A file is a collection of related data that a computer treats as a single unit. Files allow data to be stored permanently even when the computer is shut down. C uses the FILE structure to store attributes of a file. Files allow for flexible data storage and retrieval of large data volumes like experimental results. Key file operations in C include opening, reading, writing, and closing files. Functions like fopen(), fread(), fwrite(), fclose() perform these operations.

1. C Files
Module VIII

2. What is a File?
 A file is a collection of related data that a computers treats as a single unit.
 Computers store files to secondary storage so that the contents of files remain
intact when a computer shuts down.
 When a computer reads a file, it copies the file from the storage device to
memory; when it writes to a file, it transfers data from memory to the storage
device.
 C uses a structure called FILE (defined in stdio.h) to store the attributes of a
file.

3. Console oriented Input / Output
 Console oriented – use terminal (keyboard/screen)
 scanf(“%d”,&i) – read data from keyboard
 printf(“%d”,i) – print data to monitor
 Suitable for small volumes of data
 Data lost when program terminated

4. Real-life applications
 Large data volumes
 E.g. physical experiments (CERN collider), human genome, population
records etc.
 Need for flexible approach to store/retrieve data
 Concept of files

5. Files
 File – place on disc where group of related data is stored
E.g. your C programs, executables
 High-level programming languages support file operations
 Naming
 Opening
 Reading
 Writing
 Closing

6. Defining and opening file
 To store data file in secondary memory (disc) must specify to OS
 Filename (e.g. sort.c, input.data)
 Data structure (e.g. FILE)
 Purpose (e.g. reading, writing, appending)

7. Filename
 String of characters that make up a valid filename for OS
 May contain two parts
 Primary
 Optional period with extension
 Examples: a.out, prog.c, temp, text.out

8. General format for opening file
 FILE *fp; /*variable fp is pointer to type FILE*/
 fp = fopen(“filename”, “mode”); /*opens file with name filename , assigns identifier to fp */
fp
 contains all information about file
 Communication link between system and program
mode can be
 r open file for reading only
 w open file for writing only
 a open file for appending (adding) data

9. Different modes
 Writing mode
 if file already exists then contents are deleted
 else new file with specified name created
 Appending mode
 if file already exists then file opened with contents safe
 else new file created
 Reading mode
 if file already exists then opened with contents safe
 else error occurs.
FILE *p1, *p2;
p1 = fopen(“data”,”r”);
p2= fopen(“results”, w”);

10. Steps in Processing a File
1. Create the stream via a pointer variable using the FILE structure:
FILE *p;
2. Open the file, associating the stream name with the file name.
3. Read or write the data.
4. Close the file.

11. The basic file operations are
 fopen - open a file- specify how its opened (read/write) and type
(binary/text)
 fclose - close an opened file
 fread - read from a file
 fwrite - write to a file
 fseek/fsetpos - move a file pointer to somewhere in a file
 ftell/fgetpos - tell you where the file pointer is located

12.  String of characters that make up a valid filename for OS
 May contain two parts
 Primary
 Optional period with extension
 Examples: a.out, prog.c, temp, text.out
Filename

13. File Open Modes

14. More on File Open Modes

15. Additionally
 r+ - open for reading and writing, start at beginning
 w+ - open for reading and writing (overwrite file)
 a+ - open for reading and writing (append if file exists)

16. File Open
 The file open function ( fopen) serves two purposes:
 It makes the connection between the physical file and the
stream.
 It creates “a program file structure to store the information” C
needs to process the file.
 Syntax:
filepointer= fopen(“filename”, “mode”);

17. More On fopen
 The file mode tells C how the program will use the file.
 The filename indicates the system name and location for the file.
 We assign the return value of fopen to our pointer variable:
spData = fopen(“MYFILE.TXT”, “w”);
spData = fopen(“A:MYFILE.TXT”, “w”);

18. More On fopen

19. Closing a File
 When we finish with a mode, we need to close the file before
ending the program or beginning another mode with that same file.
 To close a file, we use fclose and the pointer variable:
fclose(spData);

