NAME

getc - get a byte from a stream

SYNOPSIS

#include <stdio.h>

int getc(FILE *stream);


DESCRIPTION

^[CX] 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 IEEE Std 1003.1-2001 defers to the ISO C standard.

The getc() function shall be equivalent to fgetc() , except that if it is implemented as a macro it may evaluate stream more than once, so the argument should never be an expression with side effects.

RETURN VALUE

Refer to fgetc() .

ERRORS

Refer to fgetc() .

EXAMPLES

None.

APPLICATION USAGE

If the integer value returned by getc() is stored into a variable of type char and then compared against the integer constant EOF, the comparison may never succeed, because sign-extension of a variable of type char on widening to integer is implementation-defined.

Since it may be implemented as a macro, getc() may treat incorrectly a stream argument with side effects. In particular, getc(*f++) does not necessarily work as expected. Therefore, use of this function should be preceded by "#undef getc" in such situations; fgetc() could also be used.

RATIONALE

None.

FUTURE DIRECTIONS

None.

SEE ALSO

fgetc() , the Base Definitions volume of IEEE Std 1003.1-2001, <stdio.h>

CHANGE HISTORY

First released in Issue 1. Derived from Issue 1 of the SVID.