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getchar() function in C language with Example

Here, we are going to learn about the getchar() function of library function stdio.h in C language with its syntax, example.
Submitted by Souvik Saha, on February 21, 2019

getchar() function in C

The getchar() function is defined in the <stdio.h> header file.

Prototype:

    int getchar(void);

Parameters: FILE *filename(for file handling), otherwise it will be void.

Return type: int

Use of function:

In the file handling, through the getchar() function we take the character from the input stream stdin. The prototype of the function getchar() is int getchar(void);

The character which is read is an unsigned char which is converted to an integer value. In the case of file handling, it returns EOF when end-of-file is encountered. If there is an error then it also returns EOF.

getchar() example in C

#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>

int main()
{
    //Initialize the character array
    char str[100];
    int i = 0, j = 0;

    printf("Enter the string into the file\n");
    //takes all the characters until enter is pressed
    while ((str[i] = getchar()) != '\n') {
        //increment the index of the character array
        i++;
    }

    //after taking all the character add null pointer
    //at the end of the string
    str[i] = '\0';
    printf("\nThe file content is - ");
    //loop is break when null pointer is encountered
    while (str[j] != '\0') {
        //print the characters
        putchar(str[j]);
        j++;
    }

    return 0;
}

Output

C stdio.h Library Functions Programs »

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