1. Write a program to display the multiplication table of a given number.

Program: Multiplication table of a given number

view source
print?
01 #include <stdio.h>

02 int main() {

03       int num, i = 1;

04       printf("\n Enter any Number:");

05       scanf("%d", &num);

06       printf("Multiplication table of %d: \n", num);

07       while (i <= 10) {

08             printf("\n %d x %d = %d", num, i, num * i);

09             i++;

10       }

11       return 0;

12 }

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Output:

Enter any Number:5

5 x 1 = 5
5 x 2 = 10
5 x 3 = 15
5 x 4 = 20
5 x 5 = 25
5 x 6 = 30
5 x 7 = 35
5 x 8 = 40
5 x 9 = 45
5 x 10 = 50

Explanation:  We need to multiply the given number (i.e. the number for which we
want the multiplication table) with value of ‘i’ which increments from 1 to 10.

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2. Write C program to print the following pattern:

1
2 2
 3 3 3
4 4 4 4
5 5 5 5 5

Program:

view source
print?
01 #include<stdio.h>

02 int main() {

03     int i, j, k, c = 5;

04     for (i = 1; i <= 5; i++) {

05             /* k is taken for spaces */

06             for (k = 1; k <= c; k++) {

07                   /* blank space */

08                   printf(" ");

09             }

10             for (j = 1; j <= i; j++) {

11                   /* %2d ensures that the number is printed in

12 two spaces for alignment and the numbers are printed in the order. */
13                   printf("%2d", i);

14             }

15             printf("\n");

16             /*c is decremented by 1 */
17             c--;

18       }

19       return 0;

20 }

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Output:

1
2 2
3 3 3
4 4 4 4
5 5 5 5 5

Explanation:  Here ‘i’ loop is used for printing the numbers in the respective rows
and ‘k’ loop is used for providing spaces. ‘j’ loop prints the numbers. ‘c’ is decremented
for numbers to be displayed in alternate columns.
 Back to top

3. Write C program to print the following pattern:

1
1 2 1
1 2 3 2 1
1 2 3 4 3 2 1
1 2 3 4 5 4 3 2 1

Program:

view source
print?
01 #include<stdio.h>

02 int main() {

03       /* c taken for columns */

04       int i, j, c = 9, m, k;

05       for (i = 1; i <= 5; i++) {

06             /* k is used for spaces */

07             for (k = 1; k <= c; k++) {

08                   printf(" ");

09             }

            for (j = 1; j <= i; j++) {                  printf("%2d",

10
j);             }             for (m = j - 2; m > 0; m--) {
11                   /* %2d ensures that the number

12                    * is printed in two spaces

13                    * for alignment */

14                   printf("%2d", m);

15             }

16             printf("\n");
17             /* c is decremented by 2 */

18             c = c - 2;

19       }

20       return 0;
21 }

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Output:

1
 1 2 1
1 2 3 2 1
1 2 3 4 3 2 1
1 2 3 4 5 4 3 2 1

Explanation:  Here ‘i’ loop is used for printing numbers in rows and ‘k’ loop is used
for providing spaces. ‘j’ loop is used for printing numbers in increasing order. ‘m’ loop is
used for printing numbers in reverse order.

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4. Write a C program to display the following format:

------
a b
------
1 5
2 4
3 3
4 2
5 1
------

Program:

view source
print?
01 #include<stdio.h>

02 int main() {

03       int i = 1, j = 5;

04       printf("----------\n");

05       printf("a \t b \n");

06       printf("----------\n");
07       /* logic: while loop repeats

08        * 5 times i.e. until

09        * the condition i<=5 fails */

10       while (i <= 5) {

11             /* i and j value printed */

12             printf("%d \t %d\n", i, j);
13             /* i and j value incremented
14              by 1 for every iteration */
15             i++;
16             j--;

17       }

18       printf("----------");
 19       return 0;

20 }

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Output:

------
a b
------
1 5
2 4
3 3
4 2
5 1
------

Explanation:  Here, ‘i’ is initialized to least value 1 and ‘j’ initialized to highest value
5. We keep incrementing the i’ value and decrementing the ‘j’ value until the condition
fails. The value is displayed at each increment and at each decrement. Back to top

