writing a string to file skips 1st character

[hamsteroid]

Hi,
I have been playing with the write to file functions lately which are very useful and mostly straight forward. However I have come across one problem I can't get my head around. The problem is that when I read a few lines characters and hit return for each line.... every second line is not read - starting with the first one.

I entered the following and hit return after each "line"
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8



New Proverbs written to file.
About to read proverbs from file.
The proverbs in the file are:

Many a mickle makes a muckle.
Too many cooks spoil the broth.
He who laughs last didn't get the joke in the first place.
2 <----- These are the new entries appended to the file.
4
6
8

Where is 1,3,5,7? I believe this is down to the Carriage return and the buffer but I can't explain it. I double checked that my getch() calls were not causing this.

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

const int LENGTH = 80;                     /* maximum input length */

int main(void)
{
  int i=0;
  char *proverbs[] =
       { "Many a mickle makes a muckle.\n",
         "Too many cooks spoil the broth.\n",
         "He who laughs last didn't get the joke in"
                                " the first place.\n"
       };
  char more[LENGTH];                        /* store a new proverb */
  FILE *pfile = NULL;
  char *filename = "c:\\myfile.txt";
  
  /* create a new file, if myfile does not already exist */
  if(!(pfile=fopen(filename,"w")))
  {
    printf("\nError opening &#37;s for writing. Program terminated.",filename);
    exit(1);
  }
  
  /* write out first three proverbs to the file */
  printf("\nNew file created. About to write out first three proverbs to the file.");
  /* getch(); */

  int feedback = sizeof proverbs;
  printf("\nsizeof proverbs:%d",feedback);
  feedback = sizeof proverbs;
  printf("\nsizeof proverbs[0]:%d",feedback);

  int count = sizeof proverbs / sizeof proverbs[0];   /* result = 16/16 = 1 */
  for(i=0; i<count; i++)
    fputs(proverbs[i], pfile);
  fclose(pfile);

  printf("\nProverbs written to file.");
  /* getch(); */
  
  /* open the file to append more proverbs */
  if(!(pfile=fopen(filename,"a")))
  {
    printf("\nError opening %s for writing. Program terminated.",filename);
    exit(1);
  }
  
  printf("\nEnter proverbs of less than 80 characters to append to file or press Enter to end:\n");
  while(fgets(more, LENGTH, stdin))
  {
    fgets(more, LENGTH, stdin);            /* read a proverb         */
    if(more[0]=='\n')                      /* if its empty line      */
      break;                               /* end input operation    */
    fputs(more, pfile);                    /* write the new proverb  */
  }
  fclose(pfile);

  printf("\nNew Proverbs written to file.");
  /* getch(); */
  
  if(!(pfile=fopen(filename,"r")))
  {
    printf("\nError opening %s for reading. Program terminated.",filename);
    exit(1);
  }

  printf("\nAbout to read proverbs from file.");
  /* getch(); */
  
  /* read and output the file contents */
  printf("\nThe proverbs in the file are:\n\n");
  while(fgets(more, LENGTH, pfile))             /* read a proverb */
    printf("%s", more);                          /* display it     */
  fclose(pfile);
  remove(filename);
  
  printf("\nPress any key to exit.");
  getch();
  return(0);
}

I think I have come across this ghost before, and I'm sure its the buffer - maybe I need to use flush?

[ZuK]

while(fgets(more, LENGTH, stdin))          /* first */
  {
    fgets(more, LENGTH, stdin);            /* second */ /* read a proverb         */
    if(more[0]=='\n')                      /* if its empty line      */
      break;                               /* end input operation    */
    fputs(more, pfile);                    /* write the new proverb  */
  }

This loop reads two lines from stdin and writes only the second one to the file.
Kurt

[hamsteroid]

while(fgets(more, LENGTH, stdin))          /* first */
  {
    fgets(more, LENGTH, stdin);            /* second */ /* read a proverb         */
    if(more[0]=='\n')                      /* if its empty line      */
      break;                               /* end input operation    */
    fputs(more, pfile);                    /* write the new proverb  */
  }

This loop reads two lines from stdin and writes only the second one to the file.
Kurt

Thanks Zuk, that was killing me - I did it right for the while fgets loop further down but didn't spot the difference. Thanks for setting me straight!