🚀⚡Beginner

Print Your Own Name

Display name entered by user

This program demonstrates how to take user input using scanf()and display it back using printf(). It is one of the first programs that teaches you how to interact with users.

📚 What You Will Learn

•How to declare a character array (string) in C
•Using scanf() to read user input
•Using format specifiers (%s) with printf and scanf

C Program to Print Your Name

print_name.c

1#include <stdio.h>
2
3int main() {
4    // Declare a character array to store name
5    char name[50];
6    
7    // Prompt user for input
8    printf("Enter your name: ");
9    
10    // Read the name from user
11    scanf("%49s", name);
12    
13    // Display greeting with the name
14    printf("Hello, %s! Welcome to C programming.\n", name);
15    
16    return 0;
17}

Output

Enter your name: John

Hello, John! Welcome to C programming.

Detailed Code Explanation

Line 5char name[50];

Declares a character array (string) that can hold up to 49 characters plus a null terminator.

Why 50 but only 49 characters?

In C, strings end with a special character \\0 (null terminator). So a char[50] array can store 49 characters + 1 null character.

Line 11scanf("%49s", name);

Reads a string from the user and stores it in the name array.

scanf() Function Signature:

int scanf(const char *format, ...);

• format: Format string with specifiers like %s, %d, %f
• ...: Addresses where to store the input values
• Returns: Number of items successfully read

Part	Meaning
%s	Format specifier for string
%49s	Read max 49 characters (prevents buffer overflow)
name	No & needed - array name is already a pointer

Line 14printf("Hello, %s!", name);

The %s is replaced by the string stored in name.

Step-by-Step Execution:

Array Declaration

Memory is allocated for 50 characters to store the name

Prompt Display

printf shows "Enter your name: " on screen

Wait for Input

scanf pauses program and waits for user to type

Store Input

When user presses Enter, text is stored in name array

Display Output

printf replaces %s with the name and prints greeting

Reading Full Name with Spaces

Limitation: scanf("%s") stops reading at whitespace. For names like "John Doe", use fgets() instead:

print_fullname.c

1#include <stdio.h>
2
3int main() {
4    char name[50];
5    
6    printf("Enter your full name: ");
7    fgets(name, sizeof(name), stdin);
8    
9    printf("Hello, %s", name);
10    return 0;
11}

Output

Enter your full name: John Doe

Hello, John Doe

⚠️ Common Mistakes to Avoid

• Using & with arrays: scanf("%s", &name) ❌ - arrays are already addresses
• No size limit: scanf("%s", name) can cause buffer overflow
• Forgetting null terminator space: char[10] holds only 9 characters + \\0