5. Write a C program to display the following format:

--------
no. sum
--------
1 1
2 3
3 6
4 10
5 15
--------

Program:

view source
print?
01 #include<stdio.h>

02 int main() {

03       int num = 1, sum = 0;

04       printf("-----------\n");

05       printf("num \t sum\n");

06       printf("-----------\n");
07       /* while loop repeats 5 times
 08        *  i.e. until the condition

09        *  num <= 5 fails */

10       while (num <= 5) {

11             sum = sum + num;

12             printf("%d \t %d\n", num, sum);

13             /* num incremented by 1

14              * for every time

15              * the loop is executed */

16             num++;

17       }

18       printf("-----------");
19       return 0;

20 }

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Output:

--------
no. sum
--------
1 1
2 3
3 6
4 10
5 15
--------

Explanation:  In the above program we have taken two variables ‘num’ and ‘sum’.
‘num’ is used to check the condition and to display the numbers up to 5. ‘sum’ is used to
add the numbers which are displayed using variable ‘num’. The ‘sum’ value is initialized to
zero. sum is added to the numbers which are incremented by ‘i’ and displayed.

//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

C Language Interview Questions (1 to 5)

1. What does a static variable mean?

2. What is a pointer?
3. What is a structure?
4. How to print a pattern as shown below?

1
2 3
 4 5 6
7 8 9 10

5. How to swap two numbers using bitwise operators?

All | Next Questions (6-11) >

1. What does a static variable mean?

A static variable is a special variable that is stored in the data segment unlike the default
automatic variable that is stored in stack. A static variable can be initialised by using
keyword static before variable name.

For Example:

static int a = 5;

A static variable behaves in a different manner depending upon whether it is a global

variable or a local variable. A static global variable is same as an ordinary global variable
except that it cannot be accessed by other files in the same program / project even with
the use of keyword extern. A static local variable is different from local variable. It is
initialised only once no matter how many times that function in which it resides is called. It
may be used as a count variable.

Example:

01 #include <stdio.h>

02 //program in file f1.c

03 void count(void) {

04  static int count1 = 0;
05  int count2 = 0;

06  count1++;

07  count2++;

08  printf("\nValue of count1 is %d, Value of count2 is %d", count1, count2);

09 }

10  
11 /*Main function*/

12 int main(){

13  count();
14  count();

15  count();

16  return 0;
17 }
 Download Code

Output:

Value of count1 is 1, Value of count2 is 1

Value of count1 is 2, Value of count2 is 1
Value of count1 is 3, Value of count2 is 1

B ack to to p

2. What is a pointer?
A pointer is a special variable in C language meant just to store address of any other variable or
function. Pointer variables unlike ordinary variables cannot be operated with all the arithmetic
operations such as ‘*’,'%’ operators.
It follows a special arithmetic called as pointer arithmetic.

A pointer is declared as:

int *ap;

int a = 5;

In the above two statements an integer a was declared and initialized to 5. A pointer
to an integer with name ap was declared.

Next before ap is used

ap=&a;

This operation would initialize the declared pointer to int. The pointer ap is now said
to point to a.

Operations on a pointer:

o Dereferencing operator ‘ * ‘:

This operator gives the value at the address pointed by the pointer . For
example after the above C statements if we give

printf("%d",*ap);

Actual value of a that is 5 would be printed. That is because ap points to a.

o Addition operator ‘ + ‘:

Pointer arithmetic is different from ordinary arithmetic.

ap=ap+1;
 Above expression would not increment the value of ap by one, but would
increment it by the number of bytes of the data type it is pointing to. Here ap is
pointing to an integer variable hence ap is incremented by 2 or 4 bytes depending
upon the compiler.

A pointer is a special variable in C language meant just to store address of any other
variable or function. Pointer variables unlike ordinary variables cannot be operated with all
the arithmetic operations such as ‘*’,'%’ operators. It follows a special arithmetic called as
pointer arithmetic.

A pointer is declared as:

int *ap;

int a = 5;

In the above two statements an integer a was declared and initialized to 5. A pointer
to an integer with name ap was declared.

Next before ap is used

ap=&a;

This operation would initialize the declared pointer to int. The pointer ap is now said
to point to a.

