Need help, code stops

Hi need your help again ...

Code:

---

#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>
 
typedef struct
{
    char phone[30];
    char name[30];
}
Phonebook;
Phonebook people[2];

int showfile(void);

int main()
{

    //open file & user input
    FILE *file = fopen("phonebook.txt", "w");
   
    for(int i = 0; i < 2; i++)
    {
        printf("Name [%d] ?: ", i+1);
        scanf(" %[^\n]", people[i].name);
       
        printf("Phone [%d] ?: ", i+1);
        scanf("%s", people[i].phone);

        fprintf(file, "Name: %s\t Phone: %s\n", people[i].name, people[i].phone);
    }
    fclose(file);

    //ask user to read file
    char decision;
    printf("\nShow File ? (y/n): ");
    scanf("%c", &decision);

    if(decision == 'y')
    showfile();
        else if(decision == 'n')
        printf("Quit\n");

return 0;
}

//// FUNCTIONS ////
///////////////////

int showfile(void)
{
    FILE *fh_output = fopen("phonebook.txt", "r");

    if(fh_output != NULL)
    {
        char c;
        while((c = fgetc(fh_output)) != EOF)
        putchar(c);
    }
    fclose(fh_output);
    return 0;
}

---

The problem was that the code always stopped after
//ask user to read file
printf("\nShow File ? (y/n): ");
scanf("%c", &decision);

It didnt let me type in anything if I didnt have a backspace in front of "%c" in the scanf function but if I remove the code above I dont need a backspace, why is that the case ? Whats the deal with the backspace in front of it ? Someone explained it to me once but I still dont get it.

Thanks in advance.

First of all, it's not backspace
" " is space (cursor moves right(*))
"\b" is backspace (cursor moves left(*))

Try this

Code:

---

    if(decision == 'y')
        showfile();
    else if(decision == 'n')
        printf("Quit\n");
    else
        printf("Unknown char with decimal value %d\n", decision);

---

Without the space, chances are you're ending up with the newline (aka \n aka decimal 10) in decision.

The space before the %c ensures that all white space (spaces, newlines) is skipped before putting the next visible character (which I guess in your case is y or n) into decision.

(*) assuming text is being displayed left-to-right to begin with.

Ups not sure why I wrote "backspace", thanks alot for the explanation and your time.

You are scanning the phone field with %s. Remember that %s stops on white space, so if someone types a complex phone string this will break. You probably should use the same pattern you used for the name, which reads until end of line.