C Programming: Count the number of punctuation characters exists in a string

Last update on March 20 2025 12:42:01 (UTC/GMT +8 hours)

26. Count Punctuation Characters

Write a program in C to count the number of punctuation characters present in a string.

Sample Solution:

C Code:

#include<stdio.h>
#include<ctype.h>

int main() {
    int ctr1 = 0; // Counter for iterating through the string
    int ctr2 = 0; // Counter for counting punctuation characters
    char str[100]; // Array to store the input string

    printf("\n Count the number of punctuation characters exists in a string :\n");
    printf("------------------------------------------------------------------\n");
    printf(" Input a string : ");
    fgets(str, sizeof str, stdin); // Read a string from the user

    // Loop through the string and count punctuation characters
    while (str[ctr1]) {
        if (ispunct(str[ctr1])) {
            ctr2++; // Increment the counter if the character is a punctuation
        }
        ctr1++; // Move to the next character in the string
    }

    printf(" The punctuation characters exists in the string is : %d\n\n", ctr2); // Display the count of punctuation characters
    return 0; // Return 0 to indicate successful execution of the program
}

Output:

 Count the number of punctuation characters exists in a string :
------------------------------------------------------------------
 Input a string : The quick brown fox,jumps over the,lazy dog.
 The punctuation characters exists in the string is : 3

Flowchart:

For more Practice: Solve these Related Problems:

• Write a C program to iterate through a string and count all punctuation marks using ASCII value ranges.
• Write a C program to detect and count specific punctuation symbols like commas, periods, and semicolons.
• Write a C program to traverse a string and display the total count of punctuation characters found.
• Write a C program to count punctuation characters while ignoring alphanumeric characters, using manual checks.

C Programming Code Editor:

Click to Open Editor

Have another way to solve this solution? Contribute your code (and comments) through Disqus.

Previous: Write a program in C to replace the spaces of a string with a specific character.
Next: Write a program in C to print only the string before new line character.