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scanf, wscanf

Visual Studio .NET 2003

Read formatted data from the standard input stream.

int scanf(
   const char *format [,
   argument]... 
);
int wscanf(
   const wchar_t *format [,
   argument]... 
);

Parameters

format: Format control string.
argument: Optional arguments.

Return Value

Returns the number of fields successfully converted and assigned; the return value does not include fields that were read but not assigned. A return value of 0 indicates that no fields were assigned. The return value is EOF for an error or if the end-of-file character or the end-of-string character is encountered in the first attempt to read a character.

Remarks

The scanf function reads data from the standard input stream stdin and writes the data into the location given by argument. Each argument must be a pointer to a variable of a type that corresponds to a type specifier in format. If copying takes place between strings that overlap, the behavior is undefined.

Security Note When reading a string with scanf, always specify a width for the %s format (for example, "32%s" instead of "%s"); otherwise, improperly formatted input can easily cause a buffer overrun. Alternately, consider using fgets.

wscanf is a wide-character version of scanf; the format argument to wscanf is a wide-character string. wscanf and scanf behave identically otherwise.

Generic-Text Routine Mappings

TCHAR.H routine	_UNICODE & _MBCS not defined	_MBCS defined	_UNICODE defined
_tscanf	scanf	scanf	wscanf

For more information, see Format Specification Fields — scanf functions and wscanf Functions.

Requirements

Routine	Required header	Compatibility
scanf	<stdio.h>	ANSI, Win 98, Win Me, Win NT, Win 2000, Win XP
wscanf	<stdio.h> or <wchar.h>	ANSI, Win 98, Win Me, Win NT, Win 2000, Win XP

For additional compatibility information, see Compatibility in the Introduction.

Libraries

All versions of the C run-time libraries.

Example

// crt_scanf.c
 /* This program uses the scanf and wscanf functions
  * to read formatted input.
  */

#include <stdio.h>

int main( void )
{
   int   i, result;
   float fp;
   char  c, s[81];
   wchar_t wc, ws[81];
   result = scanf( "%d %f %c %C %80s %80S", &i, &fp, &c, &wc, s, ws );
   printf( "The number of fields input is %d\n", result );
   printf( "The contents are: %d %f %c %C %s %S\n", i, fp, c, wc, s, ws);
   result = wscanf( L"%d %f %hc %lc %80S %80ls", &i, &fp, &c, &wc, s, ws );
   wprintf( L"The number of fields input is %d\n", result );
   wprintf( L"The contents are: %d %f %C %c %hs %s\n", i, fp, c, wc, s, ws);
}

Input

71 98.6 h z Byte characters
36 92.3 y n Wide characters

Output

The number of fields input is 6
The contents are: 71 98.599998 h z Byte characters
The number of fields input is 6
The contents are: 36 92.300003 y n Wide characters