20. fprintf()
Syntax:
fprintf (fp, "string", variables);
Example:
int i = 12;
float x = 2.356;
char ch = 's';
FILE *fp;
fp=fopen(“out.txt”,”w”);
fprintf (fp, "%d %f %c", i, x, ch);

21. fscanf()
Syntax:
fscanf (fp,"string",identifiers);
Example:
FILE *fp;
Fp=fopen(“input.txt”,”r”);
int i;
fscanf (fp,“%d",i);

22. getc()
Syntax:
identifier = getc (file pointer);
Example:
FILE *fp;
fp=fopen(“input.txt”,”r”);
char ch;
ch = getc (fp);

23. putc()
 Write a single character to the output file, pointed to by fp.
Example:
FILE *fp;
char ch;
putc (ch,fp);

24. End of File
There are a number of ways to test for the end-of-file condition.
Another way is to use the value returned by the fscanf function:
FILE *fptr1;
int istatus ;
istatus = fscanf (fptr1, "%d", &var) ;
if ( istatus == feof(fptr1) )
{
printf ("End-of-file encountered.n”) ;
}

25. Reading and Writing Files
#include <stdio.h>
int main ( )
{
FILE *outfile, *infile ;
int b = 5, f ;
float a = 13.72, c = 6.68, e, g ;
outfile = fopen ("testdata", "w") ;
fprintf (outfile, “ %f %d %f ", a, b, c) ;
fclose (outfile) ;
infile = fopen ("testdata", "r") ;
fscanf (infile,"%f %d %f", &e, &f, &g) ;
printf (“ %f %d %f n ", a, b, c) ;
printf (“ %f %d %f n ", e, f, g) ;
}

26. Example
#include <stdio.h>
#include<conio.h>
void main()
{
char ch;
FILE *fp;
fp=fopen("out.txt","r");
while(!feof(fp))
{
ch=getc(fp);
printf("n%c",ch);
}
getch();
}

27. fread ()
Declaration:
size_t fread(void *ptr, size_t size, size_t n, FILE *stream);
Remarks:
 fread reads a specified number of equal-sized
 data items from an input stream into a block.
 ptr = Points to a block into which data is read
 size = Length of each item read, in bytes
 n = Number of items read
 stream = file pointer

28. Example
Example:
#include <stdio.h>
int main()
{
FILE *f;
char buffer[11];
if (f = fopen("fred.txt", “r”))
{
fread(buffer, 1, 10, f);
buffer[10] = 0;
fclose(f);
printf("first 10 characters of the file:n%sn", buffer);
}
return 0;
}

29. fwrite()
Declaration:
size_t fwrite(const void *ptr, size_t size, size_t n, FILE*stream);
Remarks:
 fwrite appends a specified number of equal-sized data items to an
output file.
 ptr = Pointer to any object; the data written begins at ptr
 size = Length of each item of data
 n =Number of data items to be appended
 stream = file pointer

30. Example
#include <stdio.h>
int main()
{
char a[10]={'1','2','3','4','5','6','7','8','9','a'};
FILE *fs;
fs=fopen("Project.txt","w");
fwrite(a,1,10,fs);
fclose(fs);
return 0;
}

31. fseek()
 This function sets the file position indicator for the stream pointed to by stream
or you can say it seeks a specified place within a file and modify it.
SEEK_SET Seeks from beginning of file
SEEK_CUR Seeks from current position
SEEK_END Seeks from end of file
Example:
#include <stdio.h>
int main()
{
FILE * f;
f = fopen("myfile.txt", "w");
fputs("Hello World", f);
fseek(f, 6, SEEK_SET); SEEK_CUR, SEEK_END
fputs(" India", f);
fclose(f);
return 0;
}

