HOWTO: sscanf() Example Using a Comma (,) as Delimiter

• The C Run-time (CRT) included with: - Microsoft C for MS-DOS, versions 5.1, 6.0, 6.0a, 6.0ax - Microsoft C for OS/2, versions 5.1, 6.0, 6.0a - Microsoft C/C++ for MS-DOS, version 7.0 - Microsoft Visual C++ for Windows, versions 1.0, 1.5 - Microsoft Visual C++ 32-bit Edition, versions 1.0, 2.0, 4.0, 5.0

SUMMARY

The example below shows how to use the sscanf() C run-time function to read from an internal buffer delimiting fields with a comma (,). The key is to use the brackets in the format of sscanf() function. The format will be %[^','], which tells the function to read from the buffer until a comma (,) is reached.

Sample Code

 /* The following sample illustrates the use of brackets and the
    caret (^) with sscanf().
    Compile options needed: none
 */

 #include <math.h>
 #include <stdio.h>
 #include <stdlib.h>

 char *tokenstring = "first,25.5,second,15";
 int result, i;
 double fp;
 char o[10], f[10], s[10], t[10];

 void main()
 {
    result = sscanf(tokenstring, "%[^','],%[^','],%[^','],%s", o, s, t, f);
    fp = atof(s);
    i  = atoi(f);
    printf("%s\n %lf\n %s\n %d\n", o, fp, t, i);
 }

Keywords          : CRTIss kbcode kbfasttip
Version           : MS-DOS:6.0,6.00a,6.00ax,7.0; OS/2:6.0,6.00a;  WINDOWS:1.0,1.5; WINDOWS NT:1.0,2.0,4.0,5.0
Platform          : MS-DOS NT OS/2 WINDOWS
Issue type        : kbhowto