How can I get input to stop at 'Esc' instead of \n ?

I'm using Code::Blocks 10.05 in Win XP SP3.

How can I get input to stop at 'Esc' instead of \n ?
This is the line of my code I'm having trouble with:

Code:

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    fgets(entry, sizeof(entry), stdin);

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I'd like to know how to input text with line breaks and then exit input when 'Esc' is pressed e.g.:

Code:

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Things I did this morning\n
\n
Things I did this afternoon\n
\n
Things I did this evening

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I've tried something along the lines of

Code:

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while input != ESC
    userInput

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I've looked through Google, rewording it several times.
I've looked through my "The C Programming Language" book.
I've looked through the FAQ and forums here but so far found nothing.

Here's the line in context if it helps (ps. the code below runs with no errors):

Code:

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#include <time.h>
#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>

int main(void)
{
    time_t current_time;
    struct tm * time_info;
    FILE *fp;

    char timeString[16], fileName[20], entry[1000], *p;  // space for "YYYY.mm.dd HHMM\0"

    time(&current_time);
    time_info = localtime(&current_time);

    strftime(timeString, sizeof(timeString), "%Y.%m.%d %H%M", time_info);  //define value of timeString
    strftime(fileName, sizeof(fileName), "%Y.%m.%d.txt", time_info);  // define value of fileName

    printf("Diary entry for %s\n",timeString);  // print variable timeString
    printf("Entry: ");
    fgets(entry, sizeof(entry), stdin);
       
    fp=fopen(fileName, "a");    // filename = date&time
    fprintf(fp, "%s\n\n%s\n\n\n", timeString, entry);
    int fclose(FILE *);
    return(0);

}

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Read about the curses library.

You need to use it (or a similiar one) and read the keyboard (I mean stdin) data character-by-character, building the strings step-by-step.
I don't think there's a ready made library that allows you to read the keyboard (I mean stdin) and stop at specific characters; but with curses it is somewaht easy to do it yourself.

If I understand your question, this is not possible without using OS-specific functions. On Windows, you might do this:

Code:

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#include <stdio.h>
#include <conio.h>  // _getch()

int main() {
    char entry[100];
    while (1) {
        int ch;
        printf("Entry: ");
        ch = _getch(); // read char without echoing and without waiting for newline
        if (ch == 27)  // Escape key
            break;
        entry[0] = ch;
        putchar(ch);
        fgets(entry + 1, sizeof entry - 1, stdin);
        printf("%s", entry);
    }
    return 0;
}

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FAQ - Cprogramming.com
FAQ > How can I get input without having the user hit [Enter]? - Cprogramming.com

gg

Quote:

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Originally Posted by oogabooga

If I understand your question, this is not possible without using OS-specific functions. On Windows, you might do this:

Code:

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#include <stdio.h>
#include <conio.h>  // _getch()

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Really? ALL compilers on Windows have conio.h and getch()??? I thought only 1% of the compilers had them! Whoo'da thunk it?

Please before stating erroneous information, check it first. He even mentions he uses Code::Blocks -- does it's compiler have getch()?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by WaltP

Really? ALL compilers on Windows have conio.h and getch()??? I thought only 1% of the compilers had them! Whoo'da thunk it?

Please before stating erroneous information, check it first. He even mentions he uses Code::Blocks -- does it's compiler have getch()?

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Relax, yes most still do have these files and functions for backward compatibility. BUT they're obsolete and everyone should be discouraged from using them.

Quote:

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ALL compilers on Windows have conio.h and getch()?

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O_o

How did you get that from his post?

Soma

Presumably he saw the "conio.h" header and went batty. That's understandable since we seem to have a big focus on portability on the forum and people love to hate conio. But gcc does have it, so I used it. I was actually trying to show the simplest "solution" to his problem. The code I posted has some serious drawbacks, however. It will only detect Escape if it's the first key pressed on that line, and after you enter a different char and it goes on to the fgets, you won't be able to backspace over the initial character! Still, it might fit his purpose. To fix those "bugs" you'd have to read all chars with _getch() (or some similar function from curses) and handle backspacing yourself.

>> they're obsolete and everyone should be discouraged from using them.
I wouldn't say that. MS has supported that function from the beginning. Borland copied it.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conio.h
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lattice_C

Since MinGW uses the MS CRT, it has it too. Slightly easier than using the Win32 API.

gg

Quote:

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Originally Posted by WaltP

Really? ALL compilers on Windows have conio.h and getch()??? I thought only 1% of the compilers had them! Whoo'da thunk it?

Please before stating erroneous information, check it first. He even mentions he uses Code::Blocks -- does it's compiler have getch()?

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Yes.

Thanks for the replies. For now I've got:

Code:

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fp=fopen(fileName, "a");    // filename = date&time
    puts(timeString);  // output variable timeString
    puts("Press Ctrl + C to save and exit");
    printf("Entry: ");
    fprintf(fp, "\n%s\n\n", timeString);
    while (fgets(entry, sizeof(entry), stdin) != NULL)
    {
        if ((p = strchr(entry, '\n')) != NULL)
        *p = '\0';
        fprintf(fp, "%s\n\n", entry);
    }
    int fclose(FILE *);

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This seems to do the trick for now. This way, my text file gets only one time&date stamp per entry not per paragraph. It exits on Ctrl+C which isn't ideal but it does the trick.

You could also have the user type an EOF when they are done. This is done by typing Ctrl-Z and Enter on Windows, or just Ctrl-D on basically every other OS (Unix, MacOS X, Linux, etc). This makes fgets return NULL which will make your loop end.

Also you're not closing the file after the loop ends. You're not actually calling fclose.