UNIT- 8

File handling

8.1 File handling

In programming, we may require some specific input data to be generated several numbers of times. Sometimes, it is not enough to only display the data on the console. The data to be displayed may be very large, and only a limited amount of data can be displayed on the console, and since the memory is volatile, it is impossible to recover the programmatically generated data again and again. However, if we need to do so, we may store it onto the local file system which is volatile and can be accessed every time. Here, comes the need of file handling in C.

File handling in C enables us to create, update, read, and delete the files stored on the local file system through our C program. The following operations can be performed on a file.

• Creation of the new file
• Opening an existing file
• Reading from the file
• Writing to the file
• Deleting the file

Functions for file handling

There are many functions in the C library to open, read, write, search and close the file. A list of file functions is given below:

Opening File: fopen()

We must open a file before it can be read, write, or update. The fopen() function is used to open a file. The syntax of the fopen() is given below.

1. FILE *fopen( const char * filename, const char * mode );  

The fopen() function accepts two parameters:

• The file name (string). If the file is stored at some specific location, then we must mention the path at which the file is stored. For example, a file name can be like "c://some_folder/some_file.ext".
• The mode in which the file is to be opened. It is a string.

We can use one of the following modes in the fopen() function.

The fopen function works in the following way.

• Firstly, It searches the file to be opened.
• Then, it loads the file from the disk and place it into the buffer. The buffer is used to provide efficiency for the read operations.
• It sets up a character pointer which points to the first character of the file.

Consider the following example which opens a file in write mode.

1. #include<stdio.h>  
2. Void main( )  
3. {  
4. FILE *fp ;  
5. Char ch ;  
6. Fp = fopen("file_handle.c","r") ;  
7. While ( 1 )  
8. {  
9. Ch = fgetc ( fp ) ;  
10. If ( ch == EOF )  
11. Break ;  
12. Printf("%c",ch) ;  
13. }  
14. Fclose (fp ) ;  
15. }  

Output

The content of the file will be printed.

#include;

Void main( )

{

FILE *fp; // file pointer

Charch;

Fp = fopen("file_handle.c","r");

While ( 1 )

{

Ch = fgetc ( fp ); //Each character of the file is read and stored in the character file. 

If ( ch == EOF )

Break;

Printf("%c",ch);

}

Fclose (fp );

}

Closing File: fclose()

The fclose() function is used to close a file. The file must be closed after performing all the operations on it. The syntax of fclose() function is given below:

1. Int fclose( FILE *fp );  

C fprintf() and fscanf()

Writing File :fprintf() function

The fprintf() function is used to write set of characters into file. It sends formatted output to a stream.

Syntax:

1. Int fprintf(FILE *stream, const char *format [, argument, ...])  

Example:

1. #include <stdio.h>  
2. Main(){  
3.   FILE *fp;  
4.   Fp = fopen("file.txt", "w");//opening file  
5.   Fprintf(fp, "Hello file by fprintf...\n");//writing data into file  
6.   Fclose(fp);//closing file  
7. }  

Reading File :fscanf() function

The fscanf() function is used to read set of characters from file. It reads a word from the file and returns EOF at the end of file.

Syntax:

1. Int fscanf(FILE *stream, const char *format [, argument, ...])  

Example:

1. #include <stdio.h>  
2. Main(){  
3.   FILE *fp;  
4.   Char buff[255];//creating char array to store data of file  
5.   Fp = fopen("file.txt", "r");  
6.   While(fscanf(fp, "%s", buff)!=EOF){  
7.   Printf("%s ", buff );  
8.   }  
9.   Fclose(fp);  
10. }  

Output:

Hello file by fprintf...

C File Example: Storing employee information

Let's see a file handling example to store employee information as entered by user from console. We are going to store id, name and salary of the employee.

