What's the meaning of the following:
What the meaning of it?Code:int getc(FILE *stream) getc is equivalent to fgetc except that if it is a macro, it may evaluate stream more than once.
if it is a macro -- means?
evaluate stream "more" than once -- means?
"if it is a macro" means... if it is a macro. Things in the library can be macros or functions, as the library authors see fit. If getc is implemented as a macro, it is then allowed to access the stream (stdin, or the file) more than once.
I want to know the following:Originally Posted by tabstop
getc can access the stream more than once mean what?
similar to getchar?
No, it means just what it says - it can access the file stream twice (read, write, do whatever). For performance reasons, that means you should use fgetc because it will only access it once.
getchar is, according to the standard, equivalent to getc(stdin).
An example for getc: you could, naively, think that this:
would only try to open your file once, because it looks like a function call and normally that's what would happen. BUT, macro implementations of getc do not follow all the nice function parameter handling rules; they just do text search-and-replace. So, there may be multiple places where stream is used in the macro (it is explicitly allowed as you mentioned); hence there may be multiple attempts to open the data file.Code:getc(fopen("all_my_data.txt", "r"));
what does it mean?
"It can access the file stream twice"?
a stream is a set of characters terminated by a newline character....
No it's not. A "stream" is a data structure filled with information about a file.
You're simply passing that stream around to functions that does stuff with that information (ie read or write).
I am getting "round about" answers...
can i please get answer uptothepoint?
-stream means what?
-evaluate stream more than once mean what?
also, whats the use ofCode:ungetc(int c, FILE *stream) does it "push back" the character gotten by getchar()? so that the next call getchar() will give back the pushed back character?
No, look again at what tabstop posted. Using getc can, in effect, actually call fopen twice instead of one, which is what accessing the stream more than once means.
Whatever tapstop said above is going "bouncer" in my head...
can anyone give me a "simpler" explanation?
In simpler words, if you use getc, you may attempt to open the same file twice.
Instead of:
You get:Code:getc("all_my_data.txt");
Or along the lines of.Code:getc(fopen("all_my_data.txt", "r"));
If you read what you yourself posted, stream is a expression of type FILE * (pointer to a file). That expression, in a macro, may be evaluated more than once. I'm hoping you know what more than once means, but let's look at an example that doesn't deal with FILE to make sure: suppose we do this
If a is the larger expression (that is, if (a)>(b) evaluates to true), then a will be evaluated twice -- once in the > comparison, and once as the true part of the ternary operator ?:. So if a was really count++, then count will get incremented twice instead of once.Code:#define max(a,b) (a)>(b) ? (a) : (b)
So in the file example, if stream is an expression/function call (like fopen or something even more outre involving fseek and a comma) that function may be called more than once.
As to ungetc: why don't you keep reading? The bit right after the bit you posted says exactly what it does: it pushes the character c back onto the input stream, so that the next getc will read that character again. It also says that it is only guaranteed to work once in a row (so two successive ungetc's may fail).
I'm not sure why anyone would want to do that? How would you close it since you don't have a FILE handle now?Code:getc(fopen("all_my_data.txt", "r"));
But anyways, to answer the question for the millionth time, if you learn how macros work, including all the subtle pitfalls of using them, then you should understand what "evaluated more than once" means.
The "evaluate more than once" means things like this.
Will always do exactly what you expect it to.Code:ch = fgetc( streamArray[streamnum++] );
On the other hand may result in the side effects happening more than once.Code:ch = getc( streamArray[streamnum++] );
If the stream expression is constant, then the macro form is safe to use.
If you dance barefoot on the broken glass of undefined behaviour, you've got to expect the occasional cut.
If at first you don't succeed, try writing your phone number on the exam paper.
