Input Output functions In C programming

What is input and output?

All the data entered from the keyboard must be stored into the memory location /variables of the program. This
activity is known as Input.

After the calculations, result stored in memory location /variables must be transferred onto the output device for
user viewing. This activity is known as Output.

Classification of I/O functions into two categories

1. Console I/O function

2. File I/O function

Console Input-Output functions

Console simply means screen and keyboard.

Console input/output operations can be done in two ways:
 Formatted
 Unformatted
Formatted Input /Output:
Formatted input/output statements enable the user to specify the type of the data and the way in which it
should be read or written

• Formatted input/output functions are scanf() and printfO.

• These two functions are present in the header file <stdio.h>
 printf( ) function

printf( ) is the standard library function that is used for precise output formatting.

Syntax of printf( ) function:

int printf( format-control-string, arguments-list );

Explanation- Parameter of printf function is:

First parameter: Format control string

Return Value: int - printf() returns the no. of character to be printed.

Describes the output format which consists of conversion/format specifiers, precisions, flags, field widths and
literal characters.

Each conversion/format specifier starts with % sign and ends with a conversion specifier.

We can perform following formatting options with the help of printf( ):

 Right and left justification.

 Rounding floating-point values.
 Inserting literal characters.
 Displaying all types of data with appropriate size and precisions.

A format control string can have special meaning if it follow special syntax rule
Type 1:
Note: [ ] indicate optional term.
Width:

 With the help of field width, we can change the position of data being displayed on the screen.
 It is +ve integer .It defines minimum field width. It specifies the total number of characters used to
display.

 If the field width is greater than data being displayed, then the data is right justified, put first number of
blank space then prints data.
int main ()
{
printf("%4d\n", 1);

printf("%4d\n", 12);

printf("%4d\n", 123);

printf("%4d\n", 1234);

printf("%4d\n", 123456);

Output-

1 2 3 4 5 6
1
1 2
1 2 3
1 2 3 4
1 2 3 4 5 6
Precision:

 Precision has a different meaning when used with different data types
 It indicates the number of characters used after the decimal point.

Case 1: if data type of data is string: precision is +ve integer which indicate how many character in the
string will be printed. If precision is larger than length of data whole string will be printed.

Case 2: If data type of data is fractional (float, double, long double): It indicates how many digits will
be printed after decimal. If precision is less than number of digits after decimal point in data then
rounded value will be printed.

Case 3: If data type of data is integer: It will that number of zero before the data. (Total no. of
zero=precision-length of data)
 Case 4: if data type of data is character: In case of char data type char has no meaning.

Example: Use of precision for integer, floating-point, and strings

int main ()

int num1 = 123;

 double num2 = 123.45678;

char s[] = "Hello World!!!";

puts("Use of precision for integer");

printf("\t%.4d\n\t%.8d\n\n", num1, num1);

puts("Use of precision for floating-point");

printf("\t%.2f\n\t%.2e\n\n", num2, num2);

puts("Use of precision for string");

printf("\t%.8s\n\t%.12s\n", s, s);

return 0;

Output
Type 2:
Syntax: \x
Where x must be one of the following
a: to produce a sound(bell),ascii value=7
b: to shift one space back(back space) ,ascii value=8
t: to shift zero to seven space forward (horizontal tab) ,ascii value=9
n: to print data in new line(new line) ,ascii value=10
v: use in printer for vertical tab(vertical tab) ,ascii value=11
f: use in printer to come first position(from feed) ,ascii value=12
r: shift the cursor to first position(carriage return) ,ascii value=13
Formatted input function:

scanf ( ) :

 To read values into the variables of the program accepted from the keyboard.
 This is used to accept numeric, character and string type of data

Syntax of scanf( ) function:

int scanf( format-control-string, arguments-list );

Format –Control- String:

 It is a sequence of one or more character groups. Each character is a combination of % symbol and one
of the conversion characters.
 The Control string specifies the type of the values and number of values, which are to be supplied to the
variables.

Argument-List: Specifies the list of variables into which data must be stored.

Return Value: int - scanf() return the no. of arguments reads successfully.

Rules:

 Control string must be enclosed within the double quotes.

 For every I/O variable, there must be one character group
 Each character group should begin with % and followed by a conversion character.
 Multiple numbers of character groups can be allowed within the control string. Such case they may
be contiguous or separated by blank space or commas.
 Address_list contains address (memory location) of I/O variables proceeded by ampersand (&).
 All the address list variables must be separated by commas.
 The Values for address List should map in number, type and order for variables.
 There must be a comma to separate control string and the address lisl.

Eg : Scanf("%d", & a);

If the user enters 10 from the keyboard is stored in variable a;

Scanf(%d%F, &a, &b);

Reading character using scan set

We can only read certain characters from the input stream using scan set, set of characters enclosed in the
square bracket [ ] that is preceded by a percent % sign.

The characters from the input stream that matched the character in scan set are stored in the array, otherwise,
stops inputting characters when a character that is not stored in scan set is encountered.

On the other hand, if we want to omit certain characters from input stream we should place a care (^) sign
before the scan characters. This is called an inverted scan set.

Inverted scan set is opposite of scan set.

Example of scan set in scanf( )

int main ()
{
char s[ 9 ];

printf("Enter string: ");

scanf("%9[selz]", s);

printf("The input string is: \"%s\"\n", s);

return 0;
}
Output

Example of Inverted scan set in scanf( )

int main ()
{
char s[ 10 ];

printf("Enter string: ");

scanf("%9[^selz]", s);

printf("The input string is(Inverted scan set): \"%s\"\n", s);

return 0;
}
Output
C_Quiz-1.docx

C_Quiz-2.docx

C_Quiz-1_Answer.docx

C_Quiz-2_Answer.docx