C gets() and puts() functions

The gets() and puts() are declared in the header file stdio.h. Both the functions are involved in the input/output operations of the strings.

C gets() function

The gets() function enables the user to enter some characters followed by the enter key. All the characters entered by the user get stored in a character array. The null character is added to the array to make it a string. The gets() allows the user to enter the space-separated strings. It returns the string entered by the user.

Declaration

Reading string using gets()

Output

Enter the string? 
w3cschoool is the best
You entered w3cschoool is the best

The gets() function is risky to use since it doesn't perform any array bound checking and keep reading the characters until the new line (enter) is encountered. It suffers from buffer overflow, which can be avoided by using fgets(). The fgets() makes sure that not more than the maximum limit of characters are read. Consider the following example.

Output

Enter the string? w3cschoool is the best website
w3cschoool is the b

C puts() function

The puts() function is very much similar to printf() function. The puts() function is used to print the string on the console which is previously read by using gets() or scanf() function. The puts() function returns an integer value representing the number of characters being printed on the console. Since, it prints an additional newline character with the string, which moves the cursor to the new line on the console, the integer value returned by puts() will always be equal to the number of characters present in the string plus 1.

Declaration

Let's see an example to read a string using gets() and print it on the console using puts().

Output:

Enter your name: Sonoo Jaiswal
Your name is: Sonoo Jaiswal