File handling

• File is a collection of data.

• By using file concept we can perform operations on large
data.
• Files are two types
–Text File
–Binary File
• File handling in C enables us to create, update, read, and
delete the files stored on the local file system through our C
program.
• Text file
– A Text file represents a sequence of characters that can be
processed sequentially.
– The text files are in human readable form and they can be
created and read using any text editor.
– Example: .txt, .c, .java
• Binary file
– Binary file is a sequence of zeros and ones.
– The binary files are interpreted and understood by a
computer system.
– Example: .exe, .dll
 Operations on a file
• The following operations can be performed on a file.
– Creation of the new file
– Opening an existing file
– Reading from a file
– Writing to a file
– Moving to a specific location in a file(Seeking)
– Closing a file
 File pointer
• Before performing any operation on a file we should declare a
file pointer variable.
• Syntax:
data-type *variable name;
• Example:
FILE *fp;
• fp is a file pointer variable and FILE is the derived data type.
 Text File opening modes
• “r”: reading from the existing file.
• “w”: writing to the new file or overwrite existing file.
• “a”: adding new contents to the end of the existing file.
• “r+”: reading existing contents, writing new contents, modifying
existing contents of the file.
• “w+”: writing new contents, reading them back and modifying
existing contents of the file.
• “a+”: reading existing contents, appending new contents to end of
file. Cannot modify existing content.
 Binary File opening modes

• “rb”: reading from the binary file

• “wb”: writing to a binary file
• “ab”: append to an existing binary file
• “rb+”: open a binary file for read/write
• “wb+”: create a binary file for read/write
• “ab+”: append or create a binary file for read/write
Library functions for file handling
 Opening and closing a file
• To read or write information from/to a file on a disk, we must open
the file.
• The function fopen() is used to create a new file or to open an
existing file in a specific mode.
• Syntax:
– FILE *fp;
– fp=fopen(“file_name”,”mode”);
• fopen() returns the address of the FILE structure, which is collected
in structure pointer fp.
• The fclose() is used to close an already opened file.
• Syntax:
– fclose(file_pointer_variable);
– fclose(fp);
 Program to display the contents of a file on standard
output device
#include<stdio.h>
#include<conio.h>
int main()
{
FILE *fp; //file pointer
char ch;
clrscr();
fp=fopen("struct_2.c","r"); //opening struct_2.c file
while((ch=fgetc(fp))!=EOF)
{
printf("%c",ch); //printing the content on console
}
printf("\n");
fclose(fp);
getch();
return 0;
}
Output
Program to Copy one file to another file, replacing all lowercase
characters to uppercase
#include<stdio.h>
#include<conio.h>
void main()
{
FILE *fp1,*fp2;
char ch;
clrscr();
fp1=fopen("sample.txt","r");
fp2=fopen("output.txt","w");
while((ch=getc(fp1))!=EOF)
{
ch=toupper(ch);
putc(ch,fp2);
}
printf("File is copied\n");
fclose(fp1);
fclose(fp2);
getch();
}
Output
 Program to find frequency of characters
#include<stdio.h>
#include<conio.h>
int main()
{
int c = 0, count[26] = {0}, x;
char ch;
FILE *fp=fopen("sample1.txt","r");
clrscr();
while((ch=fgetc(fp))!=EOF)
{
if (ch>='a'&&ch<= 'z')
{
x = ch- 'a';
count[x]++;
}
}
for (c = 0; c < 26; c++)
printf("%c occurs %d times \n", c + 'a', count[c]);
getch();
return 0;
}
 Program to merge two files into a third file
#include <stdio.h> fclose(fp1);
#include<conio.h> fclose(fp2);
int main() fclose(fp3);
{ getch();
FILE *fp1 = fopen("file1.txt", "r"); return 0;
FILE *fp2 = fopen("file2.txt", "r"); }
FILE *fp3 = fopen("file3.txt", "w");
char c;
clrscr();
// Copy contents of file1 to file3
while ((c = fgetc(fp1)) != EOF)
fputc(c, fp3);
fputc(‘\n’,fp3);
// Copy contents of file2 to file3
while ((c = fgetc(fp2)) != EOF)
fputc(c, fp3);
printf("Merged file1.txt and file2.txt into
file3.txt");
Output
 fscanf and fprintf functions

