cgets

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Header File

conio.h

Category

Console I/O Routines

Prototype

char *cgets(char *str);

Description

Reads a string from the console.

cgets reads a string of characters from the console, storing the string (and the string length) in the location pointed to by str.

cgets reads characters until it encounters a carriage-return/linefeed (CR/LF) combination, or until the maximum allowable number of characters have been read. If cgets reads a CR/LF combination, it replaces the combination with a \0 (null terminator) before storing the string.

Before cgets is called, set str[0] to the maximum length of the string to be read. On return, str[1] is set to the number of characters actually read. The characters read start at str[2] and end with a null terminator. Thus, str must be at least str[0] plus 2 bytes long.

Note: Do not use this function for Win32 GUI applications.

Return Value

On success, cgets returns a pointer to str[2].

Example

  #include <stdio.h>
  #include <conio.h>
  int main(void)
  {
     char buffer[83];
     char *p;
     /* There is space for 80 characters plus the NULL terminator */
     buffer[0] = 81;
     printf("Input some chars:");
     p = cgets(buffer);
     printf("\ncgets read %d characters: \"%s\"\n", buffer[1], p);
     printf("The returned pointer is %p, buffer[0] is at %p\n", p, &buffer);
     /* Leave room for 5 characters plus the NULL terminator */
     buffer[0] = 6;
     printf("Input some chars:");
     p = cgets(buffer);
     printf("\ncgets read %d characters: \"%s\"\n", buffer[1], p);
     printf("The returned pointer is %p, buffer[0] is at %p\n", p, &buffer);
     return 0;
  }

Portability

POSIX	Win32	ANSI C	ANSI C++
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