What is Printf() and Scanf() in C

C is a popular programming language that is widely used in various fields, including software development, operating systems, and embedded systems. One of the most important features of C is its ability to perform input and output operations. In this article, we will explore two important functions in C that are used for input and output operations – printf() and scanf().

What is Printf() and Scanf() in C

What is printf()?

printf() is a function in C that is used to output data to the console or a file. The printf() function is part of the standard library in C and is declared in the header file stdio.h.

The syntax for the printf() function is as follows:

int printf(const char *format, ...);

The first parameter to the printf() function is a string that specifies the format of the output. This string is often referred to as the format string. The format string can contain any combination of ordinary characters and format specifiers. A format specifier is a special character that begins with the percent sign (%), followed by a character that specifies the type of data to be output.

For example, the following code will output the string “Hello, World!” to the console:

#include <stdio.h>

int main() {
printf("Hello, World!");
return 0;
}

In this example, the printf() function is called with the string “Hello, World!” as its argument. This string is the format string, and it is used to specify the output that should be displayed on the console.

What is scanf()?

scanf() is a function in C that is used to read input data from the console or a file. The scanf() function is part of the standard library in C and is declared in the header file stdio.h.

The syntax for the scanf() function is as follows:

int scanf(const char *format, ...);

The first parameter to the scanf() function is a string that specifies the format of the input data. This string is often referred to as the format string. The format string can contain any combination of ordinary characters and format specifiers. A format specifier is a special character that begins with the percent sign (%), followed by a character that specifies the type of data to be read.

For example, the following code will read an integer from the console and store it in the variable “num”:

#include <stdio.h>

int main() {
int num;
printf("Enter a number: ");
scanf("%d", &num);
printf("You entered: %d", num);
return 0;
}

In this example, the scanf() function is called with the format specifier “%d” as its argument. This format specifier indicates that an integer value should be read from the console. The “&” symbol is used to indicate that the integer value should be stored in the variable “num”.