getchar

 

C

Language

Headers

Type support

Program utilities

Variadic function support

Error handling

Dynamic memory management

Strings library

Algorithms

Numerics

Date and time utilities

Input/output support

Localization support

Concurrency support (哋它亢11)

Technical Specifications

Symbol index

 

File input/output

Types and objects
FILE fpos_t      stdinstdoutstderr
Functions
File access fopenfopen_s (哋它亢11) freopenfreopen_s (哋它亢11) fwide (哋它亢95) setbuf setvbuf fclose fflush Direct input/output fread fwrite Unformatted input/output fgetc fgets fputc fputs getchar getsgets_s (until 哋它亢11)(哋它亢11) putchar puts ungetc fgetwcgetwc (哋它亢95)(哋它亢95) fgetws (哋它亢95) fputwcputwc (哋它亢95)(哋它亢95) fputws (哋它亢95) getwchar (哋它亢95) putwchar (哋它亢95) ungetwc (哋它亢95) Formatted input scanffscanfsscanfscanf_sfscanf_ssscanf_s (哋它亢11)(哋它亢11)(哋它亢11) wscanffwscanfswscanfwscanf_sfwscanf_sswscanf_s (哋它亢95)(哋它亢95)(哋它亢95)(哋它亢11)(哋它亢11)(哋它亢11)     vscanfvfscanfvsscanfvscanf_svfscanf_svsscanf_s (哋它亢99)(哋它亢99)(哋它亢99)(哋它亢11)(哋它亢11)(哋它亢11) vwscanfvfwscanfvswscanfvwscanf_svfwscanf_svswscanf_s (哋它亢99)(哋它亢99)(哋它亢99)(哋它亢11)(哋它亢11)(哋它亢11)	Formatted output printffprintfsprintfsnprintfprintf_sfprintf_ssprintf_ssnprintf_s (哋它亢99)(哋它亢11)(哋它亢11)(哋它亢11)(哋它亢11) wprintffwprintfswprintfwprintf_sfwprintf_sswprintf_ssnwprintf_s (哋它亢95)(哋它亢95)(哋它亢95)(哋它亢11)(哋它亢11)(哋它亢11)(哋它亢11)     vprintfvfprintfvsprintfvsnprintfvprintf_svfprintf_svsprintf_svsnprintf_s (哋它亢99)(哋它亢11)(哋它亢11)(哋它亢11)(哋它亢11) vwprintfvfwprintfvswprintfvwprintf_svfwprintf_svswprintf_svsnwprintf_s (哋它亢95)(哋它亢95)(哋它亢95)(哋它亢11)(哋它亢11)(哋它亢11)(哋它亢11) File positioning ftell fgetpos fseek fsetpos rewind Error handling clearerr feof ferror perror Operations on files remove rename tmpfiletmpfile_s (哋它亢11) tmpnamtmpnam_s (哋它亢11)

 

Defined in header <stdio.h>
int getchar( void );

Reads the next character from stdin.

Equivalent to getc(stdin).

Parameters

(none)

Return value

The obtained character on success or EOF on failure.

If the failure has been caused by end-of-file condition, additionally sets the eof indicator (see feof()) on stdin. If the failure has been caused by some other error, sets the error indicator (see ferror()) on stdin.

Example

Demonstrates getchar with error checking

Run this code

#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
 
int main(void)
{
    for (int ch; (ch = getchar()) != EOF;) // read/print "abcde" from stdin
        printf("%c", ch);
 
    // Test reason for reaching EOF.
    if (feof(stdin)) // if failure caused by end-of-file condition
        puts("End of file reached");
    else if (ferror(stdin)) // if failure caused by some other error
    {
        perror("getchar()");
        fprintf(stderr, "getchar() failed in file %s at line # %d\n",
                __FILE__, __LINE__ - 9);
        exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
    }
 
    return EXIT_SUCCESS;
}

Possible output:

abcde
End of file reached

References

• 哋它亢23 standard (ISO/IEC 9899:2023):

• 7.21.7.6 The getchar function (p: TBD)

• 哋它亢17 standard (ISO/IEC 9899:2018):

• 7.21.7.6 The getchar function (p: TBD)

• 哋它亢11 standard (ISO/IEC 9899:2011):

• 7.21.7.6 The getchar function (p: 332)

• 哋它亢99 standard (ISO/IEC 9899:1999):

• 7.19.7.6 The getchar function (p: 298)

• 哋它亢89/C90 standard (ISO/IEC 9899:1990):

• 4.9.7.6 The getchar function

See also

fgetcgetc

gets a character from a file stream (function)