Hello.
I am indeed trying to write a C program not a C++ program. But after reading that paper; the link of which you provided in your reply,I am rather impressed by the ease of using C++ vis-a-vis C.
My objective isto get a fair grasp over C before plunging into C++.
Hence I don't mind doing some extra work in C. hehehe

How else will I realise the ease of using C++. Anyway, sorry for going off track. Heres my code , if you could till suggest a better alternative then please do let me know:

Code:
#include <stdio.h>
#include <conio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <string.h>

int main()
{
	char *string1;
	printf("enter string1\n");
	string1 = (char *) malloc (500);
	fgets(string1,500,stdin);
	if (string1[strlen(string1)-1] == '\n') string1[strlen(string1)-1] = '\0';
	printf("\nstring1 has %d characters\n",strlen(string1));
	printf("string  = %s\n",string1);
	free(string1);
	return 0;
}