char *word = "hello freddy"; char *search = "e"; size_t count = strlen( word ); bool bgot = false; int i = 0; int j = 0; for( i = 0; i <= (int)count; i++ ) { for( j = 0; j <= (int)strlen(search); j++ ) { printf( "Checking: if( %c == %c )\n", search[ j ], word[ i ] ); if( search[ j ] == word[ i ] ) { if( search[ j ] == '\0' || word[ i ] == '\0' ) { printf( " - NULL SPACE -\n" ); break; } bgot = true; printf( "got %c compared to %c @ %i:%i\n", search[ j ], word[ i ], j, i ); } } }