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sscanf, swscanf

Read formatted data from a string.

**intsscanf(constchar*buffer,constchar*format [,**argument ] ... );

**intswscanf(constwchar_t*buffer,constwchar_t*format [,**argument ] ... );

Routine Required Header Compatibility
sscanf <stdio.h> ANSI, Win 95, Win NT
swscanf <stdio.h> or <wchar.h> ANSI, Win 95, Win NT

For additional compatibility information, see Compatibility in the Introduction.

Libraries

LIBC.LIB Single thread static library, retail version
LIBCMT.LIB Multithread static library, retail version
MSVCRT.LIB Import library for MSVCRT.DLL, retail version

Return Value

Each of these functions 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 the string is reached before the first conversion.

Parameters

buffer

Stored data

format

Format-control string

argument

Optional arguments

For more information, see Format Specifications.

Remarks

The sscanf function reads data from buffer into the location given by each argument. Every argument must be a pointer to a variable with a type that corresponds to a type specifier in format. The format argument controls the interpretation of the input fields and has the same form and function as the format argument for the scanf function; see scanf for a complete description of format. If copying takes place between strings that overlap, the behavior is undefined.

swscanf is a wide-character version of sscanf; the arguments to swscanf are wide-character strings. sscanf does not handle multibyte hexadecimal characters. swscanf does not handle Unicode fullwidth hexadecimal or “compatibility zone” characters. Otherwise, swscanf and sscanf behave identically.

Generic-Text Routine Mappings

TCHAR.H Routine _UNICODE & _MBCS Not Defined _MBCS Defined _UNICODE Defined
_stscanf sscanf sscanf swscanf

Example

/* SSCANF.C: This program uses sscanf to read data items
 * from a string named tokenstring, then displays them.
 */

#include <stdio.h>

void main( void )
{
   char  tokenstring[] = "15 12 14...";
   char  s[81];
   char  c;
   int   i;
   float fp;

   /* Input various data from tokenstring: */
   sscanf( tokenstring, "%s", s );
   sscanf( tokenstring, "%c", &c );
   sscanf( tokenstring, "%d", &i );
   sscanf( tokenstring, "%f", &fp );

   /* Output the data read */
   printf( "String    = %s\n", s );
   printf( "Character = %c\n", c );
   printf( "Integer:  = %d\n", i );
   printf( "Real:     = %f\n", fp );
}

Output

String    = 15
Character = 1
Integer:  = 15
Real:     = 15.000000

Stream I/O Routines

See Also   fscanf, scanf, sprintf, _snprintf