Sure, let’s get started with the article:
myFgets is one of the fundamental functions in C for getting input from the user. It’s a part of stdio library and stands out as a safer alternative to its other counterparts like scanf, due to its capability of preventing buffer overflow.
#include <stdio.h>
#define SIZE 100
int main()
{
char str[SIZE];
printf("Enter a string: ");
if(fgets(str, SIZE, stdin) != NULL)
{
printf("You entered: ");
puts(str);
}
return 0;
}
After starting with a brief introduction about myFgets, the provided C code above makes use of myFgets function for getting string input from the user.
How does myFgets work?
The function of fgets is to read string from the standard input (stdin), usually the keyboard. The fgets function is not unlike other input functions in C in its requirement for three parameters: buffer to read the input into, maximum size of the buffer, and the input stream to read from. Specifically, after reading the string, fgets appends a null character (‘ ’) to the end.
Understanding the code above
The function defined above starts off by declaring a string (char array) of a particular size (SIZE). It then prompts the user to enter a string. Upon user input, the conditional statement checks whether the fgets function was able to read the string. If it was able to, it proceeds to print the same string back to the screen using the puts function.
In understanding the relation between fgets, buffer size and preventing buffer overflow, it’s important to recognize that the number of characters read by fgets is one less than the specified SIZE. This is done to accommodate the null character at the end of the input.
Relevant libraries and functions
In terms of libraries, stdio.h is one of the most basic libraries in C, used for input/output operations. The mode of use is as simple as including it at the beginning of the C code using the #include directive.
Regarding the functions employed in this code, fgets belongs to this library, along with puts and printf. While fgets researches, puts is used to write a string to stdout up to but not including the null character. The function printf forms a string of data for output, based on format string and arguments.
Please note that for a safe and effective approach to input string from the user, myFgets has a proven track record in the realm of C programming, by bounding the size of input, and thus preventing potential buffer overflows.
