Moving around in functions

I have this simple situation where I call a void function within another function:

Code:

---

void prompt() {
    char command = '\0';
    int numScanned = 0;
   
    printf("? ");
    numScanned = scanf("%c", &command);
   
    while (numScanned == 1) {
        if (command == 'h') {
            helpCommand();
        }
       
        printf("? ");
        numScanned = scanf("%c", &command);
    }
   
}

---

Basically the program will query the user with

?

and then it will expect a character to be entered. If the character is equivalent to h then it will call a void function called helpCommand which is just a function that prints stuff. The problem however is that when I run the program I'm getting the results

? h
<helpCommand output>
? ?

notice the double question marks, or even if I input something other than h I get

? a
? ?

which is clearly happening because it's printing the second question mark within the while loop and then somehow it's going back to the beginning of the prompt function and printing the first question mark? I'm really confused about this, and I've also checked to see what is in the character variable command after the scanf in the while loop and it doesn't print out anything (or it's possibly a space, blank, etc.).

Can anyone please explain what is happening here?

The newline from entering the input was left in the input buffer and then read by the next scanf call.

You don't just press 'h', do you? I'm pretty sure you also press ENTER just after the 'h'.

You need to ignore the ENTER:

Code:

---

if (command == '\n') /* do what is needed to ignore ENTER */

---

You may also want to ignore space, TAB, and any other special characters ...

I was unsure of how to ignore the enter, so I've done it in a crude way

Code:

---

void prompt() {
    char command = '\0';
    int numScanned = 0;
   
    printf("? ");
    numScanned = scanf("%c", &command);
    printf("command = %c\n", command);
   
    while (numScanned == 1) {
        if (command == 'h') {
            helpCommand();
        }
        printf("? ");
        while (command == '\n' || command == ' ' || command == '\t') {
            numScanned = scanf("%c", &command);
        }
        numScanned = scanf("%c", &command);
    }
   
}

---

Yet it's still not working, and I'm already seeing a problem with this because later on I'm going to need to accept a newline from the user (as opposed to h or any other character I'll also be using). Also, I'm unsure with what other characters can be used besides new lines, spaces and tabs.

EDIT: What I've written clearly doesn't work either. It scans until it finds something other than those blank characters and then it waits to scan again.

EDIT2: Ok I have it working:

Code:

---

void prompt() {
    char command = '\0';
    int numScanned = 0;
   
    printf("? ");
    numScanned = scanf("%c", &command);
    printf("command = %c\n", command);
   
    while (numScanned == 1) {
        if (command == 'h') {
            helpCommand();
        }
        printf("? ");
        numScanned = scanf("%c", &command);
        while (command == '\n' || command == ' ' || command == '\t') {
            numScanned = scanf("%c", &command);
        }
    }
}

---

I still have the problem that I'll need to accept a newline character from the user at some point, but I guess I can cross that bridge when I get there.
Also, is it possible to make this more succinct? I find it hard to believe that I need 3 scanfs to just do the one task of scanning.

You can't make it too much more succint, but, since you're using scanf only to read one char, you could just call getchar. It amounts to the same thing and is probably more clear. In general, I find scanf a pain for user input, and it gets really ugly if you mix it with fgets, etc.

Basically, what you're trying to do is flush the input buffer, i.e. discard everything upto and including a new line. Read this FAQ article we have: FAQ > Flush the input buffer - Cprogramming.com.

I suggest making a function that flushes the input buffer so you can reuse it everywhere.

Ok, thankyou. I'll look into that.

Here's a more 'concise' version

Code:

---

void prompt()
{
    char command = '\0';
   
    printf("? ");
    command = getchar();
    printf("command = %c\n", command);
   
    while (command != exitcharacter) 
    {
        while (xx = getchar() != '\n') ;        // discard the rest of the buffer

        if (command == 'h')
        {
            helpCommand();
            continue;                              // skip rest of the loop
        }
        // process other characters


        printf("? ");
        command = getchar();
    }
}

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