32. ftell()
offset = ftell( file pointer );
"ftell" returns the current position for input or output on the file
#include <stdio.h>
int main(void)
{
FILE *stream;
stream = fopen("MYFILE.TXT", "w");
fprintf(stream, "This is a test");
printf("The file pointer is at byte %ldn", ftell(stream));
fclose(stream);
return 0;
}

33. Closing a file
 File must be closed as soon as all operations on it
completed
 Ensures
 All outstanding information associated with file
flushed out from buffers
 All links to file broken
 Accidental misuse of file prevented
 If want to change mode of file, then first close and open
again

34. Closing a file
Syntax: fclose(file_pointer);
Example:
FILE *p1, *p2;
p1 = fopen(“INPUT.txt”, “r”);
p2 =fopen(“OUTPUT.txt”, “w”);
……..
……..
fclose(p1);
fclose(p2);
 Pointer can be reused after closing

35. Input/Output operations on files
 C provides several different functions for reading/writing
 getc() – read a character
 putc() – write a character
 fprintf() – write set of data values
 fscanf() – read set of data values
 getw() – read integer
 putw() – write integer

36. getc() and putc()
 handle one character at a time like getchar() and putchar()
 syntax: putc(c,fp1);
 c : a character variable
 fp1 : pointer to file opened with mode w
 syntax: c = getc(fp2);
 c : a character variable
 fp2 : pointer to file opened with mode r
 file pointer moves by one character position after every getc()
and putc()
 getc() returns end-of-file marker EOF when file end reached

37. Program to read/write using getc/putc
#include <stdio.h>
main()
{ FILE *fp1;
char c;
f1= fopen(“INPUT”, “w”); /* open file for writing */
while((c=getchar()) != EOF) /*get char from keyboard until CTL-Z*/
putc(c,f1); /*write a character to INPUT */
fclose(f1); /* close INPUT */
f1=fopen(“INPUT”, “r”); /* reopen file */
while((c=getc(f1))!=EOF) /*read character from file INPUT*/
printf(“%c”, c); /* print character to screen */
fclose(f1);
} /*end main */

38. fscanf() and fprintf()
 Similar to scanf() and printf()
 in addition provide file-pointer
 given the following
 file-pointer f1 (points to file opened in write mode)
 file-pointer f2 (points to file opened in read mode)
 integer variable i
 float variable f
 Example:
fprintf(f1, “%d %fn”, i, f);
fprintf(stdout, “%f n”, f); /*note: stdout refers to screen */
fscanf(f2, “%d %f”, &i, &f);
 fscanf returns EOF when end-of-file reached

39. getw() and putw()
 handle one integer at a time
 syntax: putw(i,fp1);
i : an integer variable
fp1 : pointer to file ipened with mode w
 syntax: i = getw(fp2);
i : an integer variable
fp2 : pointer to file opened with mode r
 file pointer moves by one integer position, data stored in binary
format native to local system
 getw() returns end-of-file marker EOF when file end reached

40. C program using getw, putw,fscanf, fprintf
#include <stdio.h>
main()
{ int i,sum1=0;
FILE *f1;
/* open files */
f1 = fopen("int_data.bin","w");
/* write integers to files in binary and
text format*/
for(i=10;i<15;i++) putw(i,f1);
fclose(f1);
f1 = fopen("int_data.bin","r");
while((i=getw(f1))!=EOF)
{ sum1+=i;
printf("binary file: i=%dn",i);
} /* end while getw */
printf("binary sum=%d,sum1);
fclose(f1);
}
#include <stdio.h>
main()
{ int i, sum2=0;
FILE *f2;
/* open files */
f2 = fopen("int_data.txt","w");
/* write integers to files in binary
and
text format*/
for(i=10;i<15;i++) printf(f2,"%dn",i);
fclose(f2);
f2 = fopen("int_data.txt","r");
while(fscanf(f2,"%d",&i)!=EOF)
{ sum2+=i; printf("text file: i=
%dn",i);
} /*end while fscanf*/
printf("text sum=%dn",sum2);
fclose(f2);
}

41. Thank You