new to C programming, need help

[MikeMeister123]

Hello, I am new to programming in general. I am reading Absolute beginners guide to C. A very good book so far. But when I started my compiler (Bloodshed, dev.) I wrote the first very simple program. Where it says "Hello world", type of thing. but it didn't stay like it should have, when I hit execute it just flashed for a mili-second, then went back to the compiler. I have heard of this problem I think, but I know not how to fix it. Any help will be marvelous.
Thanks.

- Michael

[Dave_Sinkula]

FAQ > How do I... (Level 1) > Stop my Windows Console from disappearing everytime I run my program?

[ssjnamek]

yea it does that cause it executes the program a very simple one at that and cause its so simple it just closes instantly

to fix:

char holder;
printf("hello");
getch(holder);

just press enter or enter a character and press enter. its just an input function so you can have the screen freeze unless using some other compiler(microsoft for instance) just do that at all of your programs to catch the screen.

[MikeMeister123]

Hey, thanks.
I didn't know where to add the "Char holder;" code... Do I just add that before "Return 0;"... I don't understand what you mean here....

[Wiretron]

Or alternatively, go Start->run->type CMD, click ok

then just navigate to the folder with your program in, and type your program name in, this way, they program will be run in that window, so there is no need to add anything extra such as 'char holder' to the code.

[Afrinux]

Hey, thanks.
I didn't know where to add the "Char holder;" code... Do I just add that before "Return 0;"... I don't understand what you mean here....

getchar(); just before the return will do.

int main( .., ...){
  //code

 getchar();
 return 0;
}

[ssharish2005]

Note : need to clear the input buffer before calling the getchar to be on a saver side. sample code to clear the buffer. make sure to call this fucntion , when getchar is placed even though the console windows goes away soon.

void clear_buffer(void)
{ 
    int ch;
    while((ch=getchar())!='\n' && ch != EOF);
}

ssharish2005

[dwks]

This code is pretty bad:

char holder;
printf("hello");
getch(holder);

1. getch() is non-standard.
2. If you really want to use it, and your compiler has it, you need another header file (<conio.h> for Dev-C++).
3. getch() takes no arguments -- it returns the value. So you can just discard it (and you don't need holder).
4. Even if getch() did take an argument as the place to store the value, you would need to pass it as a pointer to get the value.

This code's okay:

int main( .., ...){
  //code

 getchar();
 return 0;
}

getchar() is in <stdio.h>, which most programs include. But that won't work if there's more in the input buffer than just a '\n'. (And // comments are C99 . . . . )

ssharish2005's code is the best. Use it instead of the other stuff.

All of this is covered in Dave's FAQ link.