v0.40: Create exercises. Challenge the community.

skip_spaces

Your mission

Implement a function that returns a pointer into the given string, placed on the first character that is neither a space nor a tab.

See it in action

skip_spaces("   git status")

Expected result

3 [git status]

Your checklist

For your own tracking. Tests grade your code.

s is a null-terminated string. The pointer you return must point inside s itself, not into a copy.
Move forward from the start of s as long as the current character is a space ' ' or a tab '\t', then return the address where you stopped.
Those two characters are the only ones that count as spaces here. A '\n' ends the scan like any other character, so an isspace style test is too wide.
Only the leading run is skipped. Spaces between words and spaces at the end stay in the string you hand back.
When s contains nothing but spaces and tabs, return the address of its '\0', so the remaining string is empty.
An empty s returns s unchanged.
Never write through the pointer: the tests pass string literals, and writing into one of those kills the process.
This is not prefix_span. The count of skipped characters can be identical, but here you return the position, not a number.
Each test prints two things: the offset of your pointer from s, then the rest of the string inside square brackets.

More examples

skip_spaces("cargo build --release")

Expected result

0 [cargo build --release]

skip_spaces("git   commit -m wip")

Expected result

0 [git   commit -m wip]

skip_spaces("    ")

Expected result

4 []

Constraints

Expected files

skip_spaces.c

Allowed functions

None. Write every helper yourself.

skip_spaces

Pointers

Your mission

Implement a function that returns a pointer into the given string, placed on the first character that is neither a space nor a tab.

See it in action

skip_spaces("   git status")

Expected result

3 [git status]

Your checklist

For your own tracking. Tests grade your code.

s is a null-terminated string. The pointer you return must point inside s itself, not into a copy.
Move forward from the start of s as long as the current character is a space ' ' or a tab '\t', then return the address where you stopped.
Those two characters are the only ones that count as spaces here. A '\n' ends the scan like any other character, so an isspace style test is too wide.
Only the leading run is skipped. Spaces between words and spaces at the end stay in the string you hand back.
When s contains nothing but spaces and tabs, return the address of its '\0', so the remaining string is empty.
An empty s returns s unchanged.
Never write through the pointer: the tests pass string literals, and writing into one of those kills the process.
This is not prefix_span. The count of skipped characters can be identical, but here you return the position, not a number.
Each test prints two things: the offset of your pointer from s, then the rest of the string inside square brackets.

More examples

skip_spaces("cargo build --release")

Expected result

0 [cargo build --release]

skip_spaces("git   commit -m wip")

Expected result

0 [git   commit -m wip]

skip_spaces("    ")

Expected result

4 []

Constraints

Expected files

skip_spaces.c

Allowed functions

None. Write every helper yourself.

Tests

Run the tests to grade your code

Build your code, then check each test here. Open a result to inspect its output.

Build

01Spaces at the start are skippedWaiting

02A single leading spaceWaiting

03Nothing to skip returns the startWaiting

04A leading tab is skippedWaiting

05Spaces and tabs mixed togetherWaiting

06Spaces inside the string are left aloneWaiting

07Trailing spaces are left aloneWaiting

08Only spaces returns the terminatorWaiting

09Only tabs returns the terminatorWaiting

10A one character string of spaceWaiting

11Empty string returns its startWaiting

12A leading newline is not skippedWaiting

13The run stops on the first newlineWaiting

skip_spaces

Your mission

Implement a function that returns a pointer into the given string, placed on the first character that is neither a space nor a tab.

See it in action

skip_spaces("   git status")

Expected result

3 [git status]

Your checklist

For your own tracking. Tests grade your code.

s is a null-terminated string. The pointer you return must point inside s itself, not into a copy.
Move forward from the start of s as long as the current character is a space ' ' or a tab '\t', then return the address where you stopped.
Those two characters are the only ones that count as spaces here. A '\n' ends the scan like any other character, so an isspace style test is too wide.
Only the leading run is skipped. Spaces between words and spaces at the end stay in the string you hand back.
When s contains nothing but spaces and tabs, return the address of its '\0', so the remaining string is empty.
An empty s returns s unchanged.
Never write through the pointer: the tests pass string literals, and writing into one of those kills the process.
This is not prefix_span. The count of skipped characters can be identical, but here you return the position, not a number.
Each test prints two things: the offset of your pointer from s, then the rest of the string inside square brackets.

More examples

skip_spaces("cargo build --release")

Expected result

0 [cargo build --release]

skip_spaces("git   commit -m wip")

Expected result

0 [git   commit -m wip]

skip_spaces("    ")

Expected result

4 []

Constraints

Expected files

skip_spaces.c

Allowed functions

None. Write every helper yourself.

v0.40: Create exercises. Challenge the community.

Meet Studio →

skip_spaces

Pointers

Your mission

Implement a function that returns a pointer into the given string, placed on the first character that is neither a space nor a tab.

See it in action

skip_spaces("   git status")

Expected result

3 [git status]

Your checklist

For your own tracking. Tests grade your code.

s is a null-terminated string. The pointer you return must point inside s itself, not into a copy.
Move forward from the start of s as long as the current character is a space ' ' or a tab '\t', then return the address where you stopped.
Those two characters are the only ones that count as spaces here. A '\n' ends the scan like any other character, so an isspace style test is too wide.
Only the leading run is skipped. Spaces between words and spaces at the end stay in the string you hand back.
When s contains nothing but spaces and tabs, return the address of its '\0', so the remaining string is empty.
An empty s returns s unchanged.
Never write through the pointer: the tests pass string literals, and writing into one of those kills the process.
This is not prefix_span. The count of skipped characters can be identical, but here you return the position, not a number.
Each test prints two things: the offset of your pointer from s, then the rest of the string inside square brackets.

More examples

skip_spaces("cargo build --release")

Expected result

0 [cargo build --release]

skip_spaces("git   commit -m wip")

Expected result

0 [git   commit -m wip]

skip_spaces("    ")

Expected result

4 []

Constraints

Expected files

skip_spaces.c

Allowed functions

None. Write every helper yourself.

Tests

Run the tests to grade your code

Build your code, then check each test here. Open a result to inspect its output.

Build

01Spaces at the start are skippedWaiting

02A single leading spaceWaiting

03Nothing to skip returns the startWaiting

04A leading tab is skippedWaiting

05Spaces and tabs mixed togetherWaiting

06Spaces inside the string are left aloneWaiting

07Trailing spaces are left aloneWaiting

08Only spaces returns the terminatorWaiting

09Only tabs returns the terminatorWaiting

10A one character string of spaceWaiting

11Empty string returns its startWaiting

12A leading newline is not skippedWaiting

13The run stops on the first newlineWaiting