversion functions using tolower and toupper. Nothing revolutionary; I'm just misusing this weblog as a code-paste dump for reuseable code.

Sometimes it is better to have a case-insensitive string class. More about ci_string can be found at Guru of the Week (GotW) #29: Case-Insensitive Strings.

#include <string>
#include <cctype>

// functionals for std::transform with correct signature
static inline char string_toupper_functional(char c)
{
    return std::toupper(c);
}

static inline char string_tolower_functional(char c)
{
    return std::tolower(c);
}

static inline void string_upper_inplace(std::string &str)
{
    std::transform(str.begin(), str.end(), str.begin(), string_toupper_functional);
}

static inline void string_lower_inplace(std::string &str)
{
    std::transform(str.begin(), str.end(), str.begin(), string_tolower_functional);
}

static inline std::string string_upper(const std::string &str)
{
    std::string strcopy(str.size(), 0);
    std::transform(str.begin(), str.end(), strcopy.begin(), string_toupper_functional);
    return strcopy;
}

static inline std::string string_lower(const std::string &str)
{
    std::string strcopy(str.size(), 0);
    std::transform(str.begin(), str.end(), strcopy.begin(), string_tolower_functional);
    return strcopy;
}

This article continues on the next page ...

C++ Code Snippet - In-Place and String-Copy Space Trimming of STL Strings

Posted on 2007-05-30 17:28 by Timo Bingmann at Permlink with 1 Comments. Tags: #c++ #code-snippet

Yesterday I once again stumbled upon whitespace trimming of STL strings: a check was required if the given user input is empty. Where "empty" also means some user-given string containing only spaces. After one hour of unproductive searching for something as simple as a space trimming function, I decided to put the resulting code here for future reference.

The following code snippet contains two versions of the function: in-place trimming and string-copy trimming. I prefer the copy-trimming function because they allow a more functional programming style. The functions only trim spaces, but can be modified by replacing each ' ' with something like " \n\r\t".

#include <string>

static inline void string_trim_left_inplace(std::string &str)
{
    str.erase(0, str.find_first_not_of(' '));
}

static inline void string_trim_right_inplace(std::string &str)
{
    str.erase(str.find_last_not_of(' ') + 1, std::string::npos);
}

static inline std::string string_trim_left(const std::string &str)
{
    std::string::size_type pos = str.find_first_not_of(' ');
    if (pos == std::string::npos) return std::string();

    return str.substr(pos, std::string::npos);
}

static inline std::string string_trim_right(const std::string &str)
{
    std::string::size_type pos = str.find_last_not_of(' ');
    if (pos == std::string::npos) return std::string();

    return str.substr(0, pos + 1);
}

static inline std::string string_trim(const std::string& str)
{
    std::string::size_type pos1 = str.find_first_not_of(' ');
    if (pos1 == std::string::npos) return std::string();

    std::string::size_type pos2 = str.find_last_not_of(' ');
    if (pos2 == std::string::npos) return std::string();

    return str.substr(pos1 == std::string::npos ? 0 : pos1,
                      pos2 == std::string::npos ? (str.length() - 1) : (pos2 - pos1 + 1));
}

static inline void string_trim_inplace(std::string& str)
{
    std::string::size_type pos = str.find_last_not_of(' ');
    if(pos != std::string::npos) {
        str.erase(pos + 1);
        pos = str.find_first_not_of(' ');
        if(pos != std::string::npos) str.erase(0, pos);
    }
    else
        str.erase(str.begin(), str.end());
}

This article continues on the next page ...

C++ Code Snippet - Compressing STL Strings with zlib

Posted on 2007-03-28 18:23 by Timo Bingmann at Permlink with 11 Comments. Tags: #c++ #code-snippet #frontpage

The zlib library can be found on virtually every computer. It is THE general-purpose lossless patent-free compression library.

This small C++ code snippet features a pair of functions which use this ubiquitous library to compress ordinary STL strings. There are many uses for this code snippet, like compressing string data stored in a database or binary data transfered over a network. Keep in mind that the compressed string data is binary, so the string's c_str() representation must be avoided.

