Using EOF and getchar() for character counting in C

Question

Possible Duplicate:
Why doesn't getchar() recognise return as EOF in windows console?

I'm new in C and trying to figure out how EOF and getChar() works.

#include <stdio.h>

main()
{

int number = 0;
while(getchar() != EOF)
     number++;

printf("%d", number);
}

When I type some random characters, the program doesn't do anything, I think that it never gets out of that while loop. Why is that? I'm using CodeBlocks on Windows 7.

EOF is the marker for End Of File. Type CTRL+Z or change the condition to exit the loop with a character on the keyboard. — Adriano Repetti, Jun 05 '12 at 15:19

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Jun 05 '12 at 15:19

Because you aren't sending an EOF character. "EOF" stands for "end-of-file"; console input (known as "standard input") is a special case of a file. But in order to denote that this special file has ended, you need to send a special signal. You can get this effect on Windows by pressing Ctrl+Z (followed by Enter, for some reason).

Using EOF and getchar() for character counting in C

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