fgetc, getc

int fgetc( FILE *stream );

int getc( FILE *stream );

Reads the next character from the given input stream. getc() may be implemented as a macro.

Parameters

Return value

The obtained character on success or EOF on failure.

If the failure has been caused by end-of-file condition, additionally sets the eof indicator (see feof()) on stream. If the failure has been caused by some other error, sets the error indicator (see ferror()) on stream.

Example

#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
 
int main(void)
{
    FILE* fp = fopen("test.txt", "r");
    if(!fp) {
        perror("File opening failed");
        return EXIT_FAILURE;
    }
 
    int c; // note: int, not char, required to handle EOF
    while ((c = fgetc(fp)) != EOF) { // standard C I/O file reading loop
       putchar(c);
    }
 
    if (ferror(fp))
        puts("I/O error when reading");
    else if (feof(fp))
        puts("End of file reached successfully");
 
    fclose(fp);
}

References

• C11 standard (ISO/IEC 9899:2011):
• 7.21.7.1 The fgetc function (p: 330)
• 7.21.7.5 The getc function (p: 332)
• C99 standard (ISO/IEC 9899:1999):
• 7.19.7.1 The fgetc function (p: 296)
• 7.19.7.5 The getc function (p: 297-298)
• C89/C90 standard (ISO/IEC 9899:1990):
• 4.9.7.1 The fgetc function
• 4.9.7.5 The getc function

See also