Return value of printf() function in C

Return value of printf() function in C

Ans:

A function always returns a value and printf function returns the number of characters successfully printed.

main() 
{ 
int s=1; 
printf("%d",printf("%d %d %d", s,s,s)); 
}

In this above program the inner printf is first called which prints value of s, three times with space between each value, 1 1 1.

Total 5 characters get printed = 3 values and 2 spaces).

As explained earlier the inner printf after printing the values, returns the number of characters printed, 5 which is printed by the outer printf.

The output of the above program is

1 1 1 5