Unsupported file after duplicating it - c

I wrote a VERY simple program that copies all the bytes from a selected file and write them in a new/selected file.
What I want to do is duplicate 'elaborate' (encoded) file such .jpg, .png, .mp3, .exe and so on...
The program works fine (especially using simple .txt file), here is a running example:
(Wrote and compiled in windows using mingw):
C:\Users\Computer\Desktop>duplicate.exe img.jpg file.txt
Content of file.txt:
ÿØÿà JFIF ÿÛ C


If file.txt would have been substituted with <filename>.<new_file_extention>, the program would have create the new file and copied the above content inside as in:
C:\Users\Computer\Desktop>duplicate.exe img.jpg new_img.jpg
When I try to open new_img.jpg though the OS says me that the file is not supported hence cannot be opened.
My reasoning before writing the program was the following: "At bottom level any file is just a sequence of bytes, hence copying from an existing file and pasting onto a brand new/selected file will result in actually duplicating the file avoiding any type of encoding."
Here is the code:
//The program is just a test, is not a final version, hence the absence of some error handling.
#include <fcntl.h>
#include <unistd.h>
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#define MAXBYTE 2500
#define RDWRMAX 1024
int main(int argc, char **argv){
int ifd, ofd, n;
char buf[MAXBYTE+1];
if((ifd = open(*++argv, O_RDONLY, 0)) == -1){
fprintf(stderr, "Unable to open '%s'.\n", *argv);
exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
}
if((ofd = open(*++argv, O_WRONLY | O_CREAT, 0)) == -1){
fprintf(stderr, "Unable to open '%s'.\n", *argv);
exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
}
while((n = read(ifd, buf, RDWRMAX)) > 0)
write(ofd, buf, n);
}
Can anyone help me understand why this is happening and maybe suggesting some possible way to solve it? This is a learning process for me, so thanks in advance for all the useful answers to this question.

Related

Clear the contents of a file using low level functions [duplicate]

This question already has answers here:
How to truncate a file in C?
(6 answers)
Closed 11 months ago.
I would like to write a function able to delete contents of files.
I have some thoughts of how to do it and here is the program that come up from them:
/*fclr - clear file contents*/
#include <fcntl.h>
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <string.h>
#include <unistd.h>
int main(int argc, char* argv[]){
int fd;
if(--argc == 0)
fprintf(stderr, "Incorrect syntax. Usage: cat <filename1> <filname2> ... <filenameN>.\n");
while(--argc > 0){
char c = EOF;
if((fd = open(*++argv, O_WRONLY, 0)) == -1)
fprintf(stderr, "Unable to open the file.\n");
lseek(fd, 0, SEEK_SET); //lseek here is redundant.
write(fd, &c, sizeof(char));
close(fd);
}
}
Basically, I suppused, if a file is seen a very big array of characters, is has to have and end in memory. So as well as \0 works for stings, I thought EOF will do for actual files, but is not working. After the file is ran, the content is still there.
Do you have any suggestion to solve this problem.
(I do know that opening a file with fopen on "w" mode will delete the whole content, but I would like to achieve the same result with low level functions)
Why don't you only try to open as following? It truncates the file as you expect.
open(*++argv, O_TRUNC | O_WRONLY);

Linux/ Open directory as a file

I've been reading Brian Kernighan and Dennis Ritchie - The C Programming Language and chapter 8.6 is about directory listing under UNIX OS. They say that everything and even directory is a file. This means that I should be able to open directory as a file? I've tried it using stdio functions and it didn't work. Now, I'm trying it with UNIX system functions. Of course, I'm not using UNIX, I'm using Ubuntu linux. Here is my code:
#include <syscall.h>
#include <fcntl.h>
int main(int argn, char* argv[]) {
int fd;
if (argn!=1) fd=open(argv[1],O_RDONLY,0);
else fd=open(".",O_RDONLY,0);
if (fd==-1) return -1;
char buf[1024];
int n;
while ((n=read(fd,buf,1024))>0)
write(1,buf,n);
close (fd);
return 0;
}
This writes nothing even when argn is 1 (no parameters) and I'm trying to read current directory.
Any ideas/explanations? :)
Files are also called regular files to distinguish them from special files.
Directory or not a regular file. The most common special file is the directory. The layout of a directory file is defined by the filesystem used.
So use opendir to open diretory.
Nachiket's answer is correct (as indeed is sujin) but they don't clear up the mystery as to why open works and not read. Out of curiosity I made some changes to the given code to find out exactly what was going on.
#include <fcntl.h>
#include <stdio.h>
#include <errno.h>
int main(int argc, char* argv[]) {
int fd = -1;
if (argc!=1) fd=open(argv[1],O_RDONLY,0);
else fd=open(".",O_RDONLY,0);
if (fd < 0){
perror("file open");
printf("error on open = %d", errno);
return -1;
}
printf("file descriptor is %d\n", fd);
char buf[1024];
int n;
if ((n=read(fd,buf,1024))>0){
write(1,buf,n);
}
else {
printf("n = %d\n", n);
if (n < 0) {
printf("read failure %d\n", errno);
perror("cannot read");
}
}
close (fd);
return 0;
}
The result of compiling and running this:
file descriptor is 3
n = -1
read failure 21
cannot read: Is a directory
That settles it, though I'd have expected open to fail, since the correct system function for opening directories is opendir().
Though everything in unix is a file (directory also) but still filetype is concept is present in unix and applicable to all files.
there are file types like regular file,directory etc and certain operations and functions are allowed/present for every file type.
In your case readdir is applicable for reading contents of directory.
If you want to see the files in a directory you have to use the opendir and readdir functions.
K&R were correct for the original UNIX. I remember doing it back when UNIX file systems had a 14 character length limit for filenames. The opendir(), readdir(), ... stuff happened about the time that longer file names became common (around 1990?)

