C – Read Float using Scanf()

To read a float value entered by user via standard input in C language, use scanf() function.

scanf() reads input from stdin(standard input), according to the given format and stores the data in the given arguments.

So, to read a float number from console, give the format and argument to scanf() function as shown in the following code snippet.

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float n;
scanf("%f", n);

Here, %f is the format to read a float value and this float value is stored in variable n.

Examples

In the following example, we read a float value input by the user in standard input to a variable n using scanf() function.

main.c

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#include <stdio.h>

int main() {
    float n;
    printf("Enter a float value : ");
    //read input from user to "n"
    scanf("%f", &n);
    //print to console
    printf("You entered %f\n", n);
    return 0;
}

Output

Enter a float value : 3.14
You entered 3.140000
Program ended with exit code: 0
Enter a float value : -1.414
You entered -1.414000
Program ended with exit code: 0

Conclusion

In this C Tutorial, we learned how to read a float value entered by user via standard input using scanf() function.