1. #include <stdio.h>  
2. Void main()  
3. {  
4.    FILE *fptr;  
5.    Int id;  
6.    Char name[30];  
7.    Float salary;  
8.    Fptr = fopen("emp.txt", "w+");/*  open for writing */  
9.    If (fptr == NULL)  
10.    {  
11.        Printf("File does not exists \n");  
12.        Return;  
13.    }  
14.    Printf("Enter the id\n");  
15.    Scanf("%d", &id);  
16.    Fprintf(fptr, "Id= %d\n", id);  
17.    Printf("Enter the name \n");  
18.    Scanf("%s", name);  
19.    Fprintf(fptr, "Name= %s\n", name);  
20.    Printf("Enter the salary\n");  
21.    Scanf("%f", &salary);  
22.    Fprintf(fptr, "Salary= %.2f\n", salary);  
23.    Fclose(fptr);  
24. }  

Output:

Enter the id

1

Enter the name

Sonoo

Enter the salary

120000

Now open file from current directory. For windows operating system, go to TC\bin directory, you will see emp.txt file. It will have following information.

Emp.txt

Id= 1

Name= sonoo

Salary= 120000

C fputc() and fgetc()

Writing File :fputc() function

The fputc() function is used to write a single character into file. It outputs a character to a stream.

Syntax:

1. Int fputc(int c, FILE *stream)  

Example:

1. #include <stdio.h>  
2. Main(){  
3.   FILE *fp;  
4.   Fp = fopen("file1.txt", "w");//opening file  
5.   Fputc('a',fp);//writing single character into file  
6.   Fclose(fp);//closing file  
7. }  

File1.txt

a

Reading File :fgetc() function

The fgetc() function returns a single character from the file. It gets a character from the stream. It returns EOF at the end of file.

Syntax:

1. Int fgetc(FILE *stream)  

Example:

1. #include<stdio.h>  
2. #include<conio.h>  
3. Void main(){  
4. FILE *fp;  
5. Char c;  
6. Clrscr();  
7. Fp=fopen("myfile.txt","r");  
8.  
9. While((c=fgetc(fp))!=EOF){  
10. Printf("%c",c);  
11. }  
12. Fclose(fp);  
13. Getch();  
14. }  

Myfile.txt

This is simple text message

C fputs() and fgets()

The fputs() and fgets() in C programming are used to write and read string from stream. Let's see examples of writing and reading file using fgets() and fgets() functions.

Writing File :fputs() function

The fputs() function writes a line of characters into file. It outputs string to a stream.

Syntax:

1. Int fputs(const char *s, FILE *stream)  

Example:

1. #include<stdio.h>  
2. #include<conio.h>  
3. Void main(){  
4. FILE *fp;  
5. Clrscr();  
6.  
7. Fp=fopen("myfile2.txt","w");  
8. Fputs("hello c programming",fp);  
9.  
10. Fclose(fp);  
11. Getch();  
12. }  

Myfile2.txt

Hello c programming

Reading File :fgets() function

The fgets() function reads a line of characters from file. It gets string from a stream.

Syntax:

1. Char* fgets(char *s, int n, FILE *stream)  

Example:

1. #include<stdio.h>  
2. #include<conio.h>  
3. Void main(){  
4. FILE *fp;  
5. Char text[300];  
6. Clrscr();  
7.  
8. Fp=fopen("myfile2.txt","r");  
9. Printf("%s",fgets(text,200,fp));  
10.  
11. Fclose(fp);  
12. Getch();  
13. }  

Output:

Hello c programming

C fseek() function

The fseek() function is used to set the file pointer to the specified offset. It is used to write data into file at desired location.

Syntax:

1. Int fseek(FILE *stream, long int offset, int whence)  

There are 3 constants used in the fseek() function for whence: SEEK_SET, SEEK_CUR and SEEK_END.

Example:

1. #include <stdio.h>  
2. Void main(){  
3.   FILE *fp;  
4.  
5.   Fp = fopen("myfile.txt","w+");  
6.   Fputs("This is javatpoint", fp);  
7.    
8.   Fseek( fp, 7, SEEK_SET );  
9.   Fputs("sonoo jaiswal", fp);  
10.   Fclose(fp);  
11. }  

Myfile.txt

This is sonoo jaiswal

Text Books

(i) Byron Gottfried, Schaum's Outline of Programming with C, McGraw-Hill

(ii) E. Balaguruswamy, Programming in ANSI C, Tata McGraw-Hill

Reference Books

(i) Brian W. Kernighan and Dennis M. Ritchie, The C Programming Language, Prentice Hall of India.