c - Displaying the total number of adjacent pairs in this program -

given input char[] find number of discrete pairs in string. input of:

the characters in each pair must adjacent. input of "abca" output still 0 because 'a's not adjacent.*

the goal find total number of pairs in string. input of "aaxbb" output should 2.*

for input string of char a[] = "dppccddd" there 3 pairs of adjacent letters my program's output 4. how solve problem?

int = 0, count = 0, count1 = 0;  (i = 0; <= 6; i++) {     if (a[i] == a[i + 1])     count++; } printf("%d", count);

just make code better, instead of hardcoding value of 6, use for(i = 0; < sizeof(a) / sizeof(a[0]) - 1; i++) number of elements in array.

the problem code if 2 chars matched, start comparing second 1 again, need skip character, increase i 1:

if(a[i] == a[i + 1]) {     ++count;     ++i; }

ITEMscalal