File reading synchronously in Linux C

Please see below code.
#include < stdio.h >
#include < fcntl.h >
#include < stdlib.h >
#include < string.h >
int main(int argc,char **argv,char **envp)
{
int fd;
size_t sz;
char filebuffer[1024];
int loop;
fd=open("sample",O_RDONLY);
if(fd==-1)
{
perror("");
exit(1);
}
loop=0;
while(++loop<300)
{
lseek(fd,0,SEEK_SET);
memset(filebuffer,0,1024);
sz=read(fd,filebuffer,1024);
printf("%d.sz=%zd\t%s\n",loop,sz,filebuffer);
sleep(1);
}
close(fd);
return 0;
}
In this code, I am able to read file. But when I am changing file (reading file "sample") at the same time during reading. Then I am not able to read the changed file. I tried O_SYNC flag too. but still, it is not working, but O_DIRECT is undefined error is coming up. How can I ensure that I am able to read changes? Second thing, but I observed, if I close and open the file reading, then I am able to read changed file.
Question:
How can I read changed file without closing and opening?
I think that you're asking the following question:
I have a program which opens a file called sample and repeatedly reads the first block of that file. That works fine. However, if I edit the file sample, for example with a text editor, then my program does not see the changes, although it will if it closes and reopens the file. How can I see the changes without closing and reopening the file?
If that's your question, then the answer is:
Sorry, you cannot, because the text editor does not modify the file. It creates a new file with the old name.
In Unix, once you open a file, it will not actually get deleted, even if its name is unlinked. If another program "deletes" the file and then creates a new file with the same name, the file you have open is no longer accessible to any other program, but it is still the same file and it will not get deleted until you close it.
Most Unix text utilities, even the ones which claim to work "in-place" (such as sed -i) really do not modify files. That includes text editors. So your program doesn't see changes in the file because the file is not changing; the name has been given to a new file.
So the only way to deal with this is to close and reopen the file. When you reopen, you will be opening the new file with the old name.
The reason for not getting updated data in file could be sync time in filesystem.
I suggest fflush() after writing in to file. This makes your cache data to be written in file.
Related discussions.
Small file not committed to disk for over a minute
Is fwrite non-blocking?
This is an adaptation of your code. It forks to create two processes. The child contains your code, substantially unchanged (different error message, file name variable, and more care with printing the filebuffer which is not null terminated). The parent writes characters (the same character, over and over) to the file.
#include <fcntl.h>
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <string.h>
#include <unistd.h>
static char const filename[] = "sample";
int main(void)
{
int fd;
size_t sz;
char filebuffer[1024];
int loop;
switch (fork())
{
case -1:
fprintf(stderr, "Failed to fork\n");
break;
case 0:
sleep(1);
fd = open(filename, O_RDONLY);
if (fd == -1)
{
fprintf(stderr, "Failed to open file %s for reading\n", filename);
exit(1);
}
loop = 0;
while (++loop < 300)
{
lseek(fd, 0, SEEK_SET);
memset(filebuffer, 0, 1024);
sz = read(fd, filebuffer, 1024);
printf("%d.sz=%zd\t%.*s\n", loop, sz, (int)sz, filebuffer);
sleep(1);
}
close(fd);
break;
default:
fd = open(filename, O_WRONLY|O_CREAT, 0644);
if (fd == -1)
{
fprintf(stderr, "Failed to create file %s for writing\n", filename);
exit(1);
}
for (loop = 0; loop < 256; loop++)
{
memset(filebuffer, (loop % 64) + 33, sizeof(filebuffer));
lseek(fd, 0L, SEEK_SET);
write(fd, filebuffer, sizeof(filebuffer));
sleep(1);
}
close(fd);
break;
}
return 0;
}
Example output:
1.sz=1024 """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
2.sz=1024 ################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################
3.sz=1024 ################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################
4.sz=1024 %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
5.sz=1024 &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
6.sz=1024 ''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''
7.sz=1024 ((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((
8.sz=1024 ((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((
9.sz=1024 ****************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************
As you can see, the processes run asynchronously, so the data in the file does not always change between reads, but the process is seeing the changes.
Try running this on your computer. It should work. (Sample output from Mac OS X 10.8.5.) If it doesn't, you'll need to identify which file system type you have, but I don't think it'll be a problem.

