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From: rjc@uk.ac.ed.cstr (Richard Caley)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.c
Subject: Re: What's so bad about scanf anyway???
Message-ID: <RJC.90Nov13122822@brodie.uk.ac.ed.cstr>
Date: 13 Nov 90 12:28:22 GMT
References: <16582@netcom.UUCP> <VXogs2w163w@cybrspc>
	<RJC.90Nov12012356@brodie.uk.ac.ed.cstr>
	<1990Nov12.112032.22979@diku.dk>
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In-reply-to: kimcm@diku.dk's message of 12 Nov 90 11:20:32 GMT

In article <1990Nov12.112032.22979@diku.dk> kimcm@diku.dk (Kim Christian Madsen) writes:

    rjc@uk.ac.ed.cstr (Richard Caley) writes:

    >In article <VXogs2w163w@cybrspc> roy%cybrspc@cs.umn.edu (Roy M. Silvernail) writes:

    >    The problem with scanf() is that it can behave unpredictably when you
    >    give it badly formatted input. It's better, IMHO, to gets() a whole
    >    line, check its validity and _then_ sscanf() it into the target
    >    variables.

    >Maybe it was just a typo, but repeat after me

    >	`GETS is EVIL'

    >This has been un unpayed anouncement by paranoids anonymous.

    gets can get you into a lot of trouble if used for in a non-controlled
    manner, e.g. for user input. Then you be better off by using fgets or
    reading char-by-char with getchar() or family. But using scanf() for user
    input is asking for trouble!


Sorry for being confusing, I wasn't defending scanf, I was just
pointing out the fact that gets is never useful.

--
rjc@uk.ac.ed.cstr		_O_
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