Why am I doing wrong with getchar()? (initializer element is not constant)

Question

The code:

#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdbool.h>

typedef enum{
  counting1,
  counting2,
  searching,
  possiblecom,
  possibleend,
} read_state;

bool issep(char a){
  return (a == ' ' || a == '\n' || a == '\t');
}

read_state state = searching;
int count = 0;
int c = getchar();

bool wasword = false;

while (c != -1)
{
  if(state == searching)
  {
    if(c == '{'){state = counting1;}
    else if(c == '('){state = possiblecom;}
  }else
  {
    if(state == counting2 && c == '*'){
      c = getchar();
      if(c == ')'){
        state = searching;
        if(wasword = true){
          count++;
        }
      }else{
        if (issep(c)){
          if (wasword == true){count++;}
          wasword = false;
        }else{wasword = true;}
      }
    }
    
    else if(state = counting1 && c == '}'){state = searching;}
    
    else if (state == counting1 || state == counting2){
      if (issep(c) == false){
        wasword = true;
      }
      else{
        if(wasword == true){count++;}
        wasword = false;
      }
    }
  }
  
  c = getchar();
  
  if(state = possiblecom){
    if(c == '*'){
      state = counting2;
      c = getchar();
      wasword = false;
    }else{state = searching;}
  }
}

printf("%d", count);

These are errors:

1: comcount.c:24:9: error: initializer element is not constant
   24 | int c = getchar();
      |         ^~~~~~~
2: comcount.c:28:1: error: expected identifier or ‘(’ before ‘while’
   28 | while (c != -1)
      | ^~~~~
3:comcount.c:84:8: error: expected declaration specifiers or ‘...’ before string constant
   84 | printf("%d", count);
      |        ^~~~
  comcount.c:84:14: error: expected declaration specifiers or ‘...’ before ‘count’
   84 | printf("%d", count);
      |              ^~~~~

There are several problems:
I tried replacing int type with char. I and wrote something like: int c = getchar(); \n n = c;.

In normal situation int c = getchar(); works but in this code something breaks it and I don't know what.

Answer 1

After noting the good comment about the apparent missing encapsulation of the code within a "main" function, I copied your code, added the missing statements to have the pertinent portion of the program logic within a "main" function, and then compiled the code. This led to the first bit of warnings from the compiler that needed to be addressed.

||=== Build: Release in WordSearch (compiler: GNU GCC Compiler) ===|
/home/craig/C_Programs/Console/WordSearch/main.c||In function ‘main’:|
/home/craig/C_Programs/Console/WordSearch/main.c|48|warning: suggest parentheses around assignment used as truth value [-Wparentheses]|
/home/craig/C_Programs/Console/WordSearch/main.c|70|warning: suggest parentheses around assignment used as truth value [-Wparentheses]|
/home/craig/C_Programs/Console/WordSearch/main.c|94|warning: suggest parentheses around assignment used as truth value [-Wparentheses]|
||=== Build finished: 0 error(s), 3 warning(s) (0 minute(s), 0 second(s)) ===|

Those warnings were in regard to where an apparent test was to be performed for equality (==), but only one equal sign was in place.

if(wasword = true)

else if(state = counting1 && c == '}')

if(state = possiblecom)

So those were refactored and corrected per the compiler warnings/suggestions.

Following is a refactored version of the code.

#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <stdbool.h>

typedef enum
{
    counting1,
    counting2,
    searching,
    possiblecom,
    possibleend,
} read_state;

bool issep(char a)
{
    return (a == ' ' || a == '\n' || a == '\t');
}

int main()                                                          /* Per the comments - this was missing  */
{
    read_state state = searching;
    int count = 0;
    int c = getchar();

    bool wasword = false;

    while (c != '^')                                                /* Could not get the EOF/Ctrl-Z to work as the end of file read     */
    {
        if(state == searching)
        {
            if(c == '{')
            {
                state = counting1;
            }
            else if(c == '(')
            {
                state = possiblecom;
            }
        }
        else
        {
            if((state == counting2) && (c == '*'))                  /* Added parentheses to clarify testing logic   */
            {
                c = getchar();
                if(c == ')')
                {
                    state = searching;
                    if(wasword == true)                             /* Corrected equality testing   */
                    {
                        count++;
                    }
                }
                else
                {
                    if (issep(c))
                    {
                        if (wasword == true)
                        {
                            count++;
                        }
                        wasword = false;
                    }
                    else
                    {
                        wasword = true;
                    }
                }
            }

            else if((state == counting1) && (c == '}'))             /* Corrected equality testing   */
            {
                state = searching;
            }

            else if ((state == counting1) || (state == counting2))  /* Added parentheses to clarify testing logic   */
            {
                if (issep(c) == false)
                {
                    wasword = true;
                }
                else
                {
                    if(wasword == true)
                    {
                        count++;
                    }
                    wasword = false;
                }
            }
        }

        c = getchar();

        if(state == possiblecom)                                    /* Corrected equality testing   */
        {
            if(c == '*')
            {
                state = counting2;
                c = getchar();
                wasword = false;
            }
            else
            {
                state = searching;
            }
        }
    }

    printf("Count: %d\n", count);   /* Added some verbiage to explain what was being printed    */

    return 0;                       /* Per the comments - this was missing  */
}

Utilizing some assumptions that some type of word count was taking place, following is the test output at the terminal where the entry of text took place.

craig@Vera:~/C_Programs/Console/WordSearch/bin/Release$ ./WordSearch 
{Now is the time 
for all good men
to come to the aid
of their country}^
Count: 15

FYI, I was testing on a Linux system and could not get the "Ctrl-Z" end-of-file functionality to work, so I substituted an unlikely character, "^", to simulate the end of text entry.

The one thing that I noticed was that the word count appeared to be off by one (printed a count of 15 words instead of 16 words if you tally up the phrase). So, this program probably needs a bit more polish.

The main take-away from this exercise probably is to familiarize yourself more with the errors and warnings that are produced by your compiler.