scanf, _scanf_l, wscanf, _wscanf_l

Reads formatted data from the standard input stream. More secure versions of these functions are available; see scanf_s, _scanf_s_l, wscanf_s, _wscanf_s_l.

int scanf(
   const char *format [,
   argument]...
);
int _scanf_l(
   const char *format,
   _locale_t locale [,
   argument]...
);
int wscanf(
   const wchar_t *format [,
   argument]...
);
int _wscanf_l(
   const wchar_t *format,
   _locale_t locale [,
   argument]...
);

format
Format control string.

argument
Optional arguments.

locale
The locale to use.

Returns the number of fields successfully converted and assigned; the return value doesn't include fields that were read but not assigned. A return value of 0 indicates that no fields were assigned.

If format is a NULL pointer, the invalid parameter handler is invoked, as described in Parameter validation. If execution is allowed to continue, these functions return EOF and set errno to EINVAL.

For information on these and other error codes, see errno, _doserrno, _sys_errlist, and _sys_nerr.

The scanf function reads data from the standard input stream stdin and writes the data into the location given by argument. Each argument must be a pointer to a variable of a type that corresponds to a type specifier in format. If copying takes place between strings that overlap, the behavior is undefined.

wscanf is a wide-character version of scanf; the format argument to wscanf is a wide-character string. wscanf and scanf behave identically if the stream is opened in ANSI mode. scanf doesn't currently support input from a UNICODE stream.

The versions of these functions with the _l suffix are identical except that they use the locale parameter passed in instead of the current thread locale.

For more information, see Format specification fields: scanf and wscanf functions.

The console isn't supported in Universal Windows Platform (UWP) apps. The standard stream handles that are associated with the console, stdin, stdout, and stderr, must be redirected before C run-time functions can use them in UWP apps. For more compatibility information, see Compatibility.

// crt_scanf.c
// compile with: /W3
// This program uses the scanf and wscanf functions
// to read formatted input.

#include <stdio.h>

int main( void )
{
   int   i, result;
   float fp;
   char  c, s[81];
   wchar_t wc, ws[81];
   result = scanf( "%d %f %c %C %80s %80S", &i, &fp, &c, &wc, s, ws ); // C4996
   // Note: scanf and wscanf are deprecated; consider using scanf_s and wscanf_s
   printf( "The number of fields input is %d\n", result );
   printf( "The contents are: %d %f %c %C %s %S\n", i, fp, c, wc, s, ws);
   result = wscanf( L"%d %f %hc %lc %80S %80ls", &i, &fp, &c, &wc, s, ws ); // C4996
   wprintf( L"The number of fields input is %d\n", result );
   wprintf( L"The contents are: %d %f %C %c %hs %s\n", i, fp, c, wc, s, ws);
}

71 98.6 h z Byte characters
36 92.3 y n Wide characters

The number of fields input is 6
The contents are: 71 98.599998 h z Byte characters
The number of fields input is 6
The contents are: 36 92.300003 y n Wide characters

Math and floating-point support
Stream I/O
Locale
fscanf, _fscanf_l, fwscanf, _fwscanf_l
printf, _printf_l, wprintf, _wprintf_l
sprintf, _sprintf_l, swprintf, _swprintf_l, __swprintf_l
sscanf, _sscanf_l, swscanf, _swscanf_l