Check if User Inputs a Letter or Number in C

Question

Is there an easy way to call a C script to see if the user inputs a letter from the English alphabet? I\'m thinking something like this:

if (variable == a -          


        

Answer 1

The strto*() library functions come in handy here:

#include 
#include 
#include 
#define SIZE ...

int main(void)
{
  char buffer[SIZE];
  printf("Gimme an integer value: ");
  fflush(stdout);
  if (fgets(buffer, sizeof buffer, stdin))
  {
    long value;
    char *check;
    /**
     * strtol() scans the string and converts it to the equivalent 
     * integer value.  check will point to the first character
     * in the buffer that isn't part of a valid integer constant;
     * e.g., if you type in "12W", check will point to 'W'.  
     *
     * If check points to something other than whitespace or a 0
     * terminator, then the input string is not a valid integer. 
     */
    value = strtol(buffer, &check, 0);
    if (!isspace(*check) && *check != 0)
    {
      printf("%s is not a valid integer\n", buffer);
    }
  }
  return 0;
}