C program to check if a given string is palindrome or not

March 20, 2025

Check whether a String is Palindrome in C

Today in this article we will learn how to Check whether a String is Palindrome using C Programming language.

A string is palindrome if the reverse and the original string is same

Lets understand this with the help of an example:- 

  • Input sting:- AMA
  • Reverse sting:- AMA

Here AMA = AMA so this is a palindrome 

Check whether a String is Palindrome

Methods Discussed

  • Method 1: Simple iterative
  • Method 2: Iterative with a shorter loop
  • Method 3: Binary Search inspiration

Method 1

To check String is palindrome or not in C

  • For a String of Length: Len
  • Run an iterative loop in an iteration of i
  • If encounter any index such that arr[i] != arr[len – i -1], then the string is not palindrome
  • Otherwise if no condition such found in whole iteration in loop then string is palindrome
Check whether a String is Palindrome

Method 1 Code

Run 
#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>


int main() 
{
    char str[10] = "naman";
    int i, len, flag = 0;
    
    len = strlen(str);

    for (i = 0; i < len; i++) 
    {
        // Checking if string is palindrome or not
        if (str[i] != str[len - i - 1]) {
            flag = 1;
            break;
        }
    }

    if (flag)
        printf("%s is not palindrome", str);
    else
        printf("%s is palindrome", str);
        
    return 0;
}

Output

naman is palindrome
 
 

Toggle each character in a string

Count the number of vowels

Length of the string without using strlen() function

Method 2

This method is the same as the above method with two minor differences –

Difference 1

  • For loop runs only till len/2 not the whole length of the string
  • Since the other half, the string will be the same as the first half. If the string is a palindrome

Difference 2

  • We also handle capitalization
  • The previous method would have said “Naman” is not palindrome as N is not equal to n
  • This method converts the whole string into lowercase and thus will say that “Naman” is palindrome
Run 
#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>

void lowerCase(char str[]){
  int i = 0;
  while (str[i] != '\0')
  {
    if (str[i] > 64 && str[i] < 91) 
      str[i] += 32; 
    i++;
  }
}
int main() 
{
    char str[10] = "Naman";
    int i, len, flag = 0;
    
    lowerCase(str);
    
    len = strlen(str);
    
    // only need to check till half of the array
    for (i = 0; i < len / 2; i++) 
    {
        // Checking if string is palindrome or not.
        if (str[i] != str[len - i - 1]){
            flag++;
            break;
        }
    }

    if (flag)
        printf("String is not palindrome");
    else
        printf("String is palindrome");
        
    return 0;
}

Output

String is palindrome

Method 3

This method is the same as the above method. However, instead of for loop, we use a whole loop.

The approach is very similar to Binary search looping

Run

#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>


void Lower_case(char str[]) {
    int i = 0;
    while (str[i] != '\0') {
        if (str[i] > 64 && str[i] < 91) 
            str[i] += 32; 

        i++; 
    } 
} 

void CheckPalindrome(char str[]) 
{ 

    // to mark left most and right most indexes of string 
    int left = 0; 
    int right = strlen(str) - 1; 

    // Keep comparing characters while they are same 
    // until left and right overlap one another 
    // inspiration for this approach taken from binary search 
    while (right > left) 
    {
        if (str[left++] != str[right--]) {
            printf("The String %s is not a palindrome", str);
            return;
        }
    }
    printf("The String %s is palindrome", str);
}
int main() 
{
    char str1[50] = "Radar";
    
    Lower_case(str1);
    CheckPalindrome(str1);
    
    return 0;
}

Output

The String radar is palindrome

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