Session 12: Files

12.1 Session Objectives

By the end of this session, you should be able to:
 Explain the concept of Files
 Files declaration
 Files programs

12.1. Introduction
A file is a place on the disk where a group of related data is stored. C supports a number of functions that
have the ability to perform basic file operations, which includes;
• Naming a file
• Opening a file
• Reading data from a file
• Writing data to a file
• Closing a file
There are two distinct ways to perform file operations in C
1. Low-level I/O and used the Unix system calls
2. High-level I/O operation and uses functions in C‟s standard I/O library
3. High Level I/O functions in C

Function Operation
fopen() Creates a new file for use / opens an existing file for use
fclose() Closes a file that had been opened for use
getc() Reads a character from a file
putc() Writes a character to file
fprintf() Writes a set of data values to a file
fscanf() Reads a set of data values from a file
getw() Reads an integer from a file
putw() Writes an integer in a file
fseek() Set the position to a desired point in a file
ftell() Fives the current position in the file(in terms of bytes from the start)
rewind() Sets the position to the beginning of the file
There are many other functions and not all are supported by all the C compilers

12.2. Defining and Opening a File.

If we want to store data in a file in the secondary memory, there is need to specify the following things
about the file;
• Filename: File name is a string of characters that make up a valid filename for the operating system.
It may contain two parts a primary name and an optional period with the extension.
Examples Input.data, Student.c, Text.out

• Data structure: Data structure of a file is defined a FILE in the library of standard I/O function
definitions. Therefore all files should be declared as type FILE before they are used. FILE is a defined
data type

• Purpose. When we open a file we must specify what we want to do with the file, example read from or
write to it.

Format FILE *fp;

fp = fopen(“filename”, “mode”);

FILE *fp declares the variable fp as a “pointer to the data type FILE. FILE is a structure that is defined
in the I/O library.

fp = fopen(„filename, “mode”); open the file named and assigns an identifier to the FILE type pointer
fp.
The fp pointer which contains all the information about the file is subsequently used as a
communication link between the system and the program.
The statement also specifies the purpose of opening the file. Options includes;
• r = open a file for reading only
• w – opens a file for writing only.
• a – opens a file for appending (or adding) data to it.

When opening a file;

• When the mode is „writing‟, a file with the specified name is created if the file does not exist. The
contents are deleted if the file already exists.
 • When the purpose is „appending‟, the file is opened with the current contents safe. A file with the
specified name is created if the file does not exist.
• If the purpose is „reading‟ and if it exists, then the file is opened with the current contents safe otherwise
abd error occurs.

Example FILE *p1, *p2;

p1 = fopen(“data”, “r”);
p2 = fopen(“results”,
“w”);
• p1 is opened for reading and if it does not exist an error occurs.
• p2 is opened for writing and if it exists, its contents are deleted and the file opened a new file.

Additions modes includes; r+ - existing file is opened to the

beginning for both read and write.
w+ - same as w except both for reading and writing.
a+ - same as a except both for read and writing.

12.3. Closing a File

A file must be closed as soon as all operations on it have been completed. This ensures that all outstanding
information associated with the file is flushed out from the buffers and all links to the file are broken. It
also prevents any accidental misuse of the file. Format

fclose(file_pointer);
example FILE *p1,
*p2;
p1 =
fopen(“INPUT”, “w”);
p2 =
fopen(“OUTPUT”, “r”);
………
…….

fclose(p1);
fclose(p2);

Once a file is closed its file pointer can be used for another file.

12.4. Input / Output Operations on Files

Once a file is opened, reading out of or writing into it is accomplished using the standard I/O routines
mentioned earlier.
Getc and putc functions
These are analogous to getchar and putchar functions that handles one character at a time Example;
• getc(c, fp1); writes the character contained in the character variable c to the file associated with
FILE pointer fp1, when the file is opened with write mode.
• c = getc(fp2); reads a character from the file whose file pointer is fp2.

Prgram Example 12.1: Program to read data keyed in through the keyboard and write it into a file,
then read the data from the file and display it on the screen
• The End-Of-File (EOF) marker is achieved through pressing <control-z>

Data to enter: This is a program to test the file handling features of C program.

#include
<stdio.h>
#include<conio.h
>
main( )
{
FILE *f1; char c;
printf("Data
Input\n\n");
/* open the INPUT file for writing */
f1 = fopen("INPUT", "w");
/* get character from the Keyboard */
while ((c=getchar()) != EOF)
putc(c, f1);
 /* close the INPUT file */
fclose(f1);
printf("\nData Output \n\n");

/* Open the INPUT file for reading */

f1 = fopen("INPUT", "r");
/* Read a character from the INPUT file */
while ((c=getc(f1)) !=EOF)
/* Display the character on the screen */
printf("%c", c);
/* Close the INPUT file */
fclose(f1);

getch();
}

Testing for End-Of-File (EOF) condition is important, as attempting to read past the EOF might either cause
the program to terminate with an error or result in an infinite loop situation.

