Differences between Difference between getc(), getchar(), getch() and getche() functions

All of these functions are used to read a character from input and each returns an integer value. They differ in where they read from, whether they use a buffer, and whether they echo the character to the screen.

getc()

getc() reads a single character from any input stream (file, stdin, etc.). It uses a buffer and waits for the Enter key. Returns EOF on failure.

Syntax −

int getc(FILE *stream);

getchar()

getchar() reads a single character from standard input only. It is equivalent to calling getc(stdin). It uses a buffer and waits for the Enter key.

Syntax −

int getchar();

getch()

getch() reads a character from standard input without buffering and returns immediately without waiting for the Enter key. It does not echo the character to the screen. This function is defined in <conio.h> and is non-standard (available on Windows/DOS).

Syntax −

int getch();

getche()

getche() behaves like getch() − it reads without buffering and returns immediately. The only difference is that it echoes the character to the screen. Also defined in <conio.h> and non-standard.

Syntax −

int getche();

Key Differences

Example

The following program demonstrates all four functions (requires <conio.h> support on Windows) ?

#include <stdio.h>
#include <conio.h>

int main() {
    printf("getc: ");
    printf("%c\n", getc(stdin));     // reads from stdin, waits for Enter

    printf("getchar: ");
    printf("%c\n", getchar());       // reads from stdin, waits for Enter

    printf("getch: ");
    printf("%c\n", getch());         // reads immediately, no echo

    printf("getche: ");
    printf("%c\n", getche());        // reads immediately, echoes character

    return 0;
}

If the user types A (Enter), B (Enter), C, D, the output would be −

getc: A
getchar: B
getch: C
getche: DD

Note − For getch(), the character C is not shown when typed but appears when printed. For getche(), the character D appears twice − once from the echo and once from the printf.

Conclusion

Use getc() for reading from any file stream, getchar() for standard input with buffering, getch() for unbuffered silent input, and getche() for unbuffered input with echo. Note that getch() and getche() are non-standard and only available on platforms that support <conio.h>.