File Handling

In C, you can create, open, read, and write to files by declaring a pointer of
type FILE, and use the fopen() function:

FILE *fptr
fptr = fopen(filename, mode);

FILE is basically a data type, and we need to create a pointer variable to work
with it (fptr). For now, this line is not important. It's just something you need
when working with files.

To actually open a file, use the fopen() function, which takes two parameters:

Parameter Description

filename The name of the actual file you want to open (or create), like filename.txt

mode A single character, which represents what you want to do with the file (read, w

w - Writes to a file
a - Appends new data to a file
r - Reads from a file

Create a File
To create a file, you can use the w mode inside the fopen() function.

The w mode is used to write to a file. However, if the file does not exist, it will
create one for you:

Example
 FILE *fptr;

// Create a file
fptr = fopen("filename.txt", "w");

// Close the file

fclose(fptr);

Note: The file is created in the same directory as your other C files, if nothing
else is specified.

On our computer, it looks like this:

Run example »

Tip: If you want to create the file in a specific folder, just provide an absolute
path:

fptr = fopen("C:\directoryname\filename.txt", "w");

Closing the file

Did you notice the fclose() function in our example above?

This will close the file when we are done with it.

It is considered as good practice, because it makes sure that:

 Changes are saved properly

 Other programs can use the file (if you want)
 Clean up unnecessary memory space

In the next chapters, you will learn how to write content to a file and read from
it.
C Write To Files

Write To a File
Let's use the w mode from the previous chapter again, and write something to
the file we just created.

The w mode means that the file is opened for writing. To insert content to it,
you can use the fprint() function and add the pointer variable (fptr in our
example) and some text:

Example
FILE *fptr;

// Open a file in writing mode

fptr = fopen("filename.txt", "w");

// Write some text to the file

fprintf(fptr, "Some text");

// Close the file

fclose(fptr);

As a result, when we open the file on our computer, it looks like this:

Note: If you write to a file that already exists, the old content is deleted, and
the new content is inserted. This is important to know, as you might
accidentally erase existing content.

For example:

Example
fprintf(fptr, "Hello World!");
As a result, when we open the file on our computer, it says "Hello World!"
instead of "Some text":

Append Content To a File

If you want to add content to a file without deleting the old content, you can
use the a mode.

The a mode appends content at the end of the file:

Example
FILE *fptr;

// Open a file in append mode

fptr = fopen("filename.txt", "a");

// Append some text to the file

fprintf(fptr, "\nHi everybody!");

// Close the file

fclose(fptr);

As a result, when we open the file on our computer, it looks like this:

Note: Just like with the w mode; if the file does not exist, the a mode will create
a new file with the "appended" content.
C Read Files

Read a File
In the previous chapter, we wrote to a file using w and a modes inside
the fopen() function.

To read from a file, you can use the r mode:

Example
FILE *fptr;

// Open a file in read mode

fptr = fopen("filename.txt", "r");

This will make the filename.txt opened for reading.

It requires a little bit of work to read a file in C. Hang in there! We will guide
you step-by-step.

Next, we need to create a string that should be big enough to store the content
of the file.

For example, let's create a string that can store up to 100 characters:

Example
FILE *fptr;

// Open a file in read mode

fptr = fopen("filename.txt", "r");
// Store the content of the file
char myString[100];

In order to read the content of filename.txt, we can use the fgets() function.

The fgets() function takes three parameters:

Example
fgets(myString, 100, fptr);

1. The first parameter specifies where to store the file content, which will be
in the myString array we just created.
2. The second parameter specifies the maximum size of data to read, which
should match the size of myString (100).
3. The third parameter requires a file pointer that is used to read the file
(fptr in our example).

Now, we can print the string, which will output the content of the file:

Example
FILE *fptr;

// Open a file in read mode

fptr = fopen("filename.txt", "r");

// Store the content of the file

char myString[100];

// Read the content and store it inside myString

fgets(myString, 100, fptr);

// Print the file content

printf("%s", myString);

// Close the file

fclose(fptr);

Hello World!

Note: The fgets function only reads the first line of the file. If you remember,
there were two lines of text in filename.txt.
To read every line of the file, you can use a while loop:

Example
FILE *fptr;

// Open a file in read mode

fptr = fopen("filename.txt", "r");

// Store the content of the file

char myString[100];

// Read the content and print it

while(fgets(myString, 100, fptr)) {
printf("%s", myString);
}

// Close the file

fclose(fptr);

Hello World!
Hi everybody!

Good Practice
If you try to open a file for reading that does not exist, the fopen() function will
return NULL.

Tip: As a good practice, we can use an if statement to test for NULL, and print
some text instead (when the file does not exist):

Example
FILE *fptr;

// Open a file in read mode

fptr = fopen("loremipsum.txt", "r");

// Print some text if the file does not exist

if(fptr == NULL) {
 printf("Not able to open the file.");
}

// Close the file

fclose(fptr);

If the file does not exist, the following text is printed:

Not able to open the file.

With this in mind, we can create a more sustainable code if we use our "read a
file" example above again:

Example
If the file exist, read the content and print it. If the file does not exist, print a
message:

FILE *fptr;

// Open a file in read mode

fptr = fopen("filename.txt", "r");

// Store the content of the file

char myString[100];

// If the file exist

if(fptr != NULL) {

// Read the content and print it

while(fgets(myString, 100, fptr)) {
printf("%s", myString);
}

// If the file does not exist

} else {
printf("Not able to open the file.");
}

// Close the file

fclose(fptr);
Hello World!
Hi everybody!