scanf() is a general purpose console input routine.

To read a string “%s” format specifier is used.

scanf() reads a string until the first “white space” character is encountered. below is the list of “white space” characters:

  • space
  • tab (\t)
  • vertical tab (\v)
  • form feed (\f)

Example 1:

#include 
int main()
{
    char str[10];
    printf("Enter string with space:\n");
    scanf("%s", str);
    printf("String entered is:\n", str);
    return 0;
}

Output:                                                   

Enter string with space:
Binary Rambo
String entered is: Binary

The above output is missing portion of the string (Rambo) entered, as there is a space between word “Binary” and “Rambo”.

To read a string with space in between, scan set ( %[] ) format specifier needs to be used.

Example 2:

#include 
int main()
{
    char str[10];
    printf("Enter string with space:\n");
    scanf("%[^\n]s", str);
    printf("String entered is:\n", str);
    return 0;
}

Output:                                                   

Enter string with space:
Binary Rambo
String entered is: Binary Rambo

The above output prints the complete string entered, because of the scan set format specifier which is instructing to read a string until a new line (\n) is not (^) encountered.