Standard Outputs of C

Review of common inputs: printf, putchar, puts.

Comparing to Standard Inputs, Standard Outputs are much simpler.

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Basic Formats

What is the result of the following code?
```
#include <stdio.h>

int main(void) {
    char a[5] = {'A', 'B', '\0', 'C', 'D'};
    puts(a);
    return 0;
}
```
Click to expand Answer
✔️ Answer
AB
puts or printf("%s", ...) stops when the terminating character ('\0') is seen. If you forget to add a '\0' at the end of your string, the program might crash due to memory access violation.
Replace <REPLACE_HERE> with a string format that can get the expected output.
```
#include <stdio.h>

int main(void) {
    printf("<REPLACE_HERE>");
    return 0;
}
```
Expected Output:
```
printf("%d\n", x);
```
Click to expand Answer
✔️ Answer
printf(\"%%d\\n\", x);
printf requires escape characters to print certain special characters.
- \\ becomes '\'
- \" becomes '"'
- %% becomes '%'
For the example above, we can print out the expected output easily by puts. But if you use printf, it’s a pain in the a**.

What is the result of the following code?

#include <stdio.h>

int main(void) {
    int a, b;
    a = 101;
    b = 8787887;
    printf("%8d\n", a);
    printf("%8d\n", b);
    printf("%08d\n", a);
    printf("%08d", b);
    return 0;
}

Click to expand Answer

✔️ Answer

This is a easy way to pad outputs with whitespaces or zeros.

What is the result of the following code?

#include <stdio.h>

int main(void) {
    float f;
    f = 878722e-4;
    printf("%f\n", f);
    printf("%.2f\n", f);
    printf("%.1f\n", f);
    printf("%.0f\n", f);
    printf("%.f", f);
    return 0;
}

Click to expand Answer

✔️ Answer

The xey in float representation means $x\cdot 10^y$.

If the precision isn’t specified, the default is 6 digits after the decimal point.

printf does the rounding for you.

Replace <REPLACE_HERE> with string formats that can get the expected output.

#include <stdio.h>

int main(void) {
    long long x, y;
    scanf("%lld%lld", &x, &y);
    printf("<REPLACE_HERE>\n", 20, 2*(unsigned long long)x);
    printf("<REPLACE_HERE>\n", 20, 2*(unsigned long long)y);
    return 0;
}

Input:

9100000000000000000
12

Expected Output:

18200000000000000000
00000000000000000024

Click to expand Answer

✔️ Answer

%0*llu

%lld for long long
%llu for unsigned long long.

printf("%*d", NUM, ...) replaces * to NUM.

What is the result of the following code?
```
#include <stdio.h>

int main(void) {
    putchar('\a');
    return 0;
}
```
Click to expand Answer
✔️ Answer
- In Console/Terminal
  
  Does not output any visible characters.
  
  If your computer’s sound is on, you should hear a bell ringing sound or a “beep!”, or some other strange noises.
- In text editor (which is used by OJ)
  BEL
  BEL indicates the bell character. \a is stored as a character if the output is redirected to a file. The bell sound is the result of the terminal’s interpretation of \a.
For more information, please refer to the ASCII Table.
What is the result of the following code?
```
#include <stdio.h>

int main(void) {
    puts("helloworld!\b\b\b\b\b\b hell");
    return 0;
}
```
Click to expand Answer
✔️ Answer
- In Console/Terminal
  hello hell!
- In text editor (which is used by OJ)
  helloworld!BSBSBSBSBSBS hell
  BS indicates the backspace character. \b is stored as a character if the output is redirected to a file. The terminal’s interpretation of \b is to move the cursor left by one character.
  
  Since OJ uses I/O redirection, you should not expect \b to work as you expected.

Standard I/O Review

scanf("%c", ...), getchar does not ignore leading whitespace characters.
gets does not store the terminating newline character; fgets stores the terminating newline character (if the input is terminated by newline instead of EOF).
when reading EOF, scanf, getchar returns EOF; gets, fgets return NULL.
When reading strings, remember to save an additional space for the easily forgotten '\0'.
Strings should be null-terminated (end with '\0') before outputting using printf("%s", ...) or puts.

The list above is some mistakes that I see a lot of beginners make. If you see other special usages, you can search for them online. (such as %x, %#x, %hd, …)

If you forget some of the I/O formats above in your exam (such as leading zero paddings), most of them can be replaced with additional if statements and loops.

For the next assignment, we’ll review some basic syntaxes of C.

Epilogue

Photo Credit: Posted on Reddit

Basic Formats

Standard I/O Review

Epilogue

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