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

TCHAR.H routine	_UNICODE and _MBCS not defined	_MBCS defined	_UNICODE defined
_gettchar	getchar	getchar	getwchar

Requirements

Routine	Required header
getchar	<stdio.h>
getwchar	<stdio.h> or <wchar.h>

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