B ack to to p

3. What is a structure?

A structure is a collection of pre-defined data types to create a user-defined data

type. Let us say we need to create records of students. Each student has three fields:

int roll_number;

char name[30];

int total_marks;

This concept would be particularly useful in grouping data types. You could declare a
structure student as:

1 struct student {

2  int roll_number;

3  char name[30];

4  int total_marks;
5 } student1, student2;

The above snippet of code would declare a structure by name student and it
initializes two objects student1, student2. Now these objects and their fields could be
 accessed by saying   student1.
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New";color:#0000C0'>roll_number  for accesing
roll number field of student1 object, similarly   student2.
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New";color:#0000C0'>name  for accesing name
field of student2 object.

B ack to to p

4. How to print below pattern?

1
2 3
4 5 6
7 8 9 10

Program:

01 #include <stdio.h>

02  
03 int main() {

04  int i, j, ctr = 1;

05  for (i = 1; i < 5; i++) {

06   for (j = 1; j <= i; j++){

07   printf("%2d ", ctr++);

08   }

09  printf("\n");

10  }

11  return 0;

12 }

Download Code

Explanation:
There are two loops, a loop inside another one. Outer loop iterates 5 times. Inner loop
iterates as many times as current value of i. So for first time outer loop is executed, inner
loop is executed once. Second time the outer loop is entered, inner loop is executed twice
and so on. And every time the program enters inner loop, value of variable ctr is printed
and is incremented by 1. %2d ensures that the number is printed in two spaces for proper
alignment.

B ack to to p

5. How to swap two numbers using bitwise operators?

Program:
 01 #include <stdio.h>

02 int main() {

03  int i = 65;

04  int k = 120;
05  printf("\n value of i=%d k=%d before swapping", i, k);

06  i = i ^ k;

07  k = i ^ k;
08  i = i ^ k;
09  printf("\n value of i=%d k=%d after swapping", i, k);

10  return 0;

11 }

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Explanation:

i = 65; binary equivalent of 65 is 0100 0001

k = 120; binary equivalent of 120 is 0111 1000

i = i^k;
i...0100 0001
k...0111 1000
---------
val of i = 0011 1001
---------

k = i^k
i...0011 1001
k...0111 1000
---------
val of k = 0100 0001 binary equivalent of this is 65
---------(that is the initial value of i)

i = i^k
i...0011 1001
k...0100 0001
---------
val of i = 0111 1000 binary equivalent of this is 120
---------(that is the initial value of k)
//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
///

C Language Interview Questions (6 to 11)

6. What is recursion? Write a program using recursion (factorial)?

7. To which numbering system, can the binary number 1101100100111100 be easily
converted to?
8. What are the differences between structures and unions?
9. What are the advantages of using unions?
10. What is scope & storage allocation of global and extern variables? Explain with an
example.
11. What is scope & storage allocation of static, local and register variables? Explain with an
example.

< Previous Questions(1-5) | All | Next Questions(12-16) >

6. What is recursion? Write a program using recursion (factorial)?

Recursion: A function is called ‘recursive’ if a statement within the body of a

function calls the same function. It is also called ‘circular definition’. Recursion is thus a
process of defining something in terms of itself.

Program: To calculate the factorial value using recursion.

01 #include <stdio.h>

02 int fact(int n);

03  
04 int main() {

05  int x, i;

06  printf("Enter a value for x: \n");

07  scanf("%d", &x);

08  i = fact(x);

09  printf("\nFactorial of %d is %d", x, i);

10  return 0;

11 }

12  
13 int fact(int n) {

14  /* n=0 indicates a terminating condition */

15  if (n <= 0) {

16   return (1);

17  } else {

18   /* function calling itself */

19   return (n * fact(n - 1));

20   /*n*fact(n-1) is a recursive expression */

21  }

22 }
 Download Code

Output:

Enter a value for x:

Factorial of 4 is 24

Explanation:

fact(n) = n * fact(n-1)
If n=4
fact(4) = 4 * fact(3) there is a call to fact(3)
fact(3) = 3 * fact(2)
fact(2) = 2 * fact(1)
fact(1) = 1 * fact(0)
fact(0) = 1

fact(1) = 1 * 1 = 1
fact(2) = 2 * 1 = 2
fact(3) = 3 * 2 = 6
Thus fact(4) = 4 * 6 = 24

Terminating condition(n <= 0 here;) is a must for a recursive program. Otherwise the
program enters into an infinite loop.
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7. To which numbering system, can the binary number 1101100100111100 be easily

converted to?

