String input and output in C - Mini Project: Build & Apply

String input and output

📖 Scenario: You are creating a simple program that asks a user for their name and then greets them.

🎯 Goal: Build a program that reads a user's name as input and then prints a greeting message including that name.

📋 What You'll Learn

Use char name[50]; to store the user's name

Use scanf to read the name from input

Use printf to display the greeting message

💡 Why This Matters

🌍 Real World

Reading and displaying text input is a basic skill used in many programs like user registration, chat apps, and command-line tools.

💼 Career

Understanding string input/output in C is essential for system programming, embedded systems, and software development roles.

1

Create a character array to store the name

Declare a character array called name with size 50 to hold the user's name.

C

#include 

int main() {
    char name[50];  // Your code here

    return 0;
}

Need a hint?

Use char name[50]; inside main() to create space for the name.

2

Read the user's name using scanf

Use scanf with "%49s" to read the user's name into the name array.

C

#include 

int main() {
    char name[50];
    // Read the user's name
    scanf("%49s", name);  // Your code here

    return 0;
}

Need a hint?

Use scanf("%49s", name); to safely read a string into name.

3

Print a greeting message with the name

Use printf to display the message Hello, <name>! where <name> is the value stored in name.

C

#include 

int main() {
    char name[50];
    scanf("%49s", name);
    // Print greeting message
    printf("Hello, %s!\n", name);  // Your code here

    return 0;
}

Need a hint?

Use printf("Hello, %s!\n", name); to show the greeting with the user's name.

4

Run the program and display the greeting

Run the program and enter the name Alice when prompted. The program should print Hello, Alice!.

C

#include 

int main() {
    char name[50];
    scanf("%49s", name);
    printf("Hello, %s!\n", name);

    return 0;
}

// Run the program and check output

Need a hint?

Type Alice as input and check that the output is Hello, Alice!