GETS(3)                                                                 Linux Programmer's Manual                                                                GETS(3)

NAME
       gets - get a string from standard input (DEPRECATED)

SYNOPSIS
       #include <stdio.h>

       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  check‐
       ing, 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 │
       └──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┴───────────────┴─────────┘

CONFORMING TO
       C89, C99, 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 version 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), un‐
       locked_stdio(3), feature_test_macros(7)

GNU                                                                            2021-03-22                                                                        GETS(3)