getchar, getwchar

Reads a character from standard input.

Syntax

int getchar();
wint_t getwchar();

Return value

Returns the character read. These functions wait for input and don't return until input is available.

To indicate a read error or end-of-file condition, getchar returns EOF, and getwchar returns WEOF. For getchar, use ferror or feof to check for an error or for end of file.

Remarks

Each routine reads a single character from stdin and increments the associated file pointer to point to the next character. getchar is the same as _fgetchar, but it's implemented as a function and as a macro.

These functions also lock the calling thread and are thread-safe. For a non-locking version, see _getchar_nolock, _getwchar_nolock.

By default, this function's global state is scoped to the application. To change this behavior, see Global state in the CRT.

Generic-text routine mappings

Requirements

The console isn't supported in Universal Windows Platform (UWP) apps. The standard stream handles that are associated with the console, stdin, stdout, and stderr, must be redirected before C run-time functions can use them in UWP apps. For more compatibility information, see Compatibility.

Example

// crt_getchar.c
// Use getchar to read a line from stdin.

#include <stdio.h>

int main()
{
    char buffer[81];
    int i, ch;

    for (i = 0; (i < 80) && ((ch = getchar()) != EOF)
                         && (ch != '\n'); i++)
    {
        buffer[i] = (char) ch;
    }

    // Terminate string with a null character
    buffer[i] = '\0';
    printf( "Input was: %s\n", buffer);
}

This textInput was: This text

See also

Stream I/O
getc, getwc
fgetc, fgetwc
_getch, _getwch
putc, putwc
ungetc, ungetwc