NAME¶

std::getchar - std::getchar

Synopsis¶

Defined in header <cstdio>
int getchar();

Reads the next character from stdin.

Equivalent to std::getc(stdin).

Parameters¶

(none)

Return value¶

The obtained character on success or EOF on failure.

If the failure has been caused by end of file condition, additionally sets the eof
indicator (see std::feof()) on stdin. If the failure has been caused by some other
error, sets the error indicator (see std::ferror()) on stdin.

Example¶

std::getchar with error checking. Exit program by entering ESC char.

#include <cctype>
#include <cstdio>
#include <cstdlib>
#include <iomanip>
#include <iostream>

int main()
{
for (int ch; (ch = std::getchar()) != EOF ;) // read/print "abc" from stdin
{
if (std::isprint(ch))
std::cout << static_cast<char>(ch) << '\n';
if (ch == 27) // 'ESC' (escape) in ASCII
return EXIT_SUCCESS;
}

// Test reason for reaching EOF.
if (std::feof(stdin)) // if failure caused by end-of-file condition
std::cout << "End of file reached\n";
else if (std::ferror(stdin)) // if failure caused by some other error
{
std::perror("getchar()");
std::cerr << "getchar() failed in file " << std::quoted(__FILE__)
<< " at line # " << __LINE__ - 14 << '\n';
std::exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
}

return EXIT_SUCCESS;
}

Possible output:¶

abc
a
b
c
^[

See also¶

fgetc gets a character from a file stream
getc (function)
C documentation for
getchar