Node:String Input Conversions, Next:Binary I/O, Previous:Numeric Input Conversions, Up:C-Style I/O Functions
This section describes the scanf
input conversions for reading
string and character values: %s
and %c
.
The %c
conversion is the simplest: it matches a fixed number of
characters, always. The maximum field with says how many characters to
read; if you don't specify the maximum, the default is 1. This
conversion does not skip over initial whitespace characters. It reads
precisely the next n characters, and fails if it cannot get that
many.
The %s
conversion matches a string of non-whitespace characters.
It skips and discards initial whitespace, but stops when it encounters
more whitespace after having read something.
For example, reading the input:
hello, world
with the conversion %10c
produces " hello, wo"
, but
reading the same input with the conversion %10s
produces
"hello,"
.