How to limit user input to a certain number of digits?

I am writing a pretty simple program.

There are a few different inputs I need to get from the user.

1) Single character.

I am using getchar() for this, and it works well, but I've noticed one thing: If the user enters a number instead, the program will crash. How do I fix this?

2) Binary value

The user types in a binary value ie: 10101010
The problem is that I only want the user to be able to enter up to 8 bits. I am scanning it in as a string with scanf, then using strtol. As it is right now the user can enter more than 8 bits and the program will crash

3) Decimal value

Same problem as the binary value, I want to limit the user to inputting 3 digit decimal values.

4) Hex value

Same problem, I want to limit the user to entering 2 digit hex values.





So basically my problem is limiting user input. I'm sure this is a relatively simple problem, but I have been searching for an answer and my head is starting to spin.

You cannot actually limit the input with standard input functions. You will just need to set up a check and rule their input invalid if it doesn't fit what you need.


Quzah.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by quzah

You cannot actually limit the input with standard input functions. You will just need to set up a check and rule their input invalid if it doesn't fit what you need.


Quzah.

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That means you cannot limit it in the sense that the user would be unable to type as much as they want no matter what, anyway.

However, you don't have to accept all the data. For example:

Code:

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char input[16];
scanf("%15s",input);  /* leave room for '\0' */

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You can type as much as you want here, but only the first fifteen characters will be put into "input" (preventing the overflow that is causing your crash).

Ok for the most part, I have solved the problem of the user entering longer numbers than i wanted, but I still have a problem with the user entering the wrong type of data.

If I ask for a decimal value and the user enters a character or a string, the program crashes, and vice versa.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by MK27

That means you cannot limit it in the sense that the user would be unable to type as much as they want no matter what, anyway.

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That's what I said.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by MK27

However, you don't have to accept all the data.

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Yep. Said that too.


Quzah.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by NewbGuy

Ok for the most part, I have solved the problem of the user entering longer numbers than i wanted, but I still have a problem with the user entering the wrong type of data.

If I ask for a decimal value and the user enters a character or a string, the program crashes, and vice versa.

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The solution to this could be to use a loop for all the input, which collects a string into a temporary buffer (since a string can hold anything), and then you work on the string

Code:

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#include <stdio.h>

int main() {
        char input[64], one;
        int i, two;
        for (i=1;i<=4;i++) {
                switch (i) {
                        case (1): printf("Enter a character: "); break;
                        case (2): printf("Now a number: "); break;
...etc
                fgets(input,64,stdin);
                switch (i) {
                        case (1): one=input[0]; break;
                        case (2): sscanf(input, "%3d", &two); break;
...etc

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With the second switch, you may want to implement error checking routines that will issue a message and set i-- if the user enters bad input.

Can someone tell me why this doesn't work? It is supposed to simply get a character press from the user and if that character isn't equal to A, B or C, it should print "Error! Enter again!". When I run it, it does print the error message, but even if I hit A, B or C, it keeps telling me there's an error. I tried to take care of the input buffer so there's no problem with \n, so I'm stumped here.

Also, should this be able to validate the entry so that if the user entered a number, it would give the same error as entering an incorrect letter?

Code:

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        char cType;

        cType = toupper(getchar());
        fflush(stdin);
       
        while ( cTypeSelect != 'A' || cTypeSelect != 'B' || cTypeSelect != 'C')
        {
                printf("Error! Enter again! \n");
                cTypeSelect = toupper(getchar());
                fflush(stdin);
        }

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Use &&, not II.

By the way, the C standard recommends against using fflush() on stdin. Take both of those out and make this the first line in the while loop:

Code:

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getchar();

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That will catch the \n.

Finally, cType should be an int.