getc, getwc

Read a character from a stream.

Syntax

int getc(
   FILE *stream
);
wint_t getwc(
   FILE *stream
);

Parameters

stream
Input stream.

Return value

Returns the character read. To indicate a read error or end-of-file condition, getc returns EOF, and getwc returns WEOF. For getc, use ferror or feof to check for an error or for end of file. If stream is NULL, getc and getwc invoke the invalid parameter handler, as described in Parameter validation. If execution is allowed to continue, these functions return EOF (or WEOF for getwc), and set errno to EINVAL.

For more information about return codes, see errno, _doserrno, _sys_errlist, and _sys_nerr.

Remarks

Each routine reads a single character from a file at the current position and increments the associated file pointer (if defined) to point to the next character. The file is associated with stream.

These functions lock the calling thread and are therefore thread-safe. For a non-locking version, see _getc_nolock, _getwc_nolock.

Routine-specific remarks follow.

Routine	Remarks
getc	Same as fgetc, but implemented as a function and as a macro.
getwc	Wide-character version of getc. Reads a multibyte character or a wide character according to whether stream is opened in text mode or binary mode.

By default, this function's global state is scoped to the application. To change this behavior, see Global state in the CRT.

Generic-text routine mappings

TCHAR.H routine	_UNICODE and _MBCS not defined	_MBCS defined	_UNICODE defined
_gettc	getc	getc	getwc

Requirements

Routine	Required header
getc	<stdio.h>
getwc	<stdio.h> or <wchar.h>

For more compatibility information, see Compatibility.

Example

// crt_getc.c
// Use getc to read a line from a file.

#include <stdio.h>

int main()
{
    char buffer[81];
    int i, ch;
    FILE* fp;

    // Read a single line from the file "crt_getc.txt".

    fopen_s(&fp, "crt_getc.txt", "r");
    if (!fp)
    {
       printf("Failed to open file crt_getc.txt.\n");
       exit(1);
    }

    for (i = 0; (i < 80) && ((ch = getc(fp)) != EOF)
                         && (ch != '\n'); i++)
    {
        buffer[i] = (char) ch;
    }

    // Terminate string with a null character
    buffer[i] = '\0';
    printf( "Input was: %s\n", buffer);

    fclose(fp);
}

Input: crt_getc.txt

Line one.
Line two.

Output

Input was: Line one.

See also

Stream I/O
fgetc, fgetwc
_getch, _getwch
putc, putwc
ungetc, ungetwc