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scanf

SCANF(3)                   Linux Programmer's Manual                  SCANF(3)



NAME
       scanf,  fscanf, sscanf, vscanf, vsscanf, vfscanf - input format conver-
       sion

SYNOPSIS
       #include <stdio.h>
       int scanf(const char *format, ...);
       int fscanf(FILE *stream, const char *format, ...);
       int sscanf(const char *str, const char *format, ...);

       #include <stdarg.h>
       int vscanf(const char *format, va_list ap);
       int vsscanf(const char *str, const char *format, va_list ap);
       int vfscanf(FILE *stream, const char *format, va_list ap);

DESCRIPTION
       The scanf family of functions scans input  according  to  a  format  as
       described  below.   This  format may contain conversion specifiers; the
       results from such conversions, if any, are stored through  the  pointer
       arguments.   The  scanf  function  reads  input from the standard input
       stream stdin, fscanf reads input from the stream  pointer  stream,  and
       sscanf reads its input from the character string pointed to by str.

       The  vfscanf  function is analogous to vfprintf(3) and reads input from
       the stream pointer stream using a variable argument  list  of  pointers
       (see  stdarg(3).   The  vscanf  function scans a variable argument list
       from the standard input and  the  vsscanf  function  scans  it  from  a
       string;  these  are  analogous  to  the  vprintf and vsprintf functions
       respectively.

       Each successive pointer argument must  correspond  properly  with  each
       successive  conversion  specifier  (but  see `suppression' below).  All
       conversions are introduced by the % (percent sign) character.  The for-
       mat  string  may  also  contain other characters.  White space (such as
       blanks, tabs, or newlines) in the format string  match  any  amount  of
       white  space,  including  none,  in the input.  Everything else matches
       only itself.  Scanning stops when an input  character  does  not  match
       such  a format character.  Scanning also stops when an input conversion
       cannot be made (see below).

CONVERSIONS
       Following the % character introducing a conversion there may be a  num-
       ber of flag characters, as follows:

       *      Suppresses  assignment.   The  conversion that follows occurs as
              usual, but no pointer is used; the result of the  conversion  is
              simply discarded.

       a      Indicates that the conversion will be s, the needed memory space
              for the string will be malloc'ed  and the pointer to it will  be
              assigned to the char pointer variable, which does not have to be
              initialized before.  This flag does not exist in ANSI C.

       h      Indicates that the conversion will be one of dioux or n and  the
              next pointer is a pointer to a short int (rather than int).

       l      Indicates  either  that the conversion will be one of dioux or n
              and the next pointer is a pointer to a  long  int  (rather  than
              int),  or  that  the  conversion will be one of efg and the next
              pointer is a pointer to double (rather than float).   Specifying
              two l flags is equivalent to the L flag.

       L      Indicates  that  the  conversion will be either efg and the next
              pointer is a pointer to long double or the  conversion  will  be
              dioux  and  the  next  pointer is a pointer to long long.  (Note
              that long long is not an ANSI C type.  Any  program  using  this
              will not be portable to all architectures).

       q      equivalent to L.  This flag does not exist in ANSI C.

       In  addition  to  these  flags,  there may be an optional maximum field
       width, expressed as a decimal integer, between the %  and  the  conver-
       sion.   If no width is given, a default of `infinity' is used (with one
       exception, below); otherwise at most this many characters  are  scanned
       in  processing  the conversion.  Before conversion begins, most conver-
       sions skip white space; this white space is  not  counted  against  the
       field width.

       The following conversions are available:

       %      Matches  a  literal  `%'.   That  is,  `%%' in the format string
              matches a single input `%' character.  No  conversion  is  done,
              and assignment does not occur.

       d      Matches  an  optionally signed decimal integer; the next pointer
              must be a pointer to int.

       D      Equivalent to ld; this exists only for backwards  compatibility.
              (Note: thus only in libc4. In libc5 and glibc the %D is silently
              ignored, causing old programs to fail mysteriously.)

       i      Matches an optionally signed integer; the next pointer must be a
              pointer  to  int.   The  integer is read in base 16 if it begins
              with `0x' or `0X', in base 8 if it begins with `0', and in  base
              10  otherwise.   Only characters that correspond to the base are
              used.

       o      Matches an unsigned octal integer; the next pointer  must  be  a
              pointer to unsigned int.

       u      Matches  an unsigned decimal integer; the next pointer must be a
              pointer to unsigned int.

       x      Matches an unsigned hexadecimal integer; the next  pointer  must
              be a pointer to unsigned int.