To compile the following small program use "gcc testzlib.cc -o testzlib -lz" where testzlib.cc is the code.

// Copyright 2007 Timo Bingmann <tb@panthema.net>
// Distributed under the Boost Software License, Version 1.0.
// (See http://www.boost.org/LICENSE_1_0.txt)

#include <string>
#include <stdexcept>
#include <iostream>
#include <iomanip>
#include <sstream>

#include <zlib.h>

/** Compress a STL string using zlib with given compression level and return
  * the binary data. */
std::string compress_string(const std::string& str,
                            int compressionlevel = Z_BEST_COMPRESSION)
{
    z_stream zs;                        // z_stream is zlib's control structure
    memset(&zs, 0, sizeof(zs));

    if (deflateInit(&zs, compressionlevel) != Z_OK)
        throw(std::runtime_error("deflateInit failed while compressing."));

    zs.next_in = (Bytef*)str.data();
    zs.avail_in = str.size();           // set the z_stream's input

    int ret;
    char outbuffer[32768];
    std::string outstring;

    // retrieve the compressed bytes blockwise
    do {
        zs.next_out = reinterpret_cast<Bytef*>(outbuffer);
        zs.avail_out = sizeof(outbuffer);

        ret = deflate(&zs, Z_FINISH);

        if (outstring.size() < zs.total_out) {
            // append the block to the output string
            outstring.append(outbuffer,
                             zs.total_out - outstring.size());
        }
    } while (ret == Z_OK);

    deflateEnd(&zs);

    if (ret != Z_STREAM_END) {          // an error occurred that was not EOF
        std::ostringstream oss;
        oss << "Exception during zlib compression: (" << ret << ") " << zs.msg;
        throw(std::runtime_error(oss.str()));
    }

    return outstring;
}

/** Decompress an STL string using zlib and return the original data. */
std::string decompress_string(const std::string& str)
{
    z_stream zs;                        // z_stream is zlib's control structure
    memset(&zs, 0, sizeof(zs));

    if (inflateInit(&zs) != Z_OK)
        throw(std::runtime_error("inflateInit failed while decompressing."));

    zs.next_in = (Bytef*)str.data();
    zs.avail_in = str.size();

    int ret;
    char outbuffer[32768];
    std::string outstring;

    // get the decompressed bytes blockwise using repeated calls to inflate
    do {
        zs.next_out = reinterpret_cast<Bytef*>(outbuffer);
        zs.avail_out = sizeof(outbuffer);

        ret = inflate(&zs, 0);

        if (outstring.size() < zs.total_out) {
            outstring.append(outbuffer,
                             zs.total_out - outstring.size());
        }

    } while (ret == Z_OK);

    inflateEnd(&zs);

    if (ret != Z_STREAM_END) {          // an error occurred that was not EOF
        std::ostringstream oss;
        oss << "Exception during zlib decompression: (" << ret << ") "
            << zs.msg;
        throw(std::runtime_error(oss.str()));
    }

    return outstring;
}

/** Small dumb tool (de)compressing cin to cout. It holds all input in memory,
  * so don't use it for huge files. */
int main(int argc, char* argv[])
{
    std::string allinput;

    while (std::cin.good())     // read all input from cin
    {
        char inbuffer[32768];
        std::cin.read(inbuffer, sizeof(inbuffer));
        allinput.append(inbuffer, std::cin.gcount());
    }

    if (argc >= 2 && strcmp(argv[1], "-d") == 0)
    {
        std::string cstr = decompress_string( allinput );

        std::cerr << "Inflated data: "
                  << allinput.size() << " -> " << cstr.size()
                  << " (" << std::setprecision(1) << std::fixed
                  << ( ((float)cstr.size() / (float)allinput.size() - 1.0) * 100.0 )
                  << "% increase).\n";

        std::cout << cstr;
    }
    else
    {
        std::string cstr = compress_string( allinput );

        std::cerr << "Deflated data: "
                  << allinput.size() << " -> " << cstr.size()
                  << " (" << std::setprecision(1) << std::fixed
                  << ( (1.0 - (float)cstr.size() / (float)allinput.size()) * 100.0)
                  << "% saved).\n";

        std::cout << cstr;
    }
}

C++ Code Snippet - Using the Boost.Regex Library

Posted on 2007-03-14 14:43 by Timo Bingmann at Permlink with 0 Comments. Tags: #c++ #code-snippet

The Boost library is a collection of very useful C++ (template) libraries. However it's documentation is very complex and using the library straight-forward usually results in g++ scrolling endless pages of template instantiation errors.

