PREV

4.9. Finding Things i

Topics

C++ Cookbook

N EXT

4.11. Removing a Su

4.10. Finding the nth Instance of a Substring

Problem
Given two strings source and pattern, you want to find the nth occurrence of

pattern in source.

Solution
Use the find member function to locate successive instances of the substring you are looking for.
Example 4-17 contains a simple nthSubstr function.
Example 4-17. Locate the nth version of a substring
#include <string>
#include <iostream>
using namespace std;
int nthSubstr(int n, const string& s,
const string& p) {
string::size_type i = s.find(p);
open in browser PRO version

Are you a developer? Try out the HTML to PDF API

// Find the first occurrence

pdfcrowd.com

int j;
for (j = 1; j < n && i != string::npos; ++j)
i = s.find(p, i+1); // Find the next occurrence
if (j == n)
return(i);
else
return(-1);
}
int main() {
string s = "the wind, the sea, the sky, the trees";
string p = "the";
cout << nthSubstr(1, s, p) << '\n';
cout << nthSubstr(2, s, p) << '\n';
cout << nthSubstr(5, s, p) << '\n';
}

Discussion
There are a couple of improvements you can make to nthSubstr as it is presented in
Example 4-17. First, you can make it generic by making it a function template instead of an
ordinary function. Second, you can add a parameter to account for substrings that may or may
not overlap with themselves. By "overlap," I mean that the beginning of the string matches part of
the end of the same string, as in the word "abracadabra," where the last four characters are the
same as the first four. Example 4-18 demonstrates this.
open in browser PRO version

Are you a developer? Try out the HTML to PDF API

pdfcrowd.com

Example 4-18. An improved version of nthSubstr

#include <string>
#include <iostream>
using namespace std;
template<typename T>
int nthSubstrg(int n, const basic_string<T>& s,
const basic_string<T>& p,
bool repeats = false) {
string::size_type i = s.find(p);
string::size_type adv = (repeats) ? 1 : p.length();
int j;
for (j = 1; j < n && i != basic_string<T>::npos; ++j)
i = s.find(p, i+adv);
if (j == n)
return(i);
else
return(-1);
}
int main() {
string s = "AGATGCCATATATATACGATATCCTTA";
string p = "ATAT";

open in browser PRO version

Are you a developer? Try out the HTML to PDF API

pdfcrowd.com

cout <<
<<
cout <<
<<

p << " as non-repeating occurs at "

nthSubstrg(3, s, p) << '\n';
p << " as repeating occurs at "
nthSubstrg(3, s, p, true) << '\n';

The output for the strings in Example 4-18 is as follows:

ATAT as non-repeating occurs at 18
ATAT as repeating occurs at 11

See Also
Recipe 4.9

Unlock the rest of C++ Cookbook and 30,000 other books and videos
Choose a Username

Your Email Address

Choose a Password

Start a Free 10-Day Trial

Blog / Support / Feedback / Sign In

Learn
about Safari for Business
2015 Safari. Terms of Service / Membership Agreement / Privacy
Policy
Have an account? Sign in.

open in browser PRO version

Are you a developer? Try out the HTML to PDF API

pdfcrowd.com