Capturing a variable length string from the command-line in C

Question

I\'ve looked everywhere for an answer to my question, but I have yet to find a solid answer to my problem.

I\'m currently in the process of writing a program in C, s

Answer 1

If you are using a gnu system, use the gnu getline extension to the c library, it does all the dynamic sizing for you.

e.g. (though I haven't tested)

void get_command()
{
    /*
     * Reads in a command from the user, outputting the correct response
     */

    size_t buffer_size = 0;   
    char *command = NULL;

    ssize_t len = getline(&command, &buffer_size, stdin);

    if(len < 0)
    {
        perror("Error reading input");
    }
    else if (command[len - 1] == '\n')
    {
        puts("It's inside the buffer.");
    }
    else
    {
        puts("It's not inside the buffer.");
    }

    free(command);
}