Contents|Index|Previous|Next

getc
[read a character (macro)]

SYNOPSIS
#include <stdio.h>
int getc(FILE *fp);

DESCRIPTION
getc is a macro, defined in stdio.h. You can use getc to get the next single character from the file or stream identified by fp. As a side effect, getc advances the file’s current position indicator.

For a subroutine version of this macro, see fgetc.

RETURNS
The next character (read as an unsigned char, and cast to int), unless there is no more data, or the host system reports a read error; in either of these situations, getc returns EOF.

You can distinguish the two situations that cause an EOF result by using the ferror and feof functions.

COMPLIANCE
ANSI C requires getc; it suggests, but does not require, that getc be implemented as a macro. The standard explicitly permits macro implementations of getc to use the argument more than once; therefore, in a portable program, you should not use an expression with side effects as the getc argument.

Supporting OS subroutines required: close, fstat, isatty, lseek, read, sbrk, write.