getc

getc

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Reads a character from a file

 #include <stdio.h> int getc ( FILE *fp  ); 

The getc( ) function is the same as fgetc( ), except that it may be implemented as a macro, and may evaluate its argument more than once. If the argument is an expression with side effects, use fgetc( ) instead.

getc( ) returns the character read. A return value of EOF indicates an error or an attempt to read past the end of the file. In these cases, the function sets the file's error or end-of-file flag as appropriate.

Example

 FILE *inputs[16]; int nextchar, i = 0; /* ... open 16 input streams ... */ do {   nextchar = getc( inputs[i++] );       // Warning: getc( ) is a macro!   /* ... process the character ... */ } while (i < 16); 

The do...while statement in this example skips over some files in the array if getc( ) evaluates its argument more than once. Here is a safer version, without side effects in the argument to getc( ):

 for ( i = 0; i < 16; i++ ) {   nextchar = getc( inputs[i] );   /* ... process the character ... */ } 

See Also

fgetc( ), fputc( ), putc( ), putchar( ); the C99 functions to read and write wide characters: getwc( ), fgetwc( ), and getwchar( ), putwc( ), fputwc( ), and putwchar( ), ungetc( ), ungetwc( )