gets() function gets skipped from the second time onwards

Question

I was playing with C and wrote this code:

   1 #include<stdio.h>
   2 #define ASK_PROMPT printf("\nDo you want to continue(Y/N):");
   3 main()
   4 {
   5    char main[20], i;
   6    start:
   7    printf("Please enter your string:\n");
   8    gets(main);
   9    printf("\nstring entered was:\n \n%s\n", main);
   10   ASK_PROMPT;
   11   scanf("%c",&i);
   12       
   13   if(i=='Y'||i=='y')
   14       goto start;
   15   getch();
   16   return;
   17 }

when I execute this code, the goto loop is not working correctly. On providing y or Y response to question asked from line 10, loop does work and line 7 is again executed/printed but line 8 was skipped(doesn't wait for the input to be provided).

• Can anyone explain why it is happening?
• How do I fix it?

Answer 1

Fix

Change scanf("%c",&i); to scanf("%c%*c",&i);.

Problem

The \n after inputting i is what is causing gets() not to wait for input.

Good practices

• Stop using gets(), goto etc. Instead, you can use fgets(), scanf() etc. Never use deprecated functions.
• Change char array name from main to something else, say m.

Thanks @Coolguy for the comment on use of scanf.