gets(3)gets(3)NAME
gets, fgets - Get a string from a stream
SYNOPSIS
#include <stdio.h>
char *gets(
char *string ); char *fgets(
char *string,
int n,
FILE *stream );
LIBRARY
Standard C Library (libc)
STANDARDS
Interfaces documented on this reference page conform to industry stan‐
dards as follows:
gets(), fgets(): XPG4, XPG4-UNIX
Refer to the standards(5) reference page for more information about
industry standards and associated tags.
PARAMETERS
Points to a string to receive bytes. Specifies an upper bound on the
number of bytes to read. Points to the FILE structure of an open file.
DESCRIPTION
The gets() function reads bytes from the standard input stream, stdin,
into the array pointed to by the string parameter. Data is read until a
newline character is read or an end-of-file condition is encountered.
If reading is stopped due to a newline character, the newline character
is discarded and the string is terminated with a null byte.
The fgets() function reads bytes from the data pointed to by the stream
parameter into the array pointed to by the string parameter. Data is
read until n-1 bytes have been read, until a newline character is read
and transferred to string, or until an end-of-file condition is encoun‐
tered. The string is then terminated with a null byte.
NOTES
The gets function does not check the input for a maximum size. Conse‐
quently, if more bytes are entered than will fit in the space allocated
for the string parameter, gets() will write beyond the end of the allo‐
cated space, producing indeterminate results. To avoid this condition,
use fgets() instead of gets().
RETURN VALUES
Upon successful completion, the gets() and fgets() functions return
string. If the stream is at end-of-file, the end-of-file indicator for
the stream is set and a null pointer is returned. If a read error
occurs, the error indicator for the stream is set, a null pointer is
returned, and errno is set to indicate the error.
ERRORS
The fgets() and gets() functions set errno to the specified value for
the following conditions: The O_NONBLOCK option is set for the underly‐
ing stream and the process would be delayed by the read operation. The
file descriptor underlying the stream is not a valid file descriptor or
is not open for reading. The read operation was interrupted by a sig‐
nal which was caught and no data was transferred. The call is attempt‐
ing to read from the process's controlling terminal and either the
process is ignoring or blocking the SIGTTIN signal or the process group
is orphaned. Insufficient memory is available for the operation. The
device associated with stream does not exist.
SEE ALSO
Functions: clearerr(3), feof(3), ferror(3), fgetws(3), fileno(3),
fopen(3), fputws(3), fread(3), getc(3), getwc(3), puts(3), scanf(3)
Standards: standards(5)gets(3)
