getting string from stdin or piport??

when I use "getc()" a new screen appears waiting for the user to type a character (I think this is the stdin) and that way a can get a character in my variable. But what should I do to get a string from the same input?? I'm trying using fscanf( inPort "%s" toing) and  gets( toing inPort )  but I don't know what sould i put instead of "inPort". The manual says that it should work if I just put nothing, but if I do so, my variable "toing" it's only showing a couple of double quotes no matter what I type.

so what am I doing wrong??

Thanks