Reading a Single Character

by: WaltP - Oct 10, 2005

C / C++ buffers its input which means a RETURN must be entered to get standard input functions to continue. This RETURN is actually added to the input stream, which will cause character inputs to malfunction.

Here is a function you can use to read any single, non-whitespace character. This would be used in place of scanf("%c", &ch) or ch = getchar() to make sure you actually get to input the value:

C/CPP/C++ Code Example:

int  getCharacter()
{
    int ch;             // define the character
    do                  // loop until a good character is read
    {
        ch = getchar(); // read a character
    } while ( (ch == 0x20) ||    // check for SPACE
             ((ch >= 0x09) && (ch <= 0x0D)) // check for the other whitespace
            );
    return ch;
}

This will keep reading until there is a non-whitespace character entered, effectively clearing the buffer from previous inputs.

Whitespace is defined as the following characters:

Generic Code Example:

Hex Dec Ctrl Name 
0x09  9  ^I  Tab 
0x0A 10  ^J  Line Feed 
0x0B 11  ^K  Verticle Feed 
0x0C 12  ^L  Form Feed 
0x0D 13  ^M  Carriage Return 
0x20 32      Space

This function will accept only printable non-whitespace:

C/CPP/C++ Code Example:

int  getCharacter()
{
    int ch;             // define the character
    do                  // loop until a good character is read
    {
        ch = getchar(); // read a character
    } while ((ch <= 0x20) ||    // check above SPACE
             (ch >= 0x7F)       // check below the last ASCII char
            );
    return ch;
}

This is a more usable function because it also ignores the control characters.

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