too many misspelled words

Question

I'm working on my spell checker, and everything seems to be compiling. However, when I run the spell checker, the number of words that it finds that are misspelled is way high. I'm not exactly sure why, but I was thinking it could have something to do with the way I converted the ascii values?

if(letter == '\'')
       letter_new = letter - 13;
else
       letter_new = letter - 'a';

Thanks so much!

// Implements a dictionary's functionality
#include <cs50.h>
#include <ctype.h>
#include <stdbool.h>
#include <stdint.h>
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <string.h>

#include "dictionary.h"

#define ALPHABET_SIZE 26

typedef struct node
{
    bool is_word;
    struct node *children[27];
}
node;

node *root = NULL;
int numWords = 0;
bool isLoaded = false;
bool load(const char* dictionary);

// Returns true if word is in dictionary else false
bool check(const char *word)
{
    int letter = 0;
    int length = strlen(word);
    int val = 0;

    root = calloc(1, sizeof(node));
    node *pointer = root;

    for(int i = 0; i < length; i++)
    {
        char c = tolower(word[i]);
        val = (int) c;

        if (c == '\'')
            letter = val - 13;
        else
        {
            printf("%c, %i ", c, val);
            letter = val - 'a';
            printf("\n%i", letter);
        }

        if (!pointer->children[letter])
            return false;
        else
            pointer = pointer->children[letter];
    }
    if (pointer->is_word)
        return true;

    return false;
}

// Loads dictionary into memory, returning true if successful else false
bool load(const char *dictionary)
{
    FILE *dict = fopen(dictionary, "r");
    if(!dict)
        return false;

    root = calloc(1, sizeof(node));
    node *pointer = root;

    for (char letter = fgetc(dict); letter != EOF; letter = fgetc(dict))
    {
        if (letter == '\n')
        {
            if (pointer != root)
            {
                pointer->is_word = true;
                numWords++;
                pointer = root;
            }
        }
        else
        {
            int letter_new;

            if(letter == '\'')
                letter_new = letter - 13;
            else
                letter_new = letter - 'a';

            if(!pointer->children[letter_new])
            {
                pointer->children[letter_new] = calloc(1, sizeof(node));
                pointer = pointer->children[letter_new];
            }
            else
                pointer = pointer->children[letter_new];
        }
    }

    fclose(dict);
    isLoaded = true;
    return true;
}

// Returns number of words in dictionary if loaded else 0 if not yet loaded
unsigned int size(void)
{
    if(isLoaded)
        return numWords;
    else
        return 0;
}

void clear(node *pointer)
{
    for (int i= 0; i < 27; i++)
    {
        if (pointer->children[i])
        {
            clear(pointer->children[i]);
        }
    }

    free(pointer);
}

// Unloads dictionary from memory, returning true if successful else false
bool unload(void)
{
    clear(root);
    return true;
}

Answer 1

Do not replace the value of root within check. That way, you replace your trie with an empty one.

Here in Germany we sometimes call that a "Guttenbug", a bug by faulty copy&paste.

(Semi-funny background: Former minister "Guttenberg" had his PhD thesis done with lots of Ctrl+C/Ctrl+V. In my opinion, he paid somebody and did not bother to read it. Neither did the professor. Guttenberg would never admit that part. Currently trying to make his comeback into politics.)