Create README.md

Author: codebysumit

README.md

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+## STDGET - A User-Friendly C String Input Library
+#### Overview 🚀
+The stdget library provides a simple yet robust set of functions for acquiring string input from the user in C programming. Designed to be more user-friendly than standard C input functions, `stdget` offers a dynamic `getstrf()` function that supports printf-like formatting for prompts and automatically handles dynamic memory allocation for user input.
+#### Features ✨
+ * **Formatted Prompts:** Display prompts to the user using familiar printf-style format strings.
+ * **Dynamic Input Buffer:** Automatically expands the input buffer to accommodate strings of any length, preventing buffer overflows.
+ * **Cross-Platform Line Ending Handling:** Gracefully handles common line endings (`\n`, `\r\n`).
+ * **Robust Error Handling:** Returns NULL on memory allocation failures or immediate End-Of-File (EOF).
+ * **Simplified String Type:** Introduces a `str` type alias for `char *` for enhanced readability.
+
+### Installation 🛠️
+To use the `stdget` library in your C projects, follow these steps to compile it into a static library (`.a` file) and link it with your applications.
+
+**1. Download the Library Files 📥**
+
+Download the latest version of the stdget library header (`getstr.h`) and source (`getstr.c`) files from the official GitHub repository: [GITHUB/LIBGETSTR](https://github.com/codebysumit/libgetstr/tree/master/src) 
+
+Make sure both `getstr.h` and `getstr.c` are placed in the same directory.
+
+**2. Compile the Source Code ⚙️**
+
+Navigate to the directory where you saved `getstr.c` and `getstr.h` in your terminal or command prompt. Compile the `getstr.c` file using GCC (or your preferred C compiler):
+
+```bash
+gcc -c getstr.c
+```
+
+This command creates a compiled object file named `getstr.o` in the same directory.
+
+**3. Create the Static Library 📦**
+
+Use the `ar` (GNU Binutils) tool to create an archive static library file. On Windows, MinGW compilers typically have `ar` installed by default.
+
+```bash
+ar rcs libgetstr.a getstr.o
+```
+
+This command creates a static library file named `libgetstr.a`.
+
+Note: You can now delete the `getstr.o` file as it's no longer needed after creating the static library.
+
+**4. Organize File Structure (Optional but Recommended) 🗂️**
+
+For better project organization, you can create a specific directory structure to manage your library files:
+
+```bash
+.
+├── include/
+│   └── getstr.h
+├── lib/
+│   └── libgetstr.a
+└── your_application.c
+```
+
+Copy the `getstr.h` header file to the `include` directory. Move the static library `libgetstr.a` to the `lib` directory.
+
+**5. Compile Your Application with the Library 💻**
+
+When compiling your application (`your_application.c` in the example above) that uses `stdget`, you need to tell the compiler where to find the header files and the library file.
+
+```bash
+gcc -I./include -L./lib your_application.c -o your_application -lgetstr
+```
+**Explanation of flags:**
+ * **`-I./include`:** Specifies the directory containing the header files (here, `./include`).
+ * **`-L./lib`:** Specifies the directory containing the libraries (here, `./lib`).
+ * **`your_application.c`:** The source code file of your application.
+ * **`-o your_application`:** Sets the output executable file name to `your_application`.
+ * **`-lgetstr`:** Links the program with the static library `libgetstr.a` (the `-l` flag expects the library name without the `lib` prefix and `.a` suffix).
+
+### Usage 💡
+Once installed, you can include `getstr.h` in your C source files and use the `getstrf()` function.
+
+**Example:**
+
+Here's a simple example demonstrating how to use `getstrf()`:
+
+Link with `-lgetstr`.
+
+```c
+#include <getstr.h>
+#include <stdio.h>
+
+
+int main()
+{
+    str string = getstrf("Prompt: ");
+    printf("Output string: %s!\n", string);
+    return 0;
+}
+```
+
+**Running the Example**
+
+After compiling the example (e.g., as test using the installation steps), run it from your terminal:
+
+```bash
+gcc -I./include -L./lib test.c -o test -lgetstr
+```
+
+```bash
+./test
+```
+
+**Example Output:**
+
+```bash
+Prompt: This is a String.
+Output string: This is a String.
+```
+
+### Memory Management 💾
+
+The `getstrf()` function dynamically allocates memory on the heap to store the user's input. It is crucial that you `free()` this memory using `free()` from `stdlib.h` once you are finished with the string to prevent memory leaks.
+
+**Example:**
+```c
+#include <getstr.h>    // For str keyword and getstrf()
+#include <stdio.h>     // For printf()
+#include <stdlib.h>    // For free()
+
+
+int main()
+{
+	str string = getstrf("Prompt: ");
+	printf("Before using free(): %s\n", string);
+	free(string);
+	printf("After using free(): %s\n", string);
+	return 0;
+}
+```
+
+### Reference 📚
+
+For a visual guide on compiling and linking C libraries, you can refer to this YouTube video tutorial: [Elatronion](https://youtu.be/m6RVY84_mQE)
+
+### License 📜
+
+This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE section above for details.
+
+### Contributing 🤝
+
+Contributions are welcome! If you find bugs, have suggestions for improvements, or would like to contribute new features, please open an issue or submit a pull request on the GitHub repository.
+
+### Contact 📬
+
+For any questions or feedback, please reach out to the project maintainer:
+ * Project Maintainer 👨‍💻: Sumit Das
+ * Email ✉️: [codebysumitdas@gmail.com](mailto:codebysumit@gmail.com)