File I/O management in C

My first post :), am starting out with C language as basic learning step into programming arena. I am using following code which reads string from text file, makes directory with that string name and opens a file for writing in that created directory. But am not able to create a file inside directory made, here is my code:
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <direct.h>
#include <string.h>
int main()
{
char file_name[25], cwd[100];
FILE *fp, *op;
fp = fopen("myfile.txt", "r");
if (fp == NULL)
{
perror("Error while opening the file.\n");
exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
}
fgets(file_name, 25, fp);
_mkdir(file_name);
if (_getcwd(cwd,sizeof(cwd)) != 0)
{
fprintf(stdout, "Your dir name: %s\\%s\n", cwd,file_name);
op = fopen("cwd\\file_name\\mynewfile.txt","w");
fclose(op);
}
fclose(fp);
return 0;
}
What you need is to store the file name (with the path) in a c-string before opening. What you are opening is cwd\file_name\mynewfile.txt. I doubt that your directory is named cwd.
A sample could could be:
char file_path[150];
sprintf(file_path, "%s\\%s\\mynewfile.txt", cwd, file_name);
op = fopen(file_path,"w");
use
#include <sys/stat.h>
#include <sys/types.h>
instead of
#include <direct.h>
and modify
op = fopen("cwd\\file_name\\mynewfile.txt","w”);
I see you are using the return values. That is a good start for a beginner. You can refine your error messages by including "errno.h". Instead of printing your own error messages call
printf("%s", strerror(errno));
You get more precise error messages that way.
op = fopen("cwd\\file_name\\mynewfile.txt","w”);
You’re actually passing the string literals “cwd” and “file_name” as part of the path of the file, when I think you actually mean to put the contents of the variables with those names in there. You will probably have to piece together a string for the path. Try looking into strcat()
http://www.cplusplus.com/reference/cstring/strcat/

How can I use Linux's splice() function to copy a file to another file?

here's another question about splice(). I'm hoping to use it to copy files, and am trying to use two splice calls joined by a pipe like the example on splice's Wikipedia page. I wrote a simple test case which only tries to read the first 32K bytes from one file and write them to another:
#define _GNU_SOURCE
#include <fcntl.h>
#include <stdio.h>
#include <unistd.h>
#include <errno.h>
#include <string.h>
int main(int argc, char **argv) {
int pipefd[2];
int result;
FILE *in_file;
FILE *out_file;
result = pipe(pipefd);
in_file = fopen(argv[1], "rb");
out_file = fopen(argv[2], "wb");
result = splice(fileno(in_file), 0, pipefd[1], NULL, 32768, SPLICE_F_MORE | SPLICE_F_MOVE);
printf("%d\n", result);
result = splice(pipefd[0], NULL, fileno(out_file), 0, 32768, SPLICE_F_MORE | SPLICE_F_MOVE);
printf("%d\n", result);
if (result == -1)
printf("%d - %s\n", errno, strerror(errno));
close(pipefd[0]);
close(pipefd[1]);
fclose(in_file);
fclose(out_file);
return 0;
}
When I run this, the input file seems to be read properly, but the second splice call fails with EINVAL. Anybody know what I'm doing wrong here?
Thanks!
From the splice manpage:
EINVAL Target file system doesn't support splicing; target file is
opened in append mode; neither of the descriptors refers to a
pipe; or offset given for non-seekable device.
We know one of the descriptors is a pipe, and the file's not open in append mode. We also know no offset is given (0 is equivalent to NULL - did you mean to pass in a pointer to a zero offset?), so that's not the problem. Therefore, the filesystem you're using doesn't support splicing to files.
What kind of file system(s) are you copying to/from?
Your example runs on my system when both files are on ext3 but fails when I use an external drive (I forget offhand if it is DOS or NTFS). My guess is that one or both of your files are on a file system that splice does not support.
The splice(2) system call is for copying between files and pipes and not between files, so it can not be used to copy between files, as has been pointed out by the other answers.
As of Linux 4.5 however a new copy_file_range(2) system call is available that can copy between files. In the case of NFS it can even cause server side copying.
The linked man page contains a full example program.

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