167_fopen.asciidoc

fopen

NAME

fopen - Open a file.

SYNOPSIS

#include <stdio.h>

FILE *fopen (const char *filename, const char *mode);

DESCRIPTION

Opens the file which name is stored in the filename string and returns a pointer to the file (stream). Operations allowed to the file returned are defined by the mode parameter:

"r"	Open a file for reading. The file must exist.
"w"	Create an empty file for writing. If a file with the same name already exists its content is erased.
"a"	Append to a file. Writing operations append data at the end of the file. The file is created if it doesn’t exist.
"r+"	Open a file for reading and writing. The file must exist.
"w+"	Create an empty file for reading and writing. If a file with the same name already exists its content is erased before it is opened.
"a+"	Open a file for reading and appending. All writing operations are done at the end of the file protecting the previous content to be overwritten. You can reposition (fseek, rewind) the pointer to anywhere in the file for reading, but writing operations will move back to the end of file. The file is created if it doesn’t exist.

The mode parameter serves also to specify whether we want to open the file as text or binary, adding t or b characters to this access mode string.

t	Text mode. In text mode the end of file is assumed to be at first Ctrl-Z character. Some conversions can occur reading and writing with End Of Line / Feedback characters depending on your compiler and your Operating System.
b	Binary mode. End of file is reached at last byte of the file. No conversions.

This additional t or b characters can be appended to the read/write mode at the end of the string (like "rb", "wt", "r+t", "w+b" …​) or can be inserted between the letter and the "" character (like "rt", "wb+").

If t nor b are given, the default method is used (commonly t). Most compilers use the default method specified by the global variable _fmode defined in stdio.h.

RETURN VALUE

If the file has been successfully opened the function will return a pointer to the file. Otherwise a NULL pointer is returned.

SEE ALSO

fclose, fputc, fgetc, fread, fwrite

EXAMPLE

link:src/fopen.c[role=include]

OUTPUT

$ gcc -Wall fopen.c
$ ./a.out test.txt
$ cat test.txt
fopen example

EXAMPLE

link:src/fopen2.c[role=include]

OUTPUT

$ gcc -Wall fopen2.c
$ ./a.out test.txt
fopen example