       X      Equivalent to x

       f      Matches  an  optionally  signed  floating-point number; the next
              pointer must be a pointer to float.

       e      Equivalent to f.

       g      Equivalent to f.

       E      Equivalent to f

       s      Matches a  sequence  of  non-white-space  characters;  the  next
              pointer  must  be a pointer to char, and the array must be large
              enough to accept all the sequence and the terminating NUL  char-
              acter.   The input string stops at white space or at the maximum
              field width, whichever occurs first.

       c      Matches a sequence of width count characters  (default  1);  the
              next pointer must be a pointer to char, and there must be enough
              room for all the characters (no terminating NUL is added).   The
              usual  skip of leading white space is suppressed.  To skip white
              space first, use an explicit space in the format.

       [      Matches a nonempty sequence of characters from the specified set
              of  accepted  characters;  the next pointer must be a pointer to
              char, and there must be enough room for all  the  characters  in
              the string, plus a terminating NUL character.  The usual skip of
              leading white space is suppressed.  The string is to be made  up
              of  characters  in  (or  not  in)  a  particular set; the set is
              defined by the characters between the open bracket  [  character
              and a close bracket ] character.  The set excludes those charac-
              ters if the first character after the open bracket is a  circum-
              flex  ^.   To  include  a  close bracket in the set, make it the
              first character after the open bracket or  the  circumflex;  any
              other position will end the set.  The hyphen character - is also
              special; when placed between two other characters, it  adds  all
              intervening characters to the set.  To include a hyphen, make it
              the  last  character  before  the  final  close  bracket.    For
              instance,  `[^]0-9-]'  means  the  set  `everything except close
              bracket, zero through nine, and hyphen'.  The string  ends  with
              the appearance of a character not in the (or, with a circumflex,
              in) set or when the field width runs out.

       p      Matches a pointer value (as printed by `%p'  in  printf(3);  the
              next pointer must be a pointer to void.

       n      Nothing  is expected; instead, the number of characters consumed
              thus far from the input is  stored  through  the  next  pointer,
              which  must  be  a  pointer  to  int.  This is not a conversion,
              although it can be suppressed with the * flag.  The  C  standard
              says:  `Execution  of  a  %n  directive  does  not increment the
              assignment count returned at the completion  of  execution'  but
              the  Corrigendum  seems  to contradict this. Probably it is wise
              not to make any assumptions on the effect of %n  conversions  on
              the return value.



RETURN VALUE
       These functions return the number of input items assigned, which can be
       fewer than provided for, or even zero, in the event of a matching fail-
       ure.   Zero indicates that, while there was input available, no conver-
       sions were assigned; typically this is due to an invalid input  charac-
       ter,  such as an alphabetic character for a `%d' conversion.  The value
       EOF is returned if an input failure occurs before any  conversion  such
       as  an end-of-file occurs. If an error or end-of-file occurs after con-
       version has begun, the number of conversions  which  were  successfully
       completed is returned.

SEE ALSO
       strtol(3), strtoul(3), strtod(3), getc(3), printf(3)

CONFORMING TO
       The  functions  fscanf,  scanf,  and sscanf conform to ANSI X3.159-1989
       (``ANSI C'').

       The q flag is the BSD 4.4 notation for long long, while ll or the usage
       of L in integer conversions is the GNU notation.

       The Linux version of these functions is based on the GNU libio library.
       Take a look at the info documentation of GNU libc  (glibc-1.08)  for  a
       more concise description.

BUGS
       All  functions  are  fully ANSI X3.159-1989 conformant, but provide the
       additional flags q and a as well as an additional behaviour  of  the  L
       and  l  flags.  The latter may be considered to be a bug, as it changes
       the behaviour of flags defined in ANSI X3.159-1989.

       Some combinations of flags defined by ANSI C are not  making  sense  in
       ANSI  C  (e.g.   %Ld).  While they may have a well-defined behaviour on
       Linux, this need not to be so on other architectures. Therefore it usu-
       ally is better to use flags that are not defined by ANSI C at all, i.e.
       use q instead of L in combination with diouxX conversions or ll.

       The usage of q is not the same as on BSD 4.4, as  it  may  be  used  in
       float conversions equivalently to L.



LINUX MANPAGE                     1995-11-01                          SCANF(3)