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# fgetc, getc

From cppreference.com
< c‎ | io

Defined in header `<stdio.h>` |  |
int fgetc( FILE *stream ); |  |
int getc( FILE *stream ); |  |

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

### [edit] Parameters

stream | - | to read the character from

### [edit] 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`.

### [edit] Example

Run this code

    #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);
    }

### [edit] 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

### [edit] See also

gets gets_s (until C11)(since C11) | reads a character string from `stdin` (function) [edit]
fputc putc | writes a character to a file stream (function) [edit]
ungetc | puts a character back into a file stream (function) [edit]
C++ documentation for fgetc, getc

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