FGETS(3) MachTen Programmer’s Manual FGETS(3)

NAME
fgets, gets - get a line from a stream

SYNOPSIS
#include <stdio.h>

char *
fgets(char *str, int size, FILE *stream)

char *
gets(char *str)

DESCRIPTION
The fgets() function reads at most one less than the number of characters
specified by size from the given stream and stores them in the string
str. Reading stops when a newline character is found, at end-of-file or
error. The newline, if any, is retained. In any case a ‘ ’ character
is appended to end the string.

The gets() function is equivalent to fgets() with an infinite size and a
stream of stdin, except that the newline character (if any) is not stored
in the string. It is the caller’s responsibility to ensure that the in-
put line, if any, is sufficiently short to fit in the string.

RETURN VALUES
Upon successful completion, fgets() and gets() return a pointer to the
string. If end-of-file or an error occurs before any characters are
read, they return NULL. The fgets() and functions gets() do not distin-
guish between end-of-file and error, and callers must use feof(3) and
ferror(3) to determine which occurred.

ERRORS
[EBADF] The given stream is not a readable stream.

The function fgets() may also fail and set errno for any of the errors
specified for the routines fflush(3), fstat(2), read(2), or malloc(3).

The function gets() may also fail and set errno for any of the errors
specified for the routine getchar(3).

SEE ALSO
feof(3), ferror(3), fgetline(3)

STANDARDS
The functions fgets() and gets() conform to ANSI C3.159-1989 (‘‘ANSI
C’’).

BUGS
Since it is usually impossible to ensure that the next input line is less
than some arbitrary length, and because overflowing the input buffer is
almost invariably a security violation, programs should NEVER use gets().
The gets() function exists purely to conform to ANSI C3.159-1989 (‘‘ANSI
C’’).

4.4BSD June 4, 1993 1