How does scanf() work inside the OS?

Question

I\'ve been wondering how scanf()/printf() actually works in the hardware and OS levels. Where does the data flow and what exactly is the OS doing around these times? What calls

Answer 1

scanf() and printf() are functions in libc (the C standard library), and they call the read() and write() operating system syscalls respectively, talking to the file descriptors stdin and stdout respectively (fscanf and fprintf allow you to specify the file stream you want to read/write from).

Calls to read() and write() (and all syscalls) result in a 'context switch' out of your user-level application into kernel mode, which means it can perform privileged operations, such as talking directly to hardware. Depending on how you started the application, the 'stdin' and 'stdout' file descriptors are probably bound to a console device (such as tty0), or some sort of virtual console device (like that exposed by an xterm). read() and write() safely copy the data to/from a kernel buffer called a 'uio'.

The format-string conversion part of scanf and printf does not occur in kernel mode, but just in ordinary user mode (inside 'libc'), the general rule of thumb with syscalls is you switch to kernel mode as infrequently as possible, both to avoid the performance overhead of context switching, and for security (you need to be very careful about anything that happens in kernel mode! less code in kernel mode means less bugs/security holes in the operating system).

btw.. all of this was written from a unix perspective, I don't know how MS Windows works.