How to enter the value of EOF in the terminal

Question

I have a C program.

int main ()
{
    if (getchar()!=EOF)
        puts("Got a character");
    else
        puts("EOF");
}

What should I type into the stdin on the terminal to produce an EOF?

rather what should I give from keyboard to get control in else part ? — user1593308, Aug 15 '12 at 11:38
@user1593308, Have you tried pressing CTRL-D? Pl. check to see if this takes the code to the else part. — Tanmoy Bandyopadhyay, Aug 15 '12 at 11:44

score 82 · Accepted Answer · edited Dec 04 '18 at 21:10

82

In Windows, Control+Z is the typical keyboard shortcut to mean "end of file", in Linux and Unix it's typically Control+D.

edited Dec 04 '18 at 21:10

Antti Haapala -- Слава Україні

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answered Aug 15 '12 at 11:45

unwind

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Sir I want to print the integer value of EOF in C, how can I do this ? – user1593308 Aug 15 '12 at 11:49
the integer value of EOF in C is a value<0, so set your variable equal to getchar() and then print it out upon reading EOF – Oct 16 '13 at 01:08
Unhelpfully, this is the first Google hit for "end of file keyboard shortcut". – Toby Wilson Mar 31 '20 at 13:02
1

@user1593308 Just do `printf("EOF=%d\n", EOF);`, no need to get the value from `getchar()`, just use the macro directly. – unwind Mar 31 '20 at 13:31

score 17 · Answer 2 · edited Mar 23 '18 at 01:42

17

EOF is wrapped in a macro for a reason - you never need to know the value.
From the command-line, when you are running your program you can send EOF to the program with Ctrl-D (Unix) or CTRL-Z (Microsoft).
To determine what the value of EOF is on your platform you can always just print it:
```
printf ("%i\n", EOF);
```

edited Mar 23 '18 at 01:42

answered Aug 15 '12 at 11:47

Lelanthran

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`printf("%i", EOF)` prints `-1` instead of `Control+D` – KMC Apr 05 '13 at 09:54
5

@KMC - allow me to clarify. Doing this: printf ("%i\n", 'K'); would print '75' and not 'K' after all. I also doubt if printing EOF as a character with "%c" will result in "CTRL+D" being printed. Depending on the terminal you might even get "?". Bear in mind that EOF is what the library returns when you *read* input, and is not representable as a printable character anyway. When you are *writing* output in your terminal, pressing CTRL+D (or whatever) causes the terminal to end input; it does not cause the terminal to generate a specific representation of EOF. Hope this clears things up. – Lelanthran Apr 06 '13 at 10:51

score 7 · Answer 3 · edited Mar 23 '18 at 01:48

7

You can simulate an EOF with:

Windows: ctrl+Z
Unix: ctrl+D

edited Mar 23 '18 at 01:48

activedecay

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answered Aug 15 '12 at 11:39

SpacedMonkey

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score 4 · Answer 4 · answered Oct 18 '18 at 21:03

4

It's not mentioned in any of the other answers so far, but you may need to press the right key combo (^D or ^Z) 2 or 3 times in order to actually signal EOF; see here for explanation.

answered Oct 18 '18 at 21:03

M.M

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How to enter the value of EOF in the terminal

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