What is the Difference Between gets and puts in C Language

The main difference between gets and puts in C Language is that gets is a function that reads a string from standard input while puts is a function that prints a string to the standard output.

C is a general purpose, high-level programming language. It is a structured programming language that helps to write efficient programs. Moreover, C language is useful in developing operating systems, language compilers, assemblers, network drivers, databases and many other applications. In fact, C is the most popular system programming language at present. Additionally, there are various predefined functions available in C language to use while writing programs; gets and puts are two of them. The definitions for these two functions are in <stdio.h> header file.

Key Areas Covered

1. What is gets in C Language
     – Definition, Functionality
2. What is puts in C Language
     – Definition, Functionality
3. What is the Difference Between gets and puts in C Language
     – Comparison of Key Differences

Key Terms

C language, gets, puts

What is gets in C Language

The gets function helps to obtain a string from a standard input device such as a keyboard. An example program is as follows.

Figure 1: Program with gets

Here, the str is a character type variable, which can store 20 characters. Also, the printf function displays the message to enter a string. When the user inputs the string, the gets function reads that string and stores it in str variable. Finally, the printf function displays the str value to the console.

What is puts in C Language

The puts function helps to display a string to the standard output device such as a monitor. It appends a newline character to the output. An example program is as follows.

Figure 2: Program with puts

Here, the str is a character type variable. It has the value “apple”. Also, the puts function displays the value stored in the variable str to the console.

Difference Between gets and puts in C Language

Definition

First of all, “gets” is a C library function that reads a line from stdin (standard input) and stores it in the pointed string. In contrast, “puts” is a C library function that writes a string to stdout or standard output. Thus, this is the basic difference between gets and puts in C Language.

Declaration

The gets declaration is char *gets (char *str). The puts declaration is int puts (const char *str).

Functionality

The main difference between gets and puts in C Language is their functionality. The gets function helps to scan a line of text from a standard input device. The puts function helps to display a string on a standard output device.

Return Type

The gets function returns string on success; however, it will return NULL or EOF if there are no characters to read. However, the puts function returns a non-negative value if successful; if unsuccessful, it will return EOF (End of File). Hence, this is also a difference between gets and puts in C Language.

Conclusion

In brief, gets and puts are two important C library functions. The difference between gets and puts in C Language is that gets is a function that reads a string from standard input while puts is a function that prints a string to the standard output.

Reference:

1. “C Library Function – Gets().” Www.tutorialspoint.com, Available here.
2. “C Library Function – Puts().” Www.tutorialspoint.com, Available here.