File Processing

Objectives
 In this chapter, you will learn about
 Files and streams
 Creating a sequential access file
 Reading data from a sequential access file
 Using fgetc() and fputc()
 Using fgets() and fputs()
 Using fprintf() and fscanf()
 Using fopen() and fclose()

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Files and Streams
 C views a file as a sequential stream of bytes.
 A file ends either with an EOF (end-of-file)
marker or at a specified byte number
specified by the system.
 When a file is opened, a stream is associated
with a file.
 Streams provide communication channels
between files and the programs.

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Files and Streams
 In addition to providing access to a file, a
stream can also be used to access devices.
 For example, when a program (any program)
is executed, 3 streams are automatically
opened:
 standard input (stdin)
 enable the program to read data from keyboard
 standard output (stdout)
 enable the program to print data on the screen
 standard error (stderr)
 enable program to print errors on the screen
 They are all manipulated using file pointers.

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Declaring a file
 The standard library <stdio.h> provides some
of the file manipulation function.
 Declaring file:
FILE *the_file;
 States that thefile is a pointer to a file structure
 If there is more than one file, each file needs to
have its own FILE pointer.
 thefile is an internal file name used by the
program to refer to the external file name (the
actual physical file stored on disk).

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File operation: fopen ()
 Before we can process a file, we must either
open or create it.
 Syntax for fopen( ):
internal_file_name = fopen(external_file_name, OpenMode);
 The fopen() function takes 2 arguments: the
file name and the file mode.

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File operation: fopen ()
 Example:
thefile = fopen(“my_file.txt”,”r”);
 This statement will try to open a file called
“my_file.txt”.
 my_file.txt is the external file name referring to
a phisycal file on the disk.
 If the file is to be placed in a different directory
than the program directory, the full path need to
be specified. For example: “D:/my_file.txt”
 The function returns a pointer to the
successfully opened file. But if the file cannot be
opened, a NULL is returned.

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File OpenMode:
 The following is the list of open mode that can be
associated with fopen( ).
 “r” : to open existing file in input mode so data can be
read from it. The file to be opened must exist phisically
on disk for this open mode to be successful.
 “w” : the file is intended to be an output file and we are
planning to write data to it.
 “a” : to append data to the end of existing file.
 “r+” : to open existing file for update (both in input and
output mode). If the file already exist, the content is
not destroy.
 “w+” : destroy the file if already exist and open a new
file for update.
 “a+” : open file for update (adding data at the end of
the file.
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fopen( )
 You could also ask the users to specify the
name of the file s/he want to open.
 Example:
char filename[50];
printf("Enter file name: ");
gets(filename);

thefile = fopen(filename,"r");

 The users must enter the full filename,

including the extension (.txt, .doc etc) and
path.
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File operation: fail fopen( )
 If fopen( ) is returning a NULL value, this
means that the fopen( ) has failed.
 This is due to any of the following reasons:
 Opening a non-existing file for reading
 Opening a file for reading or writing without having
granted the appropriate access to the file by the
operating system.
 Opening a file for writing when no disk space is
available.
 Therefore, in our program, we need to write
statements that would handle this failure.

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fputc( )
 fputc( ) is a function that would write a
character value to the file.
 Syntax:
 Using character variable, ch:
fputc(ch, internal_file_name);
 Example:
char m = ‘c’;
fputc(m, theFile);
 Using character constant:
fputc(‘a’,internal_file_name);
 Example
fputc(‘c’, theFile);
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fputc() example
#include <stdio.h>
int main(void)
{
char ch;
FILE *thefile;
if ((thefile = fopen("file_putc.txt","w")) == NULL)
{
printf("File fail to open\n");
}
else
{
printf("Enter a character: ");
scanf("%c", &ch);

fputc(ch, thefile);
}
fclose(thefile);
return 0;
}

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fgetc( )
 fgetc( ) is a function that would read a
character from a file.
 Syntax:
variable = fgetc(internal_file_name);
 Where:
 variable is a character variable to hold the value
returned by fgetc( ).
 Internal_file_name is the pointer to an open file.
 Example:
char c;
fgetc(theFile);
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fgetc( ): Example
#include <stdio.h>
int main(void)
{
char ch;
FILE *thefile;

if ((thefile = fopen("file_getc.txt","r")) == NULL)

{
printf("File fail to open\n");
}
else
{
ch = fgetc(thefile); /*read a character from the file */
printf("%c\n",ch);/* print the value of ch to the screen
*/
}
fclose(thefile);
return 0;
}

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fprintf( )
 fprintf( ) is a function that would print values to
the file
 Syntax:
fprintf(internal_name, variable expression);
 Example 1:
fprintf(theFile, “This is an example”);
 Example 2:
char name[50] = “Ahmad”
fprintf(theFile, name);
 Example 3:
char name[50] = “Ahmad”;
fprintf(theFile, “My name is” name);

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fprintf( ): Example
#include<stdio.h>
int main()
{
int i, power;

FILE *thefile;
if((thefile = fopen("file_fprintf.txt","w"))==NULL)
printf("File could not be open\n");
else{
for(i=1;i<=100;i++){
power=i*i;
fprintf(thefile,"%d\n",power);
}
printf("End of operations");
}
fclose(thefile);
return 0;
}

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fscanf( )
 fscanf( ) is a function that read a value, or
values of mix data type from a file.
 Syntax:
fscanf(internal_name,formatControl,
variableList);

 Example:
char name[50];
int age;
fscanf(theFile, “%s %d”, name, &age);

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fscanf( ): Example
#include<stdio.h>
void main()
{
int i, bil, matrik;
char grade[2];
char name[10];
FILE *thefile;

if((thefile = fopen("file_fscanf.txt","r")) == NULL)

printf("File could not be open");
else{
fscanf(thefile,"%d",&bil);
printf("%-10s%-10s%s\n","Matrik","Name","Grade");
for(i=0;i<bil;i++)
{
fscanf(thefile,"%d%s%s",&matrik,name,&grade);
printf("%-10d%-10s%s\n",matrik,name,grade);
}
fclose(thefile);
}
}
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fputs()
 Writes the string to the file.
 The function begins outputting the string until
it reaches the terminating null character ('\0').
 Syntax
fputs (string variable, internal name);
 Example:
char str [20] = “gummy bear”;
fputs (str, theFile);

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fputs( ): Example
#include<stdio.h>
int main()
{
char str[20]= "let's picnic!";
FILE *thefile;

if((thefile = fopen("file_fputs.txt","w"))==NULL)
printf("File could not be open\n");
else
fputs(str, thefile);
fclose(thefile);
return 0;
}

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fgets( )
 fgets( ) read a string of characters from a file.
 Syntax:
fgets(stringVariable, size, internal_name);

 Example:
char content[50];
fgets(content, 50, theFile);
 fgets( ) will read size – 1 character from the
file pointed by theFile, and saves the string
into variable content.

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fgets( ): Example
#include<stdio.h>
int main()
{
char str[30]= {'\0'};
FILE *thefile;

if((thefile = fopen("file_fgets.txt","r"))==NULL)
printf("File could not be open\n");
else{
fgets(str, 30, thefile);
puts(str);
}
fclose(thefile);
return 0;
}

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