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Gets and Puts in C

Gets and Puts​

  • gets() and puts() are two C library functions that are used for input and output of strings, respectively.

  • Both gets() and puts() functions are part of the stdio.h header file, which is included at the beginning of the program.

Gets​

  • The gets() function reads a line of text from stdin (standard input) and stores it in a string variable.

  • The gets() function takes a single argument, which is a pointer to a character array that will hold the input string.

  • The function reads characters from stdin and appends them to the input string until a newline character (\n) is encountered.

  • The input string is automatically null-terminated.

Puts​

  • The puts() function writes a null-terminated string to stdout (standard output) and adds a newline character at the end of the string.

  • The puts() function takes a single argument, which is a pointer to a null-terminated character array (string). The function writes the string to stdout followed by a newline character (\n).

whom to choose

  • It should be noted that the use of gets() function is discouraged due to potential security risks.

  • The fgets() function is a safer alternative for reading input strings from stdin.

The syntax for gets() and puts() is:

char *gets(char *str);`gets()`
int puts(const char *str);

Example​

Following C program uses gets() and puts() functions to read input strings and write them back to the console:

#include <stdio.h>

#define MAX_LENGTH 100

int main() {
    char input[MAX_LENGTH];

    printf("Enter a message: ");
    gets(input);

    printf("You entered: ");
    puts(input);

    return 0;
}

Explanation:

  • We first declare a character array input of size MAX_LENGTH. We then print a message to the console using printf() function, asking the user to enter a message.
  • We then use the gets() function to read a line of text from stdin and store it in the input array.
  • Next, we use the puts() function to write the input string back to the console, followed by a newline character.

When this program is run, the user is prompted to enter a message. Once they enter the message and press Enter, the program reads the input string and echoes it back to the console.

Output:

Enter a message: Hello, World!
You entered: Hello, World!

The user entered the message "Hello, World!" and the program echoed the message back to the console.

note

Note that the puts() function automatically adds a newline character at the end of the string.