Header File 

stdio.h  

Category 

Memory and String Manipulation Routines 

Syntax 

int sscanf(const char *buffer, const char *format[, address, ...]); 

int swscanf(const wchar_t *buffer, const wchar_t *format[, address, ...]); 

Description 

Scans and formats input from a string.

sscanf might stop scanning a particular field before it reaches the normal end-of-field (whitespace) character, or it might terminate entirely, for a number of reasons. See scanf for a discussion of possible causes. 

Return Value 

On success, sscanf returns the number of input fields successfully scanned, converted, and stored; the return value does not include scanned fields that were not stored.  

If sscanf attempts to read at end-of-string, it returns EOF. 

On error (If no fields were stored), it returns 0. 

Example  

#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
char *names[4] = {"Peter", "Mike", "Shea", "Jerry"};
#define NUMITEMS 4
int main(void)
{
   int   loop;
   char  temp[4][80];
   char  name[20];
   int   age;
   long  salary;
/* create name, age and salary data */
   for (loop=0; loop < NUMITEMS; ++loop)
      sprintf(temp[loop], "%s %d %ld", names[loop], random(10) + 20, random(5000) + 27500L);
/* print title bar */
   printf("%4s | %-20s | %5s | %15s\n", "#", "Name", "Age", "Salary");
   printf("   --------------------------------------------------\n");
/* input a name, age and salary data */
   for (loop=0; loop < NUMITEMS; ++loop)
      {
      sscanf(temp[loop],"%s %d %ld", &name, &age, &salary);
      printf("%4d | %-20s | %5d | %15ld\n", loop + 1, name, age, salary);
      }
   return 0;
}

Portability