1101100100111100 can be easily converted to hexadecimal numbering system.

Hexa-decimal integer constants consist of combination of digits from 0 to 9 and alphabets
‘A’ to ‘F’. The alphabets represent numbers 10 to 15 respectively. Hexa-decimal numbers
are preceeded by ’0x’.

1101,1001,0011,1100
1101 = D
1001 = 9
0011 = 3
1100 = C
1101,1001,0011,1100 = 0xD93C

Thus the given binary number 1101100100111100 in hexadecimal form is 0xD93C

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8. What are the differences between structures and unions?

 Structures and Unions are used to store members of different data types.

STRUCTURE UNION
a)Declaration: a)Declaration:
struct union
{ {
data type member1; data type member1;
data type member2; data type member2;
}; };
b)Every structure member is allocated
b)The memory equivalent to the largest item is
memory when a structure variable is
allocated commonly for all members.
defined.
Example:
Example:
union emp1 {
struct emp {
 char name[5];
 char name[5];
 int age;
 int age;
 float sal;
 float sal;
};
};
 
 
union emp1 e2;
struct emp e1;

Memory allocated to a union is equal to size of

Memory allocated for structure is
the largest member. In this case, char name[5] is the
5+4+4=13 bytes(assuming sizeof int is 4, float is
largest-sized member. Hence memory allocated to this
4, char is 1). 5 byte for name, 4 bytes for age and
union is 5 bytes.
4 bytes for sal.

c)Only one union member can be initialized at a

c)All structure variables can be initialized at time
a time union un {
struct st {
 int a;
 int a;
 float b;
 float b;
};
};
 
struct st s = { .a=4, .b=10.5 };
union un un1 = { .a=10 };
Structure is used when all members are to
be independently used in a program. Union is used when members of it are not
required to be accessed at the same time.

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9. What are the advantages of using unions?

 Union is a collection of data items of different data types.
It can hold data of only one member at a time though it has members of different data
types.

If a union has two members of different data types, they are allocated the same
memory. The memory allocated is equal to maximum size of the members. The data is
interpreted in bytes depending on which member is being accessed.

Example:

1 union pen {
2  char name;
3  float point;

4 };

Here name and point are union members. Out of these two variables, ‘point’ is larger
variable which is of float data type and it would need 4 bytes of memory. Therefore 4
bytes space is allocated for both the variables. Both the variables have the same memory
location. They are accessed according to their type.
Union is efficient when members of it are not required to be accessed at the same time.
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10. What is scope & storage allocation of global and extern variables? Explain with an
example

Extern variables:  belong to the External storage class and are stored in the main
memory. extern is used when we have to refer a function or variable that is implemented
in other file in the same project. The scope of the extern variables is Global.

Example:

01 /***************

02 Index: f1.c

03 ****************/

04 #include <stdio.h>
05 extern int x;

06  
07 int main() {

08  printf("value of x %d", x);

09  return 0;

10 }

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 1 /***************

2 Index: f2.c

3 ****************/

4 int x = 3;

Here, the program written in file f1.c has the main function and reference to variable
x. The file f2.c has the declaration of variable x. The compiler should know the datatype of
x and this is done by  extern definition.

Global variables:  are variables which are declared above the main( ) function.
These variables are accessible throughout the program. They can be accessed by all the
functions in the program. Their default value is zero.

Example:

01 #include <stdio.h>

02 int x = 0;

03 /* Variable x is a global variable.

04 It can be accessed throughout the program */

05 void increment(void) {

06  x = x + 1;

07  printf("\n value of x: %d", x);

08 }

09  
10 int main(){
11  printf("\n value of x: %d", x);

12  increment();

13  return 0;

14 }

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Back to top

11. What is scope & storage allocation of static, local and register variables? Explain with an
example.

Register variables: belong to the register storage class and are stored in the CPU
registers. The scope of the register variables is local to the block in which the variables
are defined. The variables which are used for more number of times in a program are
declared as register variables for faster access.
Example: loop counter variables.

register int y=6;
 Static variables:  Memory is allocated at the beginning of the program execution and
it is reallocated only after the program terminates. The scope of the static variables is
local to the block in which the variables are defined.

