C program to reverse a string – C Program to Reverse a String

• Write a C program to reverse a string.

Strrev in c: We first take a string as input from user using gets function and store it in a character array. Now, we have to reverse this string without using any additional character array and print reversed string on screen.

For Example :
Input: TechCrashCourse
Output (Reverse String): esruoChsarChceT
We will show three different approaches to reverse a string.

C program to reverse a string using strrev function

C program to reverse a string: Function strrev reverses the given string and returns a pointer to the reversed string. To use strrev function we must include string.h header file.

char *strrev(char *string);

/*
* C Program to reverse a string
*/
#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>
#include <conio.h>
 
int main()
{
   char inputArray[100];
  
   printf("Enter a string to reverse\n");
   gets(inputArray);
   /*
    * strrev() function reverses a given string
    */
   strrev(inputArray);
   printf("Reversed string is: %s\n", inputArray);
   getch();
   return 0;
}

Program Output

Enter a string to reverse
Hello World
Reversed string is: dlroW olleH

C program to reverse a string by swapping characters inside loop

Reversing a string in c: In this program, we will reverse a string by swapping left and right characters. We will use two integer variables leftIndex and rightIndex and initialize them with position of leftmost and rightmost character in input string.

For Example
If inputString = Apple
leftIndex = 0
rightIndex = 4

Then we swap characters pointed by leftIndex and rightIndex in inputString. After swapping we increment leftIndex and decrement rightIndex to point to next unswapped leftmost and rightmost characters. We continue this process, until leftIndex and rightIndex crosses each other. Here we used for loop but we can similarly use while or do-while loop.

/*
* C Program to reverse a string using loop
*/
#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>
#include <conio.h>
 
int main()
{
   char inputString[100], temp;
   int length, leftIndex, rightIndex;
   printf("Enter a string to reverse\n");
   gets(inputString);
   /* Find length of string */
   length = strlen(inputString);
   /* 
    * Initialize leftIndex and rightDex to position 
    * of first and last character of String
    */
   leftIndex = 0;
   rightIndex = length -1;
    
   while(leftIndex < rightIndex){
       temp = inputString[leftIndex];
       inputString[leftIndex] = inputString[rightIndex];
       inputString[rightIndex] = temp;
        
       leftIndex++;
       rightIndex--;
   }
    
   printf("Reversed string is: %s\n", inputString);
   getch();
   return 0;
}

Program Output

Enter a string to reverse
Apple
Reversed string is: elppA

C Program to reverse a string using recursion

We can use recursion to reverse a string because we can split into sub-problems.

reverse(string, leftIndex, rightIndex) = swap(string, leftIndex, rightIndex) + 
                                         reverse(string, leftIndex+1, rightIndex-1)

To reverse a string of length N using recursion, we have to swap the leftmost and rightmost characters of a string and then recursively reverse the inner sub-string from index 1 to N-2. Keep on repeating this unless size of sub-string is greater than one.

/*
* C Program to reverse a string using recursion
*/
#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>
#include <conio.h>
 
char* reverseString(char *string, int leftIndex, int rightIndex);
 
int main()
{
   char inputArray[100];
  
   printf("Enter a string to reverse\n");
   gets(inputArray);
    
   reverseString(inputArray, 0, strlen(inputArray) - 1);
   printf("Reversed string\n%s", inputArray);
   getch();
   return 0;
}
 
/*
 * Function to reverse an array 
 * @input inputArray leftIndex and rightIndex
 */
char* reverseString(char *string, int leftIndex, int rightIndex){
      char ch;
      if(NULL == string || leftIndex > rightIndex)
          return NULL;
      /*
       * Swap leftMost and rightMost character, 
       * and recursively call reverseString for inner sub-array
       */
      ch = string[leftIndex];
      string[leftIndex] = string[rightIndex];
      string[rightIndex] = ch;
       
      reverseString(string, leftIndex + 1, rightIndex - 1);
      return string;
}

Program Output

Enter a string to reverse
TECHCRASHCOURSE
Reversed string is: ESRUOCHSARCHCET