Begginer C Question About getchar()

[wpcarro]

As a preface, I have done my best to read through the FAQs on this forum so if I am violating the forum rules it's not out of negligence.

That said, I have a question regarding how the getchar() function in the stdio library works. For contextual purposes, I am writing a simple program that takes input from the terminal (stdin) and stores the inputted characters into a consolidated C string.

  1 #include <stdio.h>
  2 
  3 #define MAX_LENGTH 10
  4 
  5 int readbuff(char[]);
  6 
  7 main()
  8 {
  9     char buff[MAX_LENGTH];
 10 
 11     readbuff(buff);
 12     printf("%s", buff);
 13 
 14     return 0;
 15 }
 16 
 17 /* read buffer and return the number of characters input */
 18 int readbuff(char buff[])
 19 {
 20     int c, i;
 21 
 22     for(i = 0; i < MAX_LENGTH - 1 && (c = getchar()) != EOF && c != '\n'; ++i)
 23         buff[i] = c;
 24     if(c == '\n')
 25         buff[i++] = c;
 26     buff[i++] = '\0';
 27 
 28     return i;
 29 }

In short, my question is what exactly happens when the user presses the Enter key? I am wondering if the reaction is relative to the OS, or if there is some standard signal that is sent when this key is pressed. I am aware that the newline character, '\n', is appended to the end of the current string of characters, but why does it also cause the program to start executing the getchar() function inside of the for loop?

I am running Ubuntu 11.04 with the BASH if that makes a difference.

[tabstop]

User input is line-buffered (this is what allows you, for instance, to backspace over characters to correct mistakes). Once you press enter the whole line is placed the input buffer for your program to process. (And the flip side: if there's still input in the buffer that hasn't been processed, further calls for getchar() or other input functions won't "block" waiting for more input, but use what's still in the buffer.)

[wpcarro]

Just to be certain that I fully understand this concept:
When you say that "User input is line-buffered", do you mean that that the shell is waiting for the newline character to appear before it moves the user-inputted characters into the actual input buffer, and it is from there that the getchar() function begins to read the input? Also, when you say "the input buffer" are you referring to stdin?

[tabstop]

Yes, and yes.

[wpcarro]

I guess my last question is whether or not it is standard for input at the shell level the be line-buffered?

[whiteflags]

The standard pertains to the language, not anything else: if you try to put C on a system without files and expect I/O operations to work, you have to emulate the file concept to a sufficient degree.

[wpcarro]

Thanks for all of your replies!