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Why is it that the following code:
printf("? ");
scanf("%d", &n);
printf("? ");
gets(str);
skip the gets(str) step?
My guess is that the carriage return is not stored into n and still in the stdin, so that when gets(str) is called, the carriage return is encountered. Am I correct?
Is there anyway to solve this anomaly besides switching the positions of the code or use gets() and atoi?
I believe you are correct, the CR has not been read yet and carries into the second read.
Add after the first read a call to flush the input buffer:
fflush(stdin);
That should do it for you.
Walt
The FAQ does state for the C standard fflush(stdin); behavior is undefined but it also states As usual, there are some exceptions, check your compiler's documentation. The original question wasQuote:
Originally posted by Salem
Someone else needs to read the FAQ as well then
http://faq.cprogramming.com/cgi-bin/...&id=1043284392
not is there a better way which the response from Salem answered.Quote:
Why is it that the following code:
. . .
skip the gets(str) step?
In Borland, fflush(stdin) works as early as Turbo 1.0. If they removed it's funtionality, I am unaware of it, although I doubt it.
Maybe a better answer using scanf would be
sscanf("%d%c", &num, &dummy);
with the %c to read off the CR, but the typed in character string is critical. It in fact would be better to use fgets() routine as implied. I personally dislike scanf() because of its ideosyncracies.
Walt
>>In Borland, fflush(stdin) works as early as Turbo 1.0.
The problem is you have no idea what compiler the OP has, nor any other reader of this forum who might be learning from your response.
In a C forum, it is better to promote the user of standard tools for the job, and leave the compiler specific answers to the relevant forums. This doesn't always work (like now), but you should try and keep it so. :)