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Table of contents

  1. Introduction
  2. The puts function in CC
  3. Using the puts function in CC
  4. puts return value
  5. puts VS fputs functions in CC
  6. Conclusion
  7. References
  1. Tutorials
  2. C++
  3. Using the puts() function in C/C++
TutorialUsing the puts() function in C/C++Published on August 3, 2022C++C ProgrammingSneh

By Sneh

Using the puts() function in C/C++Table of contentsPopular topics

Introduction

Hello reader! Today in this tutorial we are going to discuss about the vastly used puts() function in for both C and C++ programming languages.

Even though the printf() and cout functions in both C and C++ are prominent for printing variables, numbers, lines, etc. they ultimately lack behind while printing strings especially printf(). The puts() function comes handy in that case.

The puts() function in C/C++

The puts() function in C/C++ is used to write a line or string to the output(stdout) stream. It prints the passed string with a newline and returns an integer value. The return value depends on the success of the writing procedure.

The puts() function declaration is given below.

int puts(const char* str);

Here, str is the constant string that is to be printed.

Let us look at a small example.

#include<stdio.h> int main() { //string initialisation char Mystr[] = "C and C++"; puts(Mystr); //writing the string to stdout return 0; }

Output:

C and C++

As you can see, our string Mystr has been successfully printed to the stdout. The below-given code snippet also yields the same output in C++.

#include<iostream> using namespace std; int main() { //string initialisation char Mystr[] = "C and C++"; puts(Mystr); //writing the string to stdout return 0; }

Using the puts() function in C/C++

We have mentioned earlier, that the puts() function appends a newline character at the end while writing a string/line.

#include<stdio.h> int main() { //string initialisation char Mystr1[10] = "Python"; char Mystr2[10] = "Kotlin"; puts(Mystr1); puts(Mystr2); //not specifically adding a newline return 0; }

Output:

Python Kotlin

Here, we have initialized two strings Mystr1 and Mystr2. While printing these strings using the puts() method in either C or C++, we do not need to particularly add a "\n"(newline) as the function already appends one.

puts() return value

The puts() function returns an non-negative integer number for successful execution. Otherwise returns EOF for any error.

The below-given example illustrates the return value for the puts() function.

#include<stdio.h> int main() { //string initialisation char Mystr[] = "The puts() function"; int val = puts(Mystr); printf("Returned Value Val = %d", val); return 0; }

Output:

The puts() function Returned Value Val = 0

puts() VS fputs() functions in C/C++

As we have learned earlier, the puts() function writes a line or string to the stdout stream. Whereas, the fputs() function is used to write to any stream or a file. Hence, the biggest difference between the two functions is the fact that with fputs(), the user can specify the stream to which he/she wants to write.

Moreover, the fputs() function doesn’t append a newline character("\n")at the end of the passed string/line.

Conclusion

So thats’s it for today. Hope you had a satisfying learning experience.

For any further questions related to the puts() function in C/C++, feel free to use the comments below.

References

  • C++ puts() - C++ References,
  • C++ Tutorial,
  • fgets() and gets() in C Programming,
  • What is the difference between printf() and puts() in C? - Stack Overflow Question.

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About the author

SnehSnehAuthorCategory:TutorialTags:C++C ProgrammingWhile we believe that this content benefits our community, we have not yet thoroughly reviewed it. If you have any suggestions for improvements, please let us know by clicking the “report an issue“ button at the bottom of the tutorial.

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