Taking some string input from user with C - c

Question

I am not too familiar with C syntax. I need to process some data based on user input. Although I processed the data successfully but I am stuck at user input section. I removed the unnecessary data processing section and made a simple example of how I am taking the user input. Can anyone tell me what's the problem with below code :
int i, number;
char *str;
str=(char*)malloc(1000*sizeof(char));
printf("Enter count : ");
scanf("%d", &number);
for(i=0; i<number; i++)
{
printf("\nEnter string: ");
scanf ("%[^\n]%*c", str);
printf("%s", str);
}
Output:
"Enter count : " appears fine, but whenever I provide some value and hit enter it's showing me only 'count' number of Enter string: without enabling user to enter the string.
For example -
Enter count : 2
Enter string:
Enter string:
But if I discard the count input section and provide any fixed value, like
for(i=0; i<5; i++)
it works fine
Thanks in advance

Answer 1

FYI, there is no issue in for(i=0; i<number; i++), problem is in scanning logic.
Actually, scanf ("%[^\n]%*c", str); is not right. you should use %s to read strings, not %c, which reads a single character, including the ENTER (newline).
Rather, i would suggest, use fgets() for inputs. It's a whole lot better in every way. Check the man page here.
Maybe you can use something like
//Dummy code
int i, number;
char *str;
printf("Enter count : ");
scanf("%d", &number);
str=malloc(number*sizeof(char)); //yes, casting not required
fgets(str, (number-1), stdin ); //"number" is used in different context
fputs(str, stdout);
EDIT:
Working code
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#define SIZ 1024
int main()
{
int i, number;
char * str = malloc(SIZ * sizeof (char));
printf("Enter the number :\n");
scanf("%d", &number);
getc(stdin); //to eat up the `\n` stored in stdin buffer
for (i = 0; i < number; i++)
{
printf("Enter the string %d :", (i+1));
fgets(str, SIZ-1, stdin);
printf("You have entered :");
fputs(str, stdout);
}
return 0;
}

Answer 2

scanf("%s",str); Use this instead of the code you are using to take string inputs in a character array.

Answer 3

There is a newline character \n after entering count value which is picked up by %c in your scanf()
Just use %s to scan strings as shown below.
scanf("%s",str);
If there are spaces in your input.
Then do
char c[50];
fgets(c,sizeof(c),stdin);
Check the below code:
#include <stdio.h>
#include<stdlib.h>
int main(){
int i, number;
char *str;
str=malloc(1000*sizeof(char));
printf("Enter count : ");
scanf("%d%*c", &number);
for(i=0; i<number; i++)
{
printf("\nEnter string: ");
fgets(str,1000,stdin);
printf("%s", str);
}
}