DragonFly On-Line Manual Pages

GETS(3)               DragonFly Library Functions Manual               GETS(3)

NAME
     gets - get a line from a stream

LIBRARY
     Standard C Library (libc, -lc)

SYNOPSIS
     #include <stdio.h>

     char *
     gets(char *str);

DESCRIPTION
     This interface is made obsolete by fgets(3) and gets_s(3).  See SECURITY
     CONSIDERATIONS below.

     The gets() function is equivalent to fgets(3) with an infinite size and a
     stream of stdin, except that the newline character (if any) is not stored
     in the string.  It is the caller's responsibility to ensure that the
     input line, if any, is sufficiently short to fit in the string.

RETURN VALUES
     Upon successful completion, gets() returns a pointer to the string.  If
     end-of-file occurs before any characters are read, they return NULL and
     the buffer contents remain unchanged.  If an error occurs, they return
     NULL and the buffer contents are indeterminate.  The gets() function does
     not distinguish between end-of-file and error, and callers must use
     feof(3) and ferror(3) to determine which occurred.

ERRORS
     [EBADF]            The given stream is not a readable stream.

     The gets() function may also fail and set errno for any of the errors
     specified for the routine getchar(3).

SECURITY CONSIDERATIONS
     The gets() function cannot be used securely.  Because of its lack of
     bounds checking, and the inability for the calling program to reliably
     determine the length of the next incoming line, the use of this function
     enables malicious users to arbitrarily change a running program's
     functionality through a buffer overflow attack.  It is strongly suggested
     that the fgets() and gets_s() functions be used in all cases.

SEE ALSO
     fgets(3), gets_s(3)

STANDARDS
     The gets() function conforms to ISO/IEC 9899:1999 ("ISO C99").

DragonFly 5.7-DEVELOPMENT      September 9, 2019     DragonFly 5.7-DEVELOPMENT