Stdio.h

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C++ standard library>C++ Standard Library headers
C Standard Library headers
assert.h
ctype.h
errno.h
float.h
math.h
stdio.h
stdlib.h
time.h

C++ standard library>C++ Standard Library headers
C Standard Library headers
assert.h
ctype.h
errno.h
float.h
math.h
stdio.h
stdlib.h
time.h

The correct title of this } is }}}. The initial letter is capitalized due to [Naming conventions #Lower case first lettertechnical restrictions].

stdio.h, which stands for "standard input-output header," is the header in the C standard library for the C programming language which contains macro definitions, constants, and declarations of functions and types used for various standard input and output operations. It is compatible with C++, but C++ also has the cstdio header, which adds additional function overloads so that they may work with longs.

Functions declared in stdio.h are extremely popular, since as a part of the C standard library, they are guaranteed to work on any platform which supports C. Applications on a particular platform might, however, have reasons to use the platform's I/O routines, rather than the stdio.h routines.

Contents

1 Example usage
2 Member functions
3 Member constants
4 Member variables
5 Member

Example usage

All functions in C and its derivatives are declared in from header files. Thus, programmers have to include the stdio.h header into the source code to utilize the functions declared there.

#include 

int main(void)

The above program reads all input from the standard input and echo it onto the standard output, line by line.

Member functions

Functions declared in stdio.h can generally be divided into two categories: the functions for file manipulation and the functions for input-output manipulation.

Name Description
File manipulation functions
fclose closes a file associated with the FILE * value passed to it
fopen, freopen, fdopen opens a file for certain types of reading or writing
remove removes a file (deletes it)
rename renames a file
rewind acts as if fseek(stream, 0L, SEEK_SET) was called for the stream passed, and then its error indicator cleared
tmpfile creates and open a temporary file, which is deleted when closed with fclose()
Input-output manipulation functions
clearerr clears end-of-file and error indicators for a given stream
feof checks whether an end-of-file indicator has been set for a given stream
ferror checks whether an error indicator has been set for a given stream
fflush forces any pending buffered output to be written to the file associated with a given stream
fgetpos stores the file position indicator of the stream associated by its first argument (a FILE *) to its second argument (a fpos_t *)
fgetc returns one character from a file
fgets gets a string from the file (ends at newline or null character)
fputc writes one character to a file
fputs writes a string to a file
ftell returns a file-position indicator which can then be passed to fseek
fseek seeks through a file
fsetpos sets the file position indicator of a stream associated by its first argument (a FILE *) as stored in its second argument (a fpos_t *)
fread reads different sized data from a file
fwrite writes different sized data to a file
getc reads and returns a character from a given stream and advances the file position indicator; it is allowed to be a macro with the same effects as fgetc, except that it may evaluate the stream more than once
getchar has the same effects as getc(stdin)
gets reads characters from stdin until a newline is encountered and stores them in its only argument
printf, fprintf, sprintf, snprintf used to print to stdout
vprintf also used to print to stdout
perror writes an error message to stderr
putc writes and returns a character to a stream and advances the file position indicator for it; it is allowed to be a macro with the same effects as fputc, except that it may evaluate the stream more than once
putchar, fputchar has the same effects as putc(stdin)
scanf, fscanf, sscanf used to input from stdin
vfscanf, vscanf, vsscanf also used to input from stdin
setbuf
setvbuf sets the buffering mode for a given stream
tmpnam creates a temporary filename and stores it in its first argument (a char *)
ungetc pushes a character back onto a stream
puts outputs a character string to stdout

