begginner and I need help, switch statement

this is my first post and I have looked around on the board and havn't really found anything to help me
I understand the very basics of c and I have this program but when it goes into the switch statement under case 1 it jumps past a line to take the user input and I can't figure it out

Code:

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menu();      -  -  -      /* calls menu function, displays menu */
    scanf("%d", &opt);  -  -  -        /* scans for input choice */
    while (opt != 3)    -  -  -       
      { switch(opt)    -      /* sets up the switch for options */
          { case 1:          -      /* option 1 if customer deposits */
                printf("Now Please Enter Your User ID: ");
                gets(cid);  <----------
                i = search(cid);
                if(i == -1)
                  puts("\nWe don't show that ID, please try again\n");
                puts("\nPlease enter amount you want to deposit\n");
                scanf("%f",&amount);
                c[i].balance = c[i].balance + amount;
                printf("\n Your new account balance is %f", c[i].balance);
                break;
            case 2:
.
.
.
int search(char cid[])
  { int i;
    for(i = 0; i < 5; i++)
      if(strcmp(c[i].id, cid) == 0)
                return i;}

---

I have a function search but it jumps past the gets line and goes right to please enter amount to deposit. I need it to be able to retrieve a certain user ID and it jumps over that gets statement

Please help

That is due to you made a call to

Code:

---

scanf("%d", &opt);

---

When you key in a value and hit Enter, the value is taken into opt but scanf leave a '\n' character in the stdin, and when gets comes along the '\n' character in the stream makes gets thinks that you've hit Enter, that's why you've not been able to enter a value and it seems 'skips' away while it really does passed by.

A fix to the problem is to consume the '\n' character after the scanf.

Code:

---

char  garbages[255] = {0}; <-- Declare a array to collect garbage

scanf("%d", &opt);              /* scans for input choice */
gets(garbages);            <---- Make a call to gets here to eat away the '\n' character

...

---

thanks, I went with the first approach, but now I have a new error

Code:

---


while (opt != 3)      /* while option is not 3 it goes to a switch */
      switch (opt)        /* sets up the switch for options */
          case 1:          /* option 1 if customer deposits */
          puts("Now Please Enter Your User ID: ");
          gets(cid);
          i = search(cid);
          puts("\nPlease enter amount you want to deposit\n");
          scanf("%f",&amount);
          c[i].balance = c[i].balance + amount;
          printf("\n Your new account balance is %.2f\n", c[i].balance);
          break;
         
      case 2:
              puts("blah");
              break;

---

the compiler now says that the break in case 1 is not part of a case and that case 2 isn't in the switch statement
what is terminating the switch ?

thanks again

thanks alot, you guys have been a real help

If I have more problems I will try to read the FAQ more slowly