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Q&A Input taking only first character of a string

Your pointer function is uninitialized. From some documentation pages for scanf at https://man7.org/linux/man-pages/man3/scanf.3.html : s Matches a sequence of non-white-space characters; the...

posted 3y ago by elgonzo‭  ·  edited 3y ago by elgonzo‭

Answer
#3: Post edited by user avatar elgonzo‭ · 2021-06-30T10:28:31Z (over 3 years ago)
  • Your pointer function is uninitialized.
  • From some documentation pages for `scanf`
  • at https://man7.org/linux/man-pages/man3/scanf.3.html :
  • > s<br>
  • >Matches a sequence of non-white-space characters; **the next
  • pointer must be a pointer to the initial element of a
  • character array that is long enough to hold the input
  • sequence and the terminating null byte ('\0')**, which is
  • added automatically. The input string stops at white
  • space or at the maximum field width, whichever occurs
  • first.
  • and at https://www.cplusplus.com/reference/cstdio/scanf/ :
  • > ... (additional arguments)<br>
  • >Depending on the format string, the function may expect a sequence of additional arguments, each containing a pointer to **allocated storage** where the interpretation of the extracted characters is stored with the appropriate type.<br>
  • (emphasis mine)
  • <br>
  • The simplest way is probably to use a char array, and limit the field width of the `%s` format specifier to the size of the char array (minus the null terminator):
  • ```c
  • char function [80];
  • scanf("%79s", function);
  • ```
  • <br>
  • (P.S.: I don't know whether the code example in your question is really the cause of the issue you experience. I have doubts, as i would rather expect the program crashing when using an uninitialized pointer like that. But hey, it's the code you have identified as being the cause of the problem, so i will go with that...)
  • Your pointer `function` is uninitialized.
  • From some documentation pages for `scanf`
  • at https://man7.org/linux/man-pages/man3/scanf.3.html :
  • > s<br>
  • >Matches a sequence of non-white-space characters; **the next
  • pointer must be a pointer to the initial element of a
  • character array that is long enough to hold the input
  • sequence and the terminating null byte ('\0')**, which is
  • added automatically. The input string stops at white
  • space or at the maximum field width, whichever occurs
  • first.
  • and at https://www.cplusplus.com/reference/cstdio/scanf/ :
  • > ... (additional arguments)<br>
  • >Depending on the format string, the function may expect a sequence of additional arguments, each containing a pointer to **allocated storage** where the interpretation of the extracted characters is stored with the appropriate type.<br>
  • (emphasis mine)
  • <br>
  • The simplest way is probably to use a char array, and limit the field width of the `%s` format specifier to the size of the char array (minus the null terminator):
  • ```c
  • char function [80];
  • scanf("%79s", function);
  • ```
  • <br>
  • (P.S.: I don't know whether the code example in your question is really the cause of the issue you experience. I have doubts, as i would rather expect the program crashing when using an uninitialized pointer like that. But hey, it's the code you have identified as being the cause of the problem, so i will go with that...)
#2: Post edited by user avatar elgonzo‭ · 2021-06-30T10:12:45Z (over 3 years ago)
  • Your pointer function is uninitialized.
  • From some documentation pages for `scanf`
  • at https://man7.org/linux/man-pages/man3/scanf.3.html :
  • > s<br>
  • >Matches a sequence of non-white-space characters; **the next
  • pointer must be a pointer to the initial element of a
  • character array that is long enough to hold the input
  • sequence and the terminating null byte ('\0')**, which is
  • added automatically. The input string stops at white
  • space or at the maximum field width, whichever occurs
  • first.
  • and at https://www.cplusplus.com/reference/cstdio/scanf/ :
  • > ... (additional arguments)<br>
  • >Depending on the format string, the function may expect a sequence of additional arguments, each containing a pointer to **allocated storage** where the interpretation of the extracted characters is stored with the appropriate type.<br>
  • (emphasis mine)
  • <br>
  • The simplest way is probably to use a char array, and limit the field width of the `%s` format specifier to the size of the char array (minus the null terminator):
  • ```c
  • char function [80];
  • scanf("%79s", function);
  • ```
  • <br>
  • (P.S.: I don't know whether the code example in your question is really the cause of the issue you experience. I have doubts, as i would rather expect the program crashing when using an uninitilized pointer like that. But hey, it's the code you have identified as being the cause of the problem, so i will go with that...)
  • Your pointer function is uninitialized.
  • From some documentation pages for `scanf`
  • at https://man7.org/linux/man-pages/man3/scanf.3.html :
  • > s<br>
  • >Matches a sequence of non-white-space characters; **the next
  • pointer must be a pointer to the initial element of a
  • character array that is long enough to hold the input
  • sequence and the terminating null byte ('\0')**, which is
  • added automatically. The input string stops at white
  • space or at the maximum field width, whichever occurs
  • first.
  • and at https://www.cplusplus.com/reference/cstdio/scanf/ :
  • > ... (additional arguments)<br>
  • >Depending on the format string, the function may expect a sequence of additional arguments, each containing a pointer to **allocated storage** where the interpretation of the extracted characters is stored with the appropriate type.<br>
  • (emphasis mine)
  • <br>
  • The simplest way is probably to use a char array, and limit the field width of the `%s` format specifier to the size of the char array (minus the null terminator):
  • ```c
  • char function [80];
  • scanf("%79s", function);
  • ```
  • <br>
  • (P.S.: I don't know whether the code example in your question is really the cause of the issue you experience. I have doubts, as i would rather expect the program crashing when using an uninitialized pointer like that. But hey, it's the code you have identified as being the cause of the problem, so i will go with that...)
#1: Initial revision by user avatar elgonzo‭ · 2021-06-30T10:11:33Z (over 3 years ago)
Your pointer function is uninitialized.

From some documentation pages for `scanf`

at https://man7.org/linux/man-pages/man3/scanf.3.html :
> s<br>
>Matches a sequence of non-white-space characters; **the next
              pointer must be a pointer to the initial element of a
              character array that is long enough to hold the input
              sequence and the terminating null byte ('\0')**, which is
              added automatically.  The input string stops at white
              space or at the maximum field width, whichever occurs
              first.

and at https://www.cplusplus.com/reference/cstdio/scanf/ :

> ... (additional arguments)<br>
>Depending on the format string, the function may expect a sequence of additional arguments, each containing a pointer to **allocated storage** where the interpretation of the extracted characters is stored with the appropriate type.<br>

(emphasis mine)

<br>

The simplest way is probably to use a char array, and limit the field width of the `%s` format specifier to the size of the char array (minus the null terminator):
```c
char function [80];
scanf("%79s", function);
```

<br>
(P.S.: I don't know whether the code example in your question is really the cause of the issue you experience. I have doubts, as i would rather expect the program crashing when using an uninitilized pointer like that. But hey, it's the code you have identified as being the cause of the problem, so i will go with that...)