This code snippet shows by example how to use the Boost.Regex library. It compiles and executes regular expressions on strings. Some test I ran showed that it is not as fast as pcre, however Boost.Regex it is easier and more elegant to use in C++ programs. The program must be linked with -lboost_regex.

#include <iostream>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <boost/regex.hpp>
#include <boost/lexical_cast.hpp>

int main()
{
    // This regex is compiled at start-up and matches YYYY-MM-DD dates. If it
    // contains a syntax error, the program aborts at start-up with an
    // exception.
    static const boost::regex
        date_regex("(199[0-9]|200[0-9])-([1-9]|0[1-9]|1[012])-([1-9]|[0-2][1-9]|3[01])");

    // First example: char* c-style input strings use boost::cmatch results.
    {
        const char *input_cstr = "2007-03-14";
        boost::cmatch char_matches;

        if (boost::regex_match(input_cstr, char_matches, date_regex))
        {
            // Convert the parsed number using boost's lexical_cast library
            int year = boost::lexical_cast<int>( char_matches[1] );
            // Or use the old way: get the std::string object, then it's char*
            int month = atoi( char_matches[2].str().c_str() );

            std::cout << "First example:"
                      << " year " << year
                      << " month " << month
                      << " day " << char_matches[3] << "\n";
        } 
        else
        {
            std::cout << "First example should have matched the regex.\n";
        }
    }

    // Second example: STL strings use boost::smatch results.
    {
        std::string input_stlstr = "2007-03-34";
        boost::smatch str_matches;

        if (boost::regex_match(input_stlstr, str_matches, date_regex))
        {
            std::cout << "Second example shouldn't have matched the regex.\n";
        }
        else
        {
            std::cout << "Second example didn't match the regex. This was intended.\n";
        }
    }

    // Third example: Temporary regex object and no capture results needed.
    {
        if (boost::regex_match("2007", boost::regex("(199[0-9]|200[0-9])")))
        {
            std::cout << "Third example matched the temporary regex object.\n";
        }
        else
        {
            std::cout << "Third example should have matched the regex.\n";
        }
    }

    // Fourth example: regex_match matches the whole string while regex_search
    // matches substrings just like perl.
    {
        std::string input = "Today is 2007-03-14, how are you?";

        if (boost::regex_match(input, date_regex))
        {
            std::cout << "Fourth example (regex_match) shouldn't match.\n";
        }
        else
        {
            std::cout << "As expected, the fourth example (regex_match) didn't match.\n";
        }

        if (boost::regex_search(input, date_regex))
        {
            std::cout << "While the fourth example using regex_search did matched.\n";
        }
        else
        {
            std::cout << "Fourth example using regex_search should have matched the regex.\n";
        }
    }
}

C++ Code Snippet - Making a Custom Class ostream Outputable

Posted on 2007-03-01 14:47 by Timo Bingmann at Permlink with 1 Comments. Tags: #c++ #code-snippet

How to get a custom class to work with std::cout << obj; ? I for my part always forget the exact prototype of the required operator<<. Here is an minimal working example to copy code from:

#include <iostream>

struct myclass
{
    int a, b;

    myclass(int _a, int _b)
        : a(_a), b(_b)
    { }
};

// make myclass ostream outputtable
std::ostream& operator<< (std::ostream &stream, const myclass &obj)
{
    return stream << "(" << obj.a << "," << obj.b << ")";
}

int main()
{
    myclass obj(42, 46);

    std::cout << obj << std::endl;
}