NAME getc, getchar, fgetc, getw - get character or word from a stream SYNTAX #include int getc (stream) FILE *stream; int getchar () int fgetc (stream) FILE *stream; int getw (stream) FILE *stream; DESCRIPTION Getc returns the next character (i.e., byte) from the named input stream, as an integer. It also moves the file pointer, if defined, ahead one character in stream. Getchar is defined as getc(stdin). Getc and getchar are macros. Fgetc behaves like getc, but is a function rather than a macro. Fgetc runs more slowly than getc, but it takes less space per invocation and its name can be passed as an argument to a function. Getw returns the next word (i.e., integer) from the named input stream. Getw increments the associated file pointer, if defined, to point to the next word. The size of a word is the size of an integer and varies from machine to machine. Getw assumes no special alignment in the file. SEE ALSO fclose(3S), ferror(3S), fopen(3S), fread(3S), gets(3S), putc(3S), scanf(3S). DIAGNOSTICS These functions return the constant EOF at end-of-file or upon an error. Because EOF is a valid integer, ferror(3S) should be used to detect getw errors. WARNING If the integer value returned by getc, getchar, or fgetc is stored into a character variable and then compared against the integer constant EOF, the comparison may never succeed, because sign-extension of a character on widening to integer is machine-dependent. BUGS Because it is implemented as a macro, getc treats incorrectly a stream argument with side effects. In particular, getc(*f++) does not work sensibly. Fgetc should be used instead. Because of possible differences in word length and byte ordering, files written using putw are machine-dependent, and may not be read using getw on a different processor.