I'm learning basics of C and writing a simple first order equation solver. I want the input to be exactly ax+b=c or ax-b=c, where a, b, c are double type. I'm employing scanf() to read in user input and to check if it's of the correct form. However, if I enter a negative double, -4.6 say, as the "a" in the equation, scanf() won't read the a,b,c correctly. I'm using %lf inside scanf(). How do I read a negative double, then? Many thanks.

My code:

if (scanf("%lfx+%lf=%lf", &a, &b, &c))
    more code

If I use as the input "-6.2x+3.4=-5.9", the value 3.4 will be assinged to variable a, while b and c remain as they were and "more code" is run.