12.5. The getw and putw Functions

getw and putw are integer-oriented functions.
Format putw(interger, fp); getw(fp);

Program Example 12.2: Write a program to read integers from a file called DATA and write all odd
integers into a file called ODD and all even integers into a file called EVEN. Test data
111 222 333 000 121
444 555 666 232 343
777 888 999 454 -1

-1 is entered to terminate the reading and file is closed

#include <stdio.h>
#include<conio.h>
main()
{
FILE *f1, *f2, *f3;
int number, i;

printf ("Content of DATA file

\n\n");
f1 = fopen("DATA", "w");
for (i = 1;
i<= 30;
i++)
{ scanf ("%d",
&number);

if (number == -1) break;

putw(number, f1);
}

fclose(f1);

f1 = fopen("DATA",
"r");
f2 = fopen("ODD",
"w");
f3 = fopen("EVEN",
"r");

while((number = getw(f1)) != EOF)

{
if(number %2 ==
0) putw(number,
f3);
else
putw(number, f2);
}

fclose(f1);
 fclose(f2);
fclose(f3);

f2 = fopen("ODD", "r");
f3 = fopen ("EVEN", "r");

printf ("\n\nContents of ODD file\n\n");

while ((number = getw(f2)) != EOF)
printf("%4d", number);

printf("\n\nContents of EVEN file\n\n");

while ((number = getw(f3)) != EOF)
printf("%4d", number);

fclose(f2);
fclose(f3);

getch();
}

12.6. The fprintf and fscanf Functions

fprintf and fscanf perform I/O operations on
files. Format for fprint()
fprintf(fp, “control string”, list);
• fp is the file pointer associated with a file that has been opened for
writing
• control string contains output specifications for the items in the list
• list may include variables, constants and strings Example
fprintf(f1, “%s %d %f”, name, age, 7.5);

fscanf Format
fscanf(fp, control string”, list);
example
fscanf(f1, “%s %d”, item, &quantity);

Program Example 12.3: Write a program to open a file named INVENTORY and store in it the
following data;

Item Name Number Price Quantity

AAA-1 111 17.50 115
BBB-2 125 36.00 75
C-3 247 31.75 104

Use file name „INVENTORY‟

#include
<stdio.h>

#include<conio.h
>
main( )
{
FILE *fp; int number,
quantity, i;
float price, value;
char item[10],
filename[10];

printf("Input file name \n");

scanf ("%s", filename);
fp = fopen(filename, "w");
printf("Input Inventory data\n\n");
printf("Item name Number Price
Quantity\n");

for (i =1; i <=3; i++)

{ fscanf(stdin, "%s %d %f %d", item, number, &price,
&quantity);
fprintf(fp, "%s %d %.2f %d", item, number, price, quantity
}

fclose(fp);
fprintf(stdout, "\n\n");

fp = fopen(filename, "r");
printf("Item name Number Price Quantity Value\n");
for (i =1 ; i <=3; i++)
{
fscanf(fp, "%s %d %f %d", item, &number, &price, &quantity);
value = price * quantity;
fprintf(stdout, "%-8s %7d %8.2f %8d %11.2f\n" , item,
number, price, quantity, value);
}
fclose(fp);
getch();
}

12.7. Error Handling during I/O Operations

Typical I/O operations errors include;
1. Trying to read beyond the end-of-file mark.
2. Device overflow
3. Trying to use a file that has not been opened
4. Trying to perform an operation on a file, when the file is opened for another type of operation
5. Opening a file with an invalid filename
6. Attempting to write to a write-protected file.

C has two status-inquiry library functions; feof and ferror that helps to detect I/O errors in files.

feof is used to detect end-of-file condition. It take the file pointer as its only argument and returns a nonzero
integer value if all of the data from the specified file has been read and returns zero otherwise..
example if fp is a file pointer that has been opened then the statement
; if(feof(fp)) printf(“End ofdata”);
would display “End of data” on reaching the end of file condition.

Ferror function reports the status of the file indicated. It also takes the file pointer as its only argument and
returns a nonzero integer value if an error has been detected up to that point, during processing. It returns
zero otherwise. Example if (ferror(fp) != 0)
printf (“An error has occurred. \n”);

or to check if file is opened

when a file is opened using the fopen function, the file pointer is returned, thus if the file could not be
opened the function returns zero. if (fp == NULL)
printf(“File could not be opened”);

Program Example 12.4: Program to Illustrate error handling in file operations

Use file name „TEST‟

#include
<stdio.h>
#include<conio.h
>
main( )
{
char *filename;
FILE *fp1, *fp2;
int i, number;

fp1 = fopen("TEST",
"w");
for (i = 10; i<= 100;
i+=10) putw(i, fp1);

fclose(fp1);
printf("\nInput file name\n");

open_file:
scanf("%s", filename);
if((fp2 = fopen(filename, "r"))== NULL)
{
printf("Cannot open the file.\n");
printf("Type file name again.\n\n");
goto open_file;
}
else
for (i = 1;
i<= 20;
i++)
{ number =
getw(fp2);

if (feof(fp2))

{
printf("\nRan out of data.\n");
break;
}
else
printf("%d\n", number);
}

fclose(fp2);
getch();
}

11.5.1 Session Summary

 Programs consist of a group of instructions designed to accomplish a certain
computer task. There exist three control structures sequence, selection and repetition.

11.5.2 Student Activity

1. what do the following statements do?
a). while ((c=getchar() != EOF)
putc(c, fl);
b). while (( m=getw(fl) ) != EOF prinbtf
((“%5d”, m)
2. Write a program t copy the content from one file to another.
3. Write a program to append one file at the end of another
4. Write a program to compare two files and return 0 is they are equal and 1 if they are not.

11.5.3 Further Readings/References

i. Kernighan, B. W., & Ritchie, D. M. (2014). The C programming language (2nd ed.).
Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall PTR. ISBN: 0131103628.
ii. Perry, G. R., & Miller, D. (2013). Absolute beginner's guide to C Programming (3rd
ed.). Indianapolis, Indiana: Que Publishing. ISBN: 0789751984.
iii. Graham, D. L. (2016). C programming language: a step-by-step beginner's guide
to learn C programming in 7 days. NY, USA: CreateSpace Independent Publishing
Platform. ISBN: 1534679707.