data structures - Linked list in C with fgets() -

i'm having issues code skipping first question in second data structure. i'm pretty sure it's because gets(), not sure. think tried fgets(), still giving me issues. why?

#include <stdio.h> #include <stdlib.h> #include <string.h>  #define numberofactresses 5  typedef struct actress { char *name, *placeofbirth, *haircolor; int age; float networth; struct actress *next;  } actress;  void populatestruct(actress *node) { node->name = (char *) malloc(sizeof(char) * 50); node->placeofbirth = (char *) malloc(sizeof(char) * 50); node->haircolor = (char *) malloc(sizeof(char) * 50);  printf("please enter name of actress/actor: "); gets(node->name); printf("please enter actress/actor place of birth: "); gets(node->placeofbirth); printf("please enter actress/actor hair color: "); gets(node->haircolor); printf("please enter actress/actor age: "); scanf("%d", &node->age); printf("please enter actress/actor networth: "); scanf("%f", &node->networth); }  void displaystruct(actress *head) { actress *crawler;  crawler = head;  while(crawler != null) {     printf("the name of actress/actor is: %s\n", crawler->name);     printf("the place of birth actress/actor is: %s\n",       crawler->placeofbirth);     printf("the hair color of actress/actor is: %s\n", crawler->haircolor);     printf("the actress/actor age is: %d\n", crawler->age);     printf("the networth actress/actor %f\n", crawler->networth);     crawler = crawler->next; } }  int main() { int i; actress *head = (actress *) malloc(sizeof(actress)), *crawler;  crawler = head;   (i = 0; < numberofactresses; i++)     {     populatestruct(crawler);     if (i == 2)         crawler->next = null;     else         crawler->next = malloc(sizeof(actress));      crawler = crawler->next; }  crawler = null;  displaystruct(head);  return 0; } 

mixing fgets , scanf turns out badly. reason scanf leave newline character in input stream, , following fgets therefore read empty line. , using gets just plain wrong.

the solution read input fgets, , parse input sscanf needed. cases sscanf not needed, i.e. input string, can use strcspn remove newline buffer.

int populatestruct(actress *node) {     char buffer[100];      printf("please enter name of actress/actor: ");     if ( fgets( buffer, sizeof buffer, stdin ) == null )         return 0;     buffer[strcspn(buffer,"\n")] = '\0';     if ( (node->name = malloc(strlen(buffer) + 1)) == null )         return 0;     strcpy( node->name, buffer );      // ditto place of birth , hair color      printf("please enter actress/actor age: ");     if ( fgets( buffer, sizeof buffer, stdin ) == null )         return 0;     if ( sscanf( buffer, "%d", &node->age ) != 1 )         return 0;      printf("please enter actress/actor networth: ");     if ( fgets( buffer, sizeof buffer, stdin ) == null )         return 0;     if ( sscanf( buffer, "%lf", &node->networth ) != 1 )         return 0;      return 1; } 

oh, , changed networth float double. float has 6 or 7 digits of precision, , that's not enough net worth of actress/actor.