two functions are occurring at the same time - c

Question

I have to create a program that creates a guess the letter game.
Everything is built successfully. However, I run into a problem because the GetTheLetter function and the CompareThe Letters function are combining and printing at the same time. When it prompts the user for a guess, it is also printing out the first if statement of the CompareTheLetters function. What am I doing wrong?
#define _CRT_SECURE_NO_WARNINGS
#define MAXGUESSES 4
#include <stdio.h>
void GuessItRules(); //Game instructions
int PlayOneGame(char letter); //Runs a game
char GetTheLetter(); //Prompts user to guess and returns guess
int IsAWinner(char letter, char userguess); //Returns either a 1 or a 0 depending on if the user guessed correctly
void CompareTheLetters(char letter, char userguess); //Prints message dependent on whether guess comes before, after, or is the letter
int main()
{
//declare additional variables
//declare FILE pointer
FILE* PTR;
int numOfgames; //number of games user wants to play
int i; //iterator
char letter; //letter from file
int win; //variable for the return of the PlayOneGame function
//display instructions
GuessItRules();
//connect to the file HINT: use fopen
PTR = fopen("letters.txt", "r");
//get number of games to play
printf("Let's start playing!\n\nHow many games would you like to play (1-5)?\n\n");
scanf("%d", &numOfgames);
//this for loop will allow the player to play more than one game
//without recompiling
for (i = 0; i < numOfgames; i++)
{
//get a letter from file - use fscanf
fscanf(PTR, "%c", &letter);
//Play one game (Call PlayOneGame function) - remember the function has an int return type
win = PlayOneGame(letter);
//tell the player if they have won or lost (test the variable win)
if (win == 1)
printf("Congrats! You guessed the correct letter!!\n\n");
else if (win == 0)
printf("I'm sorry you did not guess the correct answer :( The letter was %c\n\n", letter);
}
//close file
fclose(PTR);
return 0;
}
//Function definitions
void GuessItRules()
{
printf("Welcome to the Guess the Letter Game!\n-------------------------------------\n\n");
printf("You will have 4 chances to guess the letter per a game\n\n");
}
int PlayOneGame(char letter)
{
int numOfguesses = 0;
int winOrLose = 0; //should be intialized
char userguess; // user guess
//As long as the user has not used up the maximum number
//of guesses and has not guessed correctly
//the game will continue using this while loop
while (numOfguesses < MAXGUESSES && winOrLose == 0)
{
//function call to GetTheletter - returns to userguess variable
userguess = GetTheLetter();
//function call to IsAWinner - returns to winOrLose variable (0 or 1)
winOrLose = IsAWinner(letter, userguess);
//function call to CompareTheLetters - gives the user a message
CompareTheLetters(letter, userguess);
//update counter for number of guesses used
numOfguesses = numOfguesses + 1;
}
return winOrLose; //(0 or 1)
}
char GetTheLetter()
{
char userguess;
printf("Please enter a guess \n\n");
scanf("%c", &userguess);
return (userguess);
}
int IsAWinner(char letter, char userguess)
{
if (userguess == letter)
return (1);
else
return (0);
}
void CompareTheLetters(char letter, char userguess)
{
if (userguess < letter)
{
printf("The letter you are trying to guess comes after %c\n\n", userguess);
}
else if (userguess > letter)
{
printf("The letter you are trying to guess comes before %c\n\n", userguess);
}
else if (userguess == letter)
{
printf("The letter is %c!!!!\n\n", userguess);
printf("Congrats!!! You did it!!\n\n");
}
}

Answer 1

The problem lies in when you ask the user for a letter to guess.
When you use the %c format specifier to scanf, a newline satisfies this format specifier. Since there will have been a newline left in the input buffer from your previous input, this picks up that newline.
Put a space at the beginning of the format string to absorb the newline:
scanf(" %c", &userguess);
Note that other format specifiers such as %d and %f will skip over newlines, unlike %c. So the leading space to skip newlines is needed only for %c.