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PROLOG
This manual page is part of the POSIX Programmer's Manual. The Linux implementation of this interface
may differ (consult the corresponding Linux manual page for details of Linux behavior), or the interface
may not be implemented on Linux.
NAME
fgets — get a string from a stream
SYNOPSIS
#include <stdio.h> char *fgets(char *restrict s, int n, FILE *restrict stream);
DESCRIPTION
The functionality described on this reference page is aligned with the ISO C standard. Any conflict
between the requirements described here and the ISO C standard is unintentional. This volume of
POSIX.1‐2017 defers to the ISO C standard.
The fgets() function shall read bytes from stream into the array pointed to by s until n-1 bytes are
read, or a <newline> is read and transferred to s, or an end-of-file condition is encountered. A null
byte shall be written immediately after the last byte read into the array. If the end-of-file condition
is encountered before any bytes are read, the contents of the array pointed to by s shall not be changed.
The fgets() function may mark the last data access timestamp of the file associated with stream for
update. The last data access timestamp shall be marked for update by the first successful execution of
fgetc(), fgets(), fread(), fscanf(), getc(), getchar(), getdelim(), getline(), gets(), or scanf() using
stream that returns data not supplied by a prior call to ungetc().
RETURN VALUE
Upon successful completion, fgets() shall return s. If the stream is at end-of-file, the end-of-file
indicator for the stream shall be set and fgets() shall return a null pointer. If a read error occurs,
the error indicator for the stream shall be set, fgets() shall return a null pointer, and shall set errno
to indicate the error.
ERRORS
Refer to fgetc().
The following sections are informative.
EXAMPLES
Reading Input
The following example uses fgets() to read lines of input. It assumes that the file it is reading is a
text file and that lines in this text file are no longer than 16384 (or {LINE_MAX} if it is less than
16384 on the implementation where it is running) bytes long. (Note that the standard utilities have no
line length limit if sysconf(_SC_LINE_MAX) returns -1 without setting errno. This example assumes that
sysconf(_SC_LINE_MAX) will not fail.)
#include <limits.h>
#include <stdio.h>
#include <unistd.h>
#define MYLIMIT 16384
char *line;
int line_max;
if (LINE_MAX >= MYLIMIT) {
// Use maximum line size of MYLIMIT. If LINE_MAX is
// bigger than our limit, sysconf() cannot report a
// smaller limit.
line_max = MYLIMIT;
} else {
long limit = sysconf(_SC_LINE_MAX);
line_max = (limit < 0 || limit > MYLIMIT) ? MYLIMIT : (int)limit;
}
// line_max + 1 leaves room for the null byte added by fgets().
line = malloc(line_max + 1);
if (line == NULL) {
// out of space
...
return error;
}
while (fgets(line, line_max + 1, fp) != NULL) {
// Verify that a full line has been read ...
// If not, report an error or prepare to treat the
// next time through the loop as a read of a
// continuation of the current line.
...
// Process line ...
...
}
free(line);
...
APPLICATION USAGE
None.
RATIONALE
None.
FUTURE DIRECTIONS
None.
SEE ALSO
Section 2.5, Standard I/O Streams, fgetc(), fopen(), fread(), fscanf(), getc(), getchar(), getdelim(),
gets(), ungetc()
The Base Definitions volume of POSIX.1‐2017, <stdio.h>
COPYRIGHT
Portions of this text are reprinted and reproduced in electronic form from IEEE Std 1003.1-2017, Standard
for Information Technology -- Portable Operating System Interface (POSIX), The Open Group Base
Specifications Issue 7, 2018 Edition, Copyright (C) 2018 by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics
Engineers, Inc and The Open Group. In the event of any discrepancy between this version and the original
IEEE and The Open Group Standard, the original IEEE and The Open Group Standard is the referee document.
The original Standard can be obtained online at http://www.opengroup.org/unix/online.html .
Any typographical or formatting errors that appear in this page are most likely to have been introduced
during the conversion of the source files to man page format. To report such errors, see
https://www.kernel.org/doc/man-pages/reporting_bugs.html .