I'm trying to use scanf_s()
to read in multiple values but every time I run the program, I get
Unhandled exception at 0x592AD6AC (msvcr120d.dll) in lab 2.exe: 0xC0000005: Access violation writing location 0x00000000.
in a popup window. How do I fix this?
float inTemp;
char inUnit;
char outUnit;
printf("Please enter the starting temperature with its units and the units\nyou would like to convert to (i.e. 74.5 F C): ");
scanf_s("%f %c %c", &inTemp, &inUnit, &outUnit); //takes in all user input (NOT WORKING)
You have not provided a length indicator. From MSDN:
Unlike scanf and wscanf, scanf_s and wscanf_s require the buffer size
to be specified for all input parameters of type c, C, s, S, or string
control sets that are enclosed in []. The buffer size in characters is
passed as an additional parameter immediately following the pointer to
the buffer or variable. For example, if you are reading a string, the
buffer size for that string is passed as follows: char s[10];
scanf_s("%9s", s, _countof(s)); // buffer size is 10, width
specification is 9
Here is a link to that page.
If you really want to use (less portable) scanf_s
, from the C11 standard (n1570), Annex K 3.5.3.2 p.4:
The fscanf_s
function is equivalent to fscanf
except that the c
, s
, and [
conversion specifiers apply to a pair of arguments (unless assignment suppression is indicated by a *
). The first of these arguments is the same as for fscanf
. That argument is immediately followed in the argument list by the second argument, which has type rsize_t
and gives the number of elements in the array pointed to by the first argument of the pair.
You need to give the lengths of your char *
arguments:
scanf_s("%f %c %c", &inTemp, &inUnit, 1, &outUnit, 1);
Alternatively, just use scanf
:
scanf("%f %c %c", &inTemp, &inUnit, &outUnit);
And, as always, check the return values.
In general, as scanf
is somtimes useful for little quick-and-dirty programmes, it’s of less use for productive software, because handling errors is hard. Use fgets
and sscanf
/strtod
/strtol
/… instead.