C file input/output: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 21:42, 20 April 2004

Revision as of 21:45, 20 April 2004

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The C standard gives two kinds of files: text files and binary files, although operating systems may or may not distinguish between the two. A ''text file'' is a file consisting of text arranged in lines with some sort of distinguishing end-of-line character or sequence (in [[Unix]], a bare linefeed character; in the [[Apple Macintosh|Macintosh]] OS, a bare carriage return; on [[MS-DOS]] and [[Microsoft Windows]], a carriage return followed by a linefeed). When bytes are read in from a text file, an end-of-line sequence is usually mapped to a linefeed for ease in processing. When a text file is written to, a bare linefeed is mapped to the OS-specific end-of-line character sequence before writing. A ''binary file'' is a file where bytes are read in "raw", and delivered "raw", without any kind of mapping.

A conventient way to find the length of a file in C is:

FILE *f = fopen("filename", "rb");

[[fseek]](f, 0, SEEK_END);

length = [[tell]](f);

[[rewind]](f);