Example:

01 #include <stdio.h>

02 void decrement(){

03   static int a=5;

04   a--;

05   printf("Value of a:%d\n", a);

06 }

07  
08 int main(){
09  decrement();

10  return 0;

11 }

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Here ‘a’ is initialized only once. Every time this function is called, ‘a’ does not get
initialized. so output would be 4 3 2 etc.,

Local variables:  are variables which are declared within any function or a block.
They can be accessed only by function or block in which they are declared. Their default
value is a garbage value.

//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

12. What is Pass by Value? Write a C program showing this concept.

Pass by Value:  In this method, the value of each of the actual arguments in the
calling function is copied into corresponding formal arguments of the called function. In
pass by value, the changes made to formal arguments in the called function have no effect
on the values of actual arguments in the calling function.

Example:

01 #include <stdio.h>

02  
03 void swap(int x, int y) {

04  int t;

05  t = x;
06  x = y;
07  y = t;
 08 }

09  
10 int main() {

11  int m = 10, n = 20;

12  printf("Before executing swap m=%d n=%d\n", m, n);

13  swap(m, n);

14  printf("After executing swap m=%d n=%d\n", m, n);

15  return 0;

16 }

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Output:

Before executing swap m=10 n=20

After executing swap m=10 n=20

Explanation:
In the main function, value of variables m, n are not changed though they are passed to
function ‘swap’. Swap function has a copy of m, n and hence it can not manipulate the
actual value of arguments passed to it.
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13. What is Pass by Reference? Write a C program showing this concept.

Pass by Reference:  In this method, the addresses of actual arguments in the calling
function are copied into formal arguments of the called function. This means that using
these addresses, we would have an access to the actual arguments and hence we would
be able to manipulate them.   C does not support Call by reference . But it can be simulated
using pointers.

Example:

01 #include <stdio.h>

02 /* function definition */
03 void swap(int *x, int *y) {

04  int t;

05  t = *x; /* assign the value at address x to t */

06  *x = *y; /* put the value at y into x */

07  *y = t; /* put the value at to y */

08 }

09  
 10 int main() {

11  int m = 10, n = 20;

12  printf("Before executing swap m=%d n=%d\n", m, n);

13  swap(&m, &n);

14  printf("After executing swap m=%d n=%d\n", m, n);

15  return 0;

16 }

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Output:

Before executing swap m=10 n=20

After executing swap m=20 n=10

Explanation:
In the main function, address of variables m, n are sent as arguments to the function
‘swap’. As swap function has the access to address of the arguments, manipulation of
passed arguments inside swap function would be directly reflected in the values of m, n.
Back to top

14. What is an Enumeration?

Enumeration is a data type. We can create our own data type and define values that
the variable can take. This can help in making program more readable.  enumdefinition is
similar to that of a structure.

Example: consider light_status as a data type. It can have two possible values – on

or off.

1 enum light_status

2 {

3   on, off

4 };

5  
6 enum light_status bulb1, bulb2;
7 /* bulb1, bulb2 are the variables */

Declaration of enum has two parts:

a) First part declares the data type and specifies the possible values, called
‘enumerators’.
b) Second part declares the variables of this data type.
We can give values to these variables:
bulb1 = on;
 bulb2 = off;
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15. What is the use of typedef?

typedef declaration helps to make source code of a C program more readable. Its

purpose is to redefine the name of an existing variable type. It provides a short and
meaningful way to call a data type. typedef is useful when the name of the data type is
long. Use of typedef can reduce length and complexity of data types.
Note: Usually uppercase letters are used to make it clear that we are dealing with our own
data type.

Example:

1 struct employee {

2  char name[20];

3  int age;

4 };

5  
6 struct employee e;

The above declaration of the structure would be easy to use when renamed using
typedef as:

1 struct employee {

2  char name[20];

3  int age;

4 };

5  
6 typedef struct employee EMP;
7 EMP e1, e2;

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16. What are register variables? What are advantages of using register variables?

Register variables are stored in the CPU registers. Its default value is a garbage
value. Scope of a register variable is local to the block in which it is defined. Lifetime is till
control remains within the block in which the register variable is defined. Variable stored
in a CPU register can always be accessed faster than the one that is stored in memory.
Therefore, if a variable is used at many places in a program, it is better to declare its
storage class as register
 Example:
register int x=5;
Variables for loop counters can be declared as register. Note that register keyword may be
ignored by some compilers.

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