need help with simple while loop (newbie)

Code:

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#include <stdio.h>
int main (void)
{
int it = 0;
char ch;

printf ("type a char");
scanf ("%c", &ch);

while ( ch != 'z' )
{

++it;
printf ("type the next char");
scanf ("%c", &ch);
}
printf ("%d", it);

return 0;
}

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why does the it print type next char twice??????

Because "%c" is special, in the way that it doesn't ignore whitespace. If you want it to, you need to add a space before the percent sign, like this:

Code:

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scanf(" %c", &ch);

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I made some changes to your code:

Code:

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#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>

int main (void)
{
    int it = 0;
    char ch;
 
    printf ("Type a char, 'q' to quit\n");
    scanf (" %c", &ch);
 
    while ( ch != 'q' ) // do while is possible too
    {
 
        ++it;
        printf ("Type the next char\n");
        scanf (" %c", &ch);
    }
        printf ("Number of entered chars is %d\n", it);
 
    return EXIT_SUCCESS;
}

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