Different scanf and strlen?

[adnilsah017]

Below is my code for this algorithm:

#include <stdio.h>
#include <conio.h>

int main()
    {
        int i, n, totalA; 
        char studName[31]; // limit the name to 30 characters

        // Gets the Student Name into variable studName

                    printf("Please Input Student Name : ");
        gets(studName);

        /*
        scanf("%s",studName) won't give the correct strlen if a user input such
        as "Ahmad Albab" 
        */ 

 
        // find the length of the student's name
                    i= strlen(studName);
 

        // Start processing the words
                    totalA=0;


        for (n = 0; n <= i; n+=1)
            {
                if (studName[n]=='A' || studName[n]=='a')
                {
                                        totalA++; 
                }
            }
                    printf("\nTotal number of A or a in the student name is %d",totalA);
                    getch();

    }

The output :

Please Input Student Name : Ahmad Albab

Total number of A or a in the student name is 4



Anybody please explain why if i use scanf, strlen for names with space in the middle is not returning the correct value.

[Salem]

It's because scanf with %s uses SPACE as a delimiter.

You should definitely do all you can to forget you ever knew about the gets() function. Not that scanf("%s") is any safer by itself.

Typically, use

char buff[BUFSIZ];
fgets( buff, sizeof(buff), stdin );

to read ALL input, then process what you need out of buff, rather than attempting to read it from the input directly.

[adnilsah017]

so, my coding should be like this:

char studName[BUFSIZ];
fgets(studName,sizeof(studName), stdin);

am i right..

[Salem]

No, you fgets() into buff, then check buff for length, and then copy at most 30 characters into studName

[CommonTater]

Anybody please explain why if i use scanf, strlen for names with space in the middle is not returning the correct value.

If you print the student name before parsing it, you'll SEE why it happens...