I'm simply trying to figure out how to write a program that works in
this format:

Please enter a letter: a

Result: apple
...
and if "b" was entered a word starting with "b" would be returned.
Can you help me? Thanks. - Cyrid

There's a lot of ways to do what your asking.  Here is the simplest way I
can think of.
  #include <stdio.h>

       int main ()
        {
          char input;  /*defind character variable input*/

          input =getchar(); /* read one character from keyboard */
          if (input =='a') printf("apple \n");
          if (input =='b') printf("book \n");
              return 0;
        }

This looks like homework, so I won't give you all the answers, but I'll give
you some hints: the first character in a string is accessible as *string, if
you want something generic (e.g. given "mac" it will look for "mac*") look
at strncmp().

Russell

Hello wrote ...
...

...

Three methods come to mind:
1. Use many "if" statements such as:
    if (letter == 'a') printf("apple");

2. Use a "switch" statement:
    switch (letter)
    {
      case 'a':
        printf("apple");
        break;
      case 'b':
        printf("book");
        break;
      /* ... */
    }

3. Use an array of strings, index by the letter input:
   char * dictionary[26] = { "apple", "book", "cat", /*...*/ };

   printf(dictionary[letter - 'a']);

Note that you have to safe-guard against any invalid characters being entered.
For example, what happens if the user presses '6' or '#'?  Also think about a
method for the user to nicely quit the program.  Be aware that 'a' is not equal
to 'A', meaning the language and input are case sensitive.

Look up the following functions or headers:
toupper()
strcmp()
fgetc()
fgets()
string.h
ctype.h

There are more methods, but many are advanced.  Just think about how you would
do this using pen & paper.  Write down each step, then convert into a program.

--
Thomas Matthews

Thanks for the feedback guys. And no Harper it wasn't a homework
assignment. My class hasn't even got passed "scanf" yet (class is moving
way to slow). That stuff I already know, so I was just trying to figure
out some new things on my own. Again, thanks. I learn more here than in
that class.   - Cyrid

Groovy hepcat Rick49 was jivin' on Tue, 20 Oct 1998 01:52:34 GMT in
comp.lang.c.
Re: Newbie needs help with something simple!'s a cool scene! Dig it!

  A much easier way than this would use a switch here instead of
multiple if(...) statements.
  But a lokup table would be cleaner. For example (assuming a system
in which the letters a to z are contiguous and in order in the
prevailing character set, eg. ASCII):

#include <stdio.h>
#include <ctype.h>

int main(void)
{
  char *word[] = {"Apple",
                  "Book",
                  ... };
  int c;

  printf("Enter a letter: ");
  fflush(stdout);

  c = tolower(getchar()) - 'a';
  printf("%s\n", word[c]);

  return 0;

--

----- Dig the EVEN NEWER, MORE IMPROVED news sig!! -----

-------------- Shaggy was here! ---------------
    http://aardvark.apana.org.au/~phaywood/
============= Ain't I'm a dawg!! ==============

A minor nitpick: this assumes a character set where the letters
have adjacent codes in ascending order. A switch would not suffer
from this limitation:
   switch( tolower( getchar() ) )
   {
       case 'a': printf( "Apple\n" ); break;
       case 'b': printf( "Banana\n" ); break;
   }

Hidden danger: this results in undefined behaviour, if the user
enters a leter that is not in the lookup table. The "if" and "swicth"
versions do not suffer from this potential problem.

Stephan
(initiator of the campaign against grumpiness in c.l.c)