puts and fputs

Learn to print strings with puts and fputs.

Printing strings with puts

puts(str) prints a string to the screen and automatically adds a new line at the end. It's simpler than printf; a good choice when you only need to print fixed text.

puts("Hello world!");
puts("Welcome");

The output is two lines: each puts call adds \n at the end. Compared to printf, printf("Text\n") and puts("Text") give the same result. On error it returns EOF.

fputs and streams

fputs(str, stdout) writes a string to a given stream. stdout is standard output; stderr is the error output. Unlike puts, fputs does not add a new line automatically.

fputs("An error occurred\n", stderr);
fputs("OK\n", stdout);

Writing errors to stderr is a good habit; it keeps them separate from normal output. stdout and stderr go to the same place in most terminals, but can be split with redirection.

Exercise Print with puts and fputs

Write a C program. Print one string with puts("Hello world!");. Print a second string with fputs("Welcome\n", stdout);. Put #include <stdio.h> at the top.

Show example solution

#include <stdio.h>

int main(void) {
    puts("Hello world!");
    fputs("Welcome\n", stdout);
    return 0;
}

Test yourself

Complete the puts call

____("Hello world!");

Show answer

puts("Hello world!");

Match the output functions

puts

String + new line
fputs

String to a stream
stdout

Standard output
stderr

Error output
What's the difference between puts and fputs?
```
puts("A");
fputs("A", stdout);
```
- They are identical
- fputs adds a new line, puts does not
- puts adds a new line, fputs does not
- puts only prints numbers
Show answer

puts adds a new line, fputs does not — The main difference is the new line behavior; puts adds, fputs does not.

Next lesson: Summary - I/O

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