Name	Description
File manipulation functions
fclose	closes a file associated with the FILE * value passed to it
fopen, freopen, fdopen	opens a file for certain types of reading or writing
remove	removes a file (deletes it)
rename	renames a file
rewind	acts as if fseek(stream, 0L, SEEK_SET) was called for the stream passed, and then its error indicator cleared
tmpfile	creates and open a temporary file, which is deleted when closed with fclose()
Input-output manipulation functions
clearerr	clears end-of-file and error indicators for a given stream
feof	checks whether an end-of-file indicator has been set for a given stream
ferror	checks whether an error indicator has been set for a given stream
fflush	forces any pending buffered output to be written to the file associated with a given stream
fgetpos	stores the file position indicator of the stream associated by its first argument (a FILE ) to its second argument (a fpos_t )
fgetc	returns one character from a file
fgets	gets a string from the file (ends at newline or null character)
fputc	writes one character to a file
fputs	writes a string to a file
ftell	returns a file-position indicator which can then be passed to fseek
fseek	seeks through a file
fsetpos	sets the file position indicator of a stream associated by its first argument (a FILE ) as stored in its second argument (a fpos_t )
fread	reads different sized data from a file
fwrite	writes different sized data to a file
getc	reads and returns a character from a given stream and advances the file position indicator; it is allowed to be a macro with the same effects as fgetc, except that it may evaluate the stream more than once
getchar	has the same effects as getc(stdin)
gets	reads characters from stdin until a newline is encountered and stores them in its only argument
printf, fprintf, sprintf, snprintf	used to print to stdout
vprintf	also used to print to stdout
perror	writes an error message to stderr
putc	writes and returns a character to a stream and advances the file position indicator for it; it is allowed to be a macro with the same effects as fputc, except that it may evaluate the stream more than once
putchar, fputchar	has the same effects as putc(stdin)
scanf, fscanf, sscanf	used to input from stdin
vfscanf, vscanf, vsscanf	also used to input from stdin
setbuf
setvbuf	sets the buffering mode for a given stream
tmpnam	creates a temporary filename and stores it in its first argument (a char *)
ungetc	pushes a character back onto a stream
puts	outputs a character string to stdout

Member constants

Constants defined in the stdio.h header include:

Name	Value	Notes
EOF		a negative integer of type `int` used to indicate end-of-file conditions.
`BUFSIZ`		an integer which is the size of the buffer used by the `setbuf()` function.
`FILENAME_MAX`		the size of a `char` array which is large enough to store the name of any file that can be opened.
`FOPEN_MAX`		the number of files that may be open simultaneously. Will be at least 8.
`_IOFBF`		an abbreviation for "input/output fully buffered"; it is an integer which may be passed to the `setvbuf()` function to request block buffered input and output for an open stream.
`_IOLBF`		an abbreviation for "input/output line buffered"; it is an integer which may be passed to the `setvbuf()` function to request line buffered input and output for an open stream.
`_IONBF`		an abbreviation for "input/output not buffered"; it is an integer which may be passed to the `setvbuf()` function to request unbuffered input and output for an open stream.
`L_tmpnam`		the size of a `char` array which is large enough to store a temporary filename generated by the `tmpnam()` function.
`NULL`	0	a macro expanding to the null pointer constant; that is, a constant representing a pointer value which is guaranteed not to be a valid address of an object in memory.
`SEEK_CUR`		an integer which may be passed to the `fseek()` function to request positioning relative to the current file position.
`SEEK_END`		an integer which may be passed to the `fseek()` function to request positioning relative to the end of the file.
`SEEK_SET`		an integer which may be passed to the `fseek()` function to request positioning relative to the beginning of the file.
`TMP_MAX`		the maximum number of unique filenames generable by the `tmpnam()` function. Will be at least 25.

Member variables

Variables defined in the stdio.h header include:

stdin	a pointer to `FILE` which refers to the standard input stream, usually a keyboard.
stdout	a pointer to `FILE` which refers to the standard output stream, usually a display terminal.
stderr	a pointer to `FILE` which refers to the standard error stream, often a display terminal.

Member Data types defined in the `stdio.h` header include:
`FILE` - a structure containing the information about a file or text stream needed to perform input or output operations on it, including:
* the current stream position
* an end-of-file indicator
* an error indicator
* a pointer to the stream's buffer, if applicable
`fpos_t` - a non-array type capable of uniquely identifying the position of every byte in a file.
`size_t` - an unsigned integer type which is the type of the result of the `sizeof` operator.

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