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We can read string entered by a user at console using two in-built functions such as - scanf() and gets(). Let's take a look at the two functions one-by-one and see how they are used to read the strings typed at the console.

• Using scanf() function to read a string


We can read a string entered by the user using the in-built scanf function. Let's see how it done.



/* Using scanf() function to read a string in C */ 

#include<stdio.h>

int main()
{
char season[20];
printf("Enter your favorite season : ");
scanf("%s", season);
printf("Your favorite season is :  %s", season);

return 0;
}






Output




Enter your favorite season : Autumn
Your favorite season is :  Autumn




In this example, the user is asked to type in his/her favorite season. As soon as, the user enters the asked information and presses the enter button on the keyboard, all the characters entered by the user get stored in the char array named season, using the format specifier %s with in-built scanf() function.






• The scanf() function cannot read a multi-word string


We cannot read a multi-word< string entered by the user using the in-built scanf function. Let's see an example.



/* scanf() function cannot read multi-word strings in C */ 

#include<stdio.h>

int main()
{
char country[20];
printf("Enter a country you want to visit : ");
scanf("%s", country); /*scanf() function can't read multi-words*/
printf("The country you want to visit is :  %s", country);

return 0;
}






Output




Enter a country you want to visit : Czech Republic
The country you want to visit is :  Czech




In this example, the user is asked to type in his/her favorite country. As soon as, the user enters the asked information i.e. Czech Republic and presses the enter button on the keyboard, Only the characters in the first word Czech get stored in the char array named season, the second word Republic after space does not get stored in char array. This proves that using the format specifier %s with in-built scanf() function, we cannot read multi-word strings typed at the console.

In this situation, a built-in function gets() comes to the rescue.




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• Using gets() function to read a string


We can read a string entered by the user using another in-built function gets(). Let's see how it done.



/* Using gets() function to read a string in C */ 

#include<stdio.h>

int main()
{
char country[20];
printf("Enter a country you want to visit : ");
gets(country);
printf("The country you want to visit is :  %s", country);

return 0;
}






Output




Enter a country you want to visit : Czech Republic
The country you want to visit is :  Czech Republic



As you can in the example, the whole multi-word string i.e. name of the country entered by the user gets stored in the char array, using the in-built gets() function, which we couldn't achieve using scanf() function. And unlike, scanf() method, the gets() method does not take any format specifier as a parameter but only takes the name of char array.

As, we are have read about gets() function. Let's finish this article by looking at an example of the opposite of gets() i.e. the puts function.




Using puts() to display the content of string



/* Using puts() function to display a string*/ 

#include<stdio.h>

int main()
{
char country[20];
printf("Enter a country you want to visit : ");
gets(country);
printf("The country you want to visit is : ");
puts(country);

return 0;
}





Output




Enter a country you want to visit : New Zealand
The country you want to visit is :  New Zealand



The function puts() is used to display the content of a char array/string. Just like gets() function, the the puts() method does not take any format specifier as a parameter but only takes the name of char array whose content is to be displayed.






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