getchar and putchar

Learn to read and write single characters with getchar and putchar.

getchar and putchar

getchar() reads a single character from the keyboard and returns it as an int. putchar(c) writes a single character to the screen. They are simpler and faster than scanf and printf.

int c = getchar();
putchar(c);

The user types a letter and presses Enter; getchar takes the first character. The return type is int, not char, because at end-of-file it can return EOF (usually -1). This distinction matters in comparisons.

A character loop

getchar and putchar together form a simple character echo program. You stop the loop when EOF is returned.

int c;
while ((c = getchar()) != EOF) {
    putchar(c);
}

This loop echoes every typed character until the user presses Ctrl+D (Linux/Mac) or Ctrl+Z (Windows). You'll see the loop condition in detail in the next section.

Exercise Echo a character

Write a C program. Declare int c;. Read a character with c = getchar();. Print the same character with putchar(c);. Then move to a new line with putchar('\n');. Put #include <stdio.h> at the top.

Show example solution

#include <stdio.h>

int main(void) {
    int c;
    c = getchar();
    putchar(c);
    putchar('\n');
    return 0;
}

Test yourself

Match character I/O

getchar()

Reads a character
putchar(c)

Writes a character
int c

getchar return type
EOF

End of file
What does getchar() return?
```
int c = getchar();
```
- A string
- A single character (as int)
- Only a char
- An array of integers
Show answer

A single character (as int) — getchar returns one character as an int.

Print the character

int c = getchar();
____(c);

Show answer

int c = getchar();
putchar(c);

Next lesson: puts and fputs

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