Determining if stdin stream holds data

**Stack Overflow** · 01-28-2005

Hello,

My question is simple. Since I am working on a small mutl-client server project, I want to be able to type information while the server is running and process what was sent locally. Like if I type in "connections" it will call on a function I already made that will display all clients connected.

Though, a slight problem is that I have that in my infinite server while loop. This is how my code works:

Code:

while (1) {
    /* read local input stream */
    if ((n = read(0, svrMsg, 63)) > 0)
        if (processMessage(svrMsg) == -1)
            break;

    /* look for incoming connections */

    /* read data accordingly */
}

Let me expound. My function processMessage() returns 1 if something generic was sent, and returns -1 if I request "disconnect" which will shut the server down. My read() command is supposed to make sure if something was read, then to process. But my other functions below that are supposed to look for incoming connections and read the data never get executed. It's almost like my read function waits for input, and doesn't move on.

I have even attempted to flush the input stream:

Code:

while ((ch = getchar()) != '\n' && ch != EOF);

Though no luck. Is there another approach I should take?

- Stack Overflow

**Thantos** · 01-28-2005

you can use select() to see if stdin has any data for reading. Note this can get platform specific as you'll need to know the file number for stdin.

Here is an example for the man page for select. Note it can be done outside of unix/linux

Code:

       #include <stdio.h>
       #include <sys/time.h>
       #include <sys/types.h>
       #include <unistd.h>

       int main(void)
       {
           fd_set rfds;
           struct timeval tv;
           int retval;

           /* Watch stdin (fd 0) to see when it has input. */
           FD_ZERO(&rfds);
           FD_SET(0, &rfds);
           /* Wait up to five seconds. */
           tv.tv_sec = 5;
           tv.tv_usec = 0;

           retval = select(1, &rfds, NULL, NULL, &tv);
           /* Don't rely on the value of tv now! */

           if (retval)
               printf("Data is available now.\n");
               /* FD_ISSET(0, &rfds) will be true. */
           else
               printf("No data within five seconds.\n");

           return 0;
       }

**Stack Overflow** · 01-28-2005

Nice,

Exactly what I was looking for Thantos. Thanks again!

- Stack Overflow

**itsme86** · 01-28-2005

You can use fileno(stdin); to get stdin's file descriptor.

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