• fscanf(): The fscanf() function is used to read set of characters

from text file.
• Syntax:
– fscanf(fp,"format specifier",arguments);

• fprintf(): The fprintf() function is used to write set of characters

into file.
• Syntax:
– fprintf(fp,"formated specifier",arguments);
 Program to illustrate fprintf and fscanf functions
#include<stdio.h> while(fscanf(fp, "%s", b)!=EOF)
#include<conio.h> {
void main() printf("%s ", b );
{ }
FILE *fp; fclose(fp);
char b[100]; getch();
char name[10]; }
int age;
clrscr();
printf("Enter name and age:\n");
scanf("%s %d",name,&age);
//opening the file in write mode
fp=fopen("sample_file.txt","w");
fprintf(fp,"%s%d",name,age);
fclose(fp);
//opening file in read mode
fp = fopen("sample_file.txt", "r");
 Why binary files?
• I/O operations are faster with binary files
• Binary files are much smaller in size than text files
• Some data cannot be converted to characters.
 fread and fwrite functions
• fread(): This function is used to read a block of data from a file.
• Syntax:
– int fread(void*ptr, int size, int n, FILE*fp);
• fwrite(): This function is used to write a block of data into a file.
• Syntax:
– int fwrite(void *ptr, int size, int n, FILE*fp);

• 1st parameter: the memory address of the value to be read and

write
• 2nd parameter: no. of bytes of data block
• 3rd parameter: total no. of blocks to read/write
• 4th parameter: the file pointer
 Program to illustrate binary file using fread() and fwrite()
#include<stdio.h> while(fread(&e1,sizeof(e1),1,fp)==1)
#include<conio.h> {
struct Emp printf("employee details: %s\n %d\n %.2f\
{ n",e1.ename,e1.eid,e1.esal);
char ename[10]; }
int eid; fclose(fp);
float esal; getch();
}; }
void main()
{
struct Emp e,e1;
FILE *fp;
fp=fopen("emp.dat","wb");
clrscr();
printf("enter employee name, id and salary:\n");
scanf("%s%d%f", e.ename, &e.eid, &e.esal);
fwrite(&e,sizeof(e),1,fp);
fclose(fp);
fp=fopen("emp.dat","rb");
 File positioning functions
• File positioning functions are used for accessing the random
data from the file.
• File positioning functions are :
– rewind();
– ftell();
– fseek();

• rewind(): The rewind() function is used to set the file pointer

to the beginning of the file.
• Syntax:
– FILE *fp;
– void rewind(fp);
 Program for rewind()
#include <stdio.h> rewind(fp);
#include<conio.h> printf("\n");
int main () while((ch=getc(fp))!=EOF)
{ {
char str[] = "welcome to kmit"; printf("%c",ch);
FILE *fp; }
char ch; fclose(fp);
clrscr(); getch();
fp = fopen( "file.txt" , "w" ); return 0;
fprintf(fp,"%s",str); }
fclose(fp);
fp = fopen( "file.txt" , "r" );
while((ch=getc(fp))!=EOF)
{
printf("%c",ch);
}
 ftell and fseek functions
• ftell(): The ftell() gives the current position of the file pointer from the
beginning of the file.
• Syntax:
FILE *fp;
long ftell(fp);

• fseek(): The function fseek() is used to set the file pointer at the
specified position.
• The file pointer can be moved backwards or forward any number of
bytes.
• Syntax:
int fseek(FILE *fp, long offset, int start_point);
 Program on fseek and ftell functions

#include <stdio.h>
#include<conio.h>
int main ()
{
FILE *fp;
int len;
clrscr();
fp = fopen("file.txt", "r");
fseek(fp, 0, 2); //file pointer fp moves to the end of file
len = ftell(fp);
fclose(fp);
printf("Total size of file.txt = %d bytes\n", len);
getch();
return(0);
}