fgets returns null

I have written the following function to get user input from stdin and clear the buffer.

Code:

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char* getUserInput() {

  static char buffer[BUFFER_SIZE + 1];
 
  if (fgets(buffer, sizeof buffer, stdin) != NULL) {

      if ((strlen(buffer)) == BUFFER_SIZE &&
            buffer[BUFFER_SIZE - 1] != '\n')
        readRestOfLine();
  }
  return buffer;
}

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*readRestLine is a function provided by my lecturer to clear the buffer.

This code is working perfectly for me but I am wondering if I need to (or should) have an else statement for when fgets returns null.
Is it possible for fgets to return null when reading from stdin? If not why is the test for null required?

I new to C as you can tell and I am just trying to get my head around what is happening here and learn the best practice for these situations

thanks in advance

Michael

Quote:

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Originally Posted by strider1974

Is it possible for fgets to return null when reading from stdin? If not why is the test for null required?

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Yes, if the user sends a terminal EOF character (Ctrl-Z on Windows, Ctrl-D on most other things)

For best practice should I have an else statement to cover fgets returns null?

Currently the program, using the code above, returns invalid input when ctrl-d is selected which works with the program as written

Quote:

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Originally Posted by strider1974

For best practice should I have an else statement to cover fgets returns null?

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Should you check for errors? Uh... yes?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by brewbuck

Yes, if the user sends a terminal EOF character (Ctrl-Z on Windows, Ctrl-D on most other things)

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Also it is very simple to redirect stdin to read from file (using < command of command line)
In this case fgets will return null after the last line of the file is read