strange algorithm in C - c

Question

I was following one of the exercises in the book "The C Programming Language":
http://users.powernet.co.uk/eton/kandr2/krx116.html
In the below program, if the input file contains the line 'h\n', for example, the getline function initializes i and j to 0. Since 'h' is not EOF or '\n', the block in loop executes, the c is assigned to the 0 index of the s array pointer, since j is 0. Then j increments to 1. Then the block ends and the i counter increments to 1. And the loop checks if the next character is a '\n', and it is, so the block exits. At this point, i and j are both equal to 1. Since c is equal to '\n', c is inserted into index 1 of the s pointer, since j is 1. Then j is incremented to 2. Then i is incremented to 2. Then the null terminator '\0' is inserted into index 2 of the s pointer, since j is 2. Then the function returns 2, since i is also 2.
I see no point of the j variable. Because when it increments, so does i. Someone said I was wrong:
"because they're incremented at different rates. The i counter is used to keep track of the length of the string. The j variable, at the end of the processing, stores the point where the null terminator needs to go in the string."
But I say since i and j are the same values (one is just incremented after the other), you could use i to the point where the null terminator needs to go, since i would also be equal to 2 in my above example.
#include <stdio.h>
#define MAXLINE 1000 /* maximum input line size */
int getline(char line[], int maxline);
void copy(char to[], char from[]);
/* print longest input line */
int main(void)
{
int len; /* current line length */
int max; /* maximum length seen so far */
char line[MAXLINE]; /* current input line */
char longest[MAXLINE]; /* longest line saved here */
max = 0;
while((len = getline(line, MAXLINE)) > 0)
{
printf("%d: %s", len, line);
if(len > max)
{
max = len;
copy(longest, line);
}
}
if(max > 0)
{
printf("Longest is %d characters:\n%s", max, longest);
}
printf("\n");
return 0;
}
/* getline: read a line into s, return length */
int getline(char s[], int lim)
{
int c, i, j;
for(i = 0, j = 0; (c = getchar())!=EOF && c != '\n'; ++i)
{
if(i < lim - 1)
{
s[j++] = c;
}
}
if(c == '\n')
{
if(i <= lim - 1)
{
s[j++] = c;
}
++i;
}
s[j] = '\0';
return i;
}
/* copy: copy 'from' into 'to'; assume 'to' is big enough */
void copy(char to[], char from[])
{
int i;
i = 0;
while((to[i] = from[i]) != '\0')
{
++i;
}
}
Am I right or wrong?

Answer 1

You're not quite right. If the input string is longer than the limit, the loop will continue incrementing i in order to count input characters even though they're not going into the result string.