Difference between scanf() and strtol() / strtod() in parsing numbers

Question

Note: I completely reworked the question to more properly reflect what I am setting the bounty for. Please excuse any inconsistencies with already-given ans

Answer 1

I am not sure I understand the question, but for one thing scanf() is supposed to handle EOF. scanf() and strtol() are different kinds of beasts. Maybe you should compare strtol() and sscanf() instead?