How do you reverse a string in place in C or C++?

Question

How do you reverse a string in C or C++ without requiring a separate buffer to hold the reversed string?

Answer 1

#include 
#include 
#include 
#include 

unsigned char * utf8_reverse(const unsigned char *, int);
void assert_true(bool);

int main(void)
{
    unsigned char str[] = "mañana mañana";
    unsigned char *ret = utf8_reverse(str,  strlen((const char *) str) + 1);

    printf("%s\n", ret);
    assert_true(0 == strncmp((const char *) ret, "anãnam anañam", strlen("anãnam anañam") + 1));

    free(ret);

    return EXIT_SUCCESS;
}

unsigned char * utf8_reverse(const unsigned char *str, int size)
{
    unsigned char *ret = calloc(size, sizeof(unsigned char*));
    int ret_size = 0;
    int pos = size - 2;
    int char_size = 0;

    if (str ==  NULL) {
        fprintf(stderr, "failed to allocate memory.\n");
        exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
    }

    while (pos > -1) {

        if (str[pos] < 0x80) {
            char_size = 1;
        } else if (pos > 0 && str[pos - 1] > 0xC1 && str[pos - 1] < 0xE0) {
            char_size = 2;
        } else if (pos > 1 && str[pos - 2] > 0xDF && str[pos - 2] < 0xF0) {
            char_size = 3;
        } else if (pos > 2 && str[pos - 3] > 0xEF && str[pos - 3] < 0xF5) {
            char_size = 4;
        } else {
            char_size = 1;
        }

        pos -= char_size;
        memcpy(ret + ret_size, str + pos + 1, char_size);
        ret_size += char_size;
    }    

    ret[ret_size] = '\0';

    return ret;
}

void assert_true(bool boolean)
{
    puts(boolean == true ? "true" : "false");
}