reading formatted strings: readf("%s", &stringvar)

[Andrei Alexandrescu]

On 3/27/12 6:54 AM, Tyro[17] wrote:
> On Tuesday, 27 March 2012 at 00:05:51 UTC, Andrei Alexandrescu wrote:
>> On 3/26/12 2:52 PM, Tyro[17] wrote:
>>> Couldn't the state of stdin be checked upon entrance into readf
>>> and reopened if it is already closed?
>>
>> That won't work.
>
> But this does:
[snip]

Very interesting! But then what if people press Ctrl-C? That would end 
the input instead of ending the program.

> Could that technique be used to implement readf for stdin?

I don't think we should pursue this path.

>>> Wouldn't that accomplish the desired effect while avoiding
>>> the pitfalls of scanf?
>>
>> I don't think this is a pitfall. Essentially you don't have a
>> definition of what constitutes a chunk of input. Once you get that
>> define, you should be able to express it more or less easily.
>>
>
> I'm of the opinion that Ctrl-D defines the boundary of that
> chunk of input. We simply have to prevent it from closing
> the stream when working with stdin.

You're in a sparse minority at best. Every Unix application out there 
uses Ctrl-D for end-of-console-input, and your users would be surprised 
by your exotic use of it.

Why not pick any other character for end of chunk - double newline, 
Ctrl-S, pretty much anything but Ctrl-D? It's a waste of your time to 
fight a long-established standard.


Andrei