C++ In a Nutshell

Name

fscanf function — Reads formatted data

Synopsis

int fscanf(FILE* stream, const char* format,  . . . )

The fscanf function performs a formatted read from stream. The format parameter contains formatting information, and the remaining arguments are pointers. When fscanf reads items, it stores their values in the objects that successive arguments point to. The return value is the number of items read or a negative value for an error.

Items are read from stream and interpreted according to format, which contains whitespace characters, non-whitespace characters, and conversion specifications, which begin with a percent sign (%). A whitespace character directs fscanf to skip over whitespace in the input stream. Non-whitespace characters must match the input text. Each conversion specification is made up of the following parts (in order): assignment suppression, field width, size, and conversion specifier.

The following are descriptions of the conversion specification elements:

Assignment suppression

An optional asterisk (*) directs fscanf to read and parse the input according to the conversion specification, but not to assign the value to an argument.

Field width

An optional number (positive decimal integer) that specifies the maximum number of characters to read.

Size

The character h, l, or L. h means an integer is short or unsigned short. l means an integer is long or unsigned long; a floating-point number is double, or a string argument is a pointer to wchar_t for the c, s, and [ conversion ...