C programming language provides built-in functions like scanf() and printf() for input and output. Scanf() is used to take input from the user and printf() displays output on screen. These functions use format specifiers like %d, %f, %c, %s within their parentheses to indicate the expected data type for the input or output. Common format specifiers are %d for integers, %f for floating point numbers, %c for characters, and %s for strings.