NAME

       gets - get a string from standard input (DEPRECATED)

LIBRARY

       Standard C library (libc, -lc)

SYNOPSIS

       #include <stdio.h>

       [[deprecated]] char *gets(char *s);

DESCRIPTION

       Never use this function.

       gets() reads a line from stdin into the buffer pointed to by s until either a terminating newline or EOF,
       which it replaces with a null byte ('\0').  No check for buffer overrun is performed (see BUGS below).

RETURN VALUE

       gets()  returns  s on success, and NULL on error or when end of file occurs while no characters have been
       read.  However, given the lack of buffer overrun checking, there can be no guarantees that  the  function
       will even return.

ATTRIBUTES

       For an explanation of the terms used in this section, see attributes(7).
       ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┬───────────────┬─────────┐
       │ Interface                                                                   │ Attribute     │ Value   │
       ├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┼───────────────┼─────────┤
       │ gets()                                                                      │ Thread safety │ MT-Safe │
       └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┴───────────────┴─────────┘

STANDARDS

       POSIX.1-2008.

HISTORY

       C89, POSIX.1-2001.

       LSB  deprecates  gets().   POSIX.1-2008  marks  gets() obsolescent.  ISO C11 removes the specification of
       gets() from the C language,  and  since  glibc  2.16,  glibc  header  files  don't  expose  the  function
       declaration if the _ISOC11_SOURCE feature test macro is defined.

BUGS

       Never  use  gets().   Because  it  is  impossible  to  tell  without knowing the data in advance how many
       characters gets() will read, and because gets() will continue to store characters past  the  end  of  the
       buffer,  it  is  extremely  dangerous  to use.  It has been used to break computer security.  Use fgets()
       instead.

       For   more   information,   see   CWE-242   (aka   "Use   of   Inherently   Dangerous    Function")    at
       http://cwe.mitre.org/data/definitions/242.html

SEE ALSO

       read(2),  write(2),  ferror(3),  fgetc(3),  fgets(3), fgetwc(3), fgetws(3), fopen(3), fread(3), fseek(3),
       getline(3), getwchar(3), puts(3), scanf(3), ungetwc(3), unlocked_stdio(3), feature_test_macros(7)

Linux man-pages 6.7                                2023-10-31                                            gets(3)