Question

Right now I am going through a book on C and have come across an example in the book which I cannot get to work.

#include <stdio.h>
#define IN 1
#define OUT 0
main()
{
  int c, nl, nw, nc, state;
  state = OUT;
  nl = nw = nc = 0;
  while ((c = getchar()) != EOF) {
    ++nc;
    if (c == '\n')
      ++nl;
    if (c == ' ' || c == '\n' || c == '\t')
      state = OUT;
    else if (state == OUT) {
      state = IN;
      ++nw;
    }
  }
  printf("%d %d %d\n", nl, nw, nc);
}

It’s supposed to count the number of lines, words, and characters within an input. However, when I run it in the terminal it appears to do nothing. Am I missing something or is there a problem with this code?

Answer 1

The program only terminates when the input ends (getchar returns EOF). When running on terminal, this normally never happens and because of this it seems that the program is stuck. You need to close the input manually by pressing Ctrl+D (possibly twice) on Linux or pressing F6 and Enter at the beginning of the line on Windows (different systems may use different means for this).