gets()

get a string of characters from a file

Synopsis:

#include <stdio.h>

char *gets( char *buf );

Description:

The gets() function gets a string of characters from the file designated by stdin, and stores them in the array pointed to by buf until end-of-file is encountered or a newline character is read. Any newline character is discarded, and a null character is placed immediately after the last character read into the array.

It's better to use fgets() than gets(). With gets(), data beyond the array buf is destroyed if a newline character isn't read from the input stream stdin before the end of the array buf is reached.

Returns:

The gets() function returns buf if successful. NULL is returned if end-of-file is encountered, or if a read error occurs. When an error has occurred, errno contains a value that indicates the type of error that has been detected.

Examples:

#include <stdio.h>

void main()
  {
    char buffer[80];

    while( gets( buffer ) != NULL )
      puts( buffer );
  }

Classification:

ANSI

See also:

errno, fgetc(), fgetchar(), fgets(), fopen(), getc(), getchar(), ungetc()