how to check if the input is a number or not in C?

Using scanf is very easy, this is an example :

if (scanf("%d", &val_a_tester) == 1) {
    ... // it's an integer
}

You can use a function like strtol() which will convert a character array to a long.

It has a parameter which is a way to detect the first character that didn't convert properly. If this is anything other than the end of the string, then you have a problem.

See the following program for an example:

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

int main( int argc, char *argv[]) {
    int i;
    long val;
    char *next;

    // Process each argument given.

    for (i = 1; i < argc; i++) {
        // Get value with failure detection.

        val = strtol (argv[i], &next, 10);

        // Check for empty string and characters left after conversion.

        if ((next == argv[i]) || (*next != '\0')) {
            printf ("'%s' is not valid\n", argv[i]);
        } else {
            printf ("'%s' gives %ld\n", argv[i], val);
        }
    }

    return 0;
}

Running this, you can see it in operation:

pax> testprog hello "" 42 12.2 77x

'hello' is not valid
'' is not valid
'42' gives 42
'12.2' is not valid
'77x' is not valid

Another way of doing it is by using isdigit function. Below is the code for it:

#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <ctype.h>
#define MAXINPUT 100
int main()
{
    char input[MAXINPUT] = "";
    int length,i; 

    scanf ("%s", input);
    length = strlen (input);
    for (i=0;i<length; i++)
        if (!isdigit(input[i]))
        {
            printf ("Entered input is not a number\n");
            exit(1);
        }
    printf ("Given input is a number\n");
}