C program not writing to a file - c

I was reading "C: How to program" on chapter 11 (File handling) and came with this algorithm, to append a string to a file named info.txt but it isn't working at all. What am I doing wrong?
#include<stdio.h>
#include<string.h>
#include<stdlib.h>
int main(void)
{
FILE *fp = fopen("info.txt","w");
char buff[100];
if(fp == NULL){
fprintf(stdout,"Error opening file\n");
exit(1);
}
while(!feof(stdin)){
fprintf(stdout,"Type a string/\nEOF ends input\n");
if(!fgets(buff,sizeof buff,stdin)){
fprintf(stderr,"Error reading string");
exit(2);
}
buff[strcspn(buff,"\n")] = 0;
fprintf(fp,"%s",buff);
}
fclose(fp);
}

I guess you are inserting EOF wrongly. As it is answered here, EOF is inserted using CTRL+D in Unix systems and using CTRL+Z in Windows.
Using exactly your code it works for me, so I guess you are trying to insert EOF using CTRL+C, or another command, which closes the application and leaves the file empty.
Also, if you want it to append always, even if you close the program and open it again, you should use the mode append "a" instead of write "w" [reference]
FILE *fp = fopen("info.txt","a");

Related

Why cannot I read string by fgets in C programming language?

I have this code work :
#include<stdio.h>
#include<stdlib.h>
#include<string.h>
int main()
{
FILE *File_fp = fopen("Example.dat", "w");
char Temporary[50];
if(!File_fp)
{
printf("An error occurred while creating the file.\n");
exit(1);
}
fprintf(File_fp, "This is an example.\n");
fgets(Temporary, 49, File_fp);
printf("It was \"%s\"\n", Temporary);
return EXIT_SUCCESS;
}
I printed "This is an example." in the file, "Example.dat" and I want to read it again from the file by code above but there's no string in the output. Why? Please help me.
You are opening the file in write-only mode ("w"). Use "w+" for reading and writing.
FILE *File_fp = fopen("Example.dat", "w+");
To read a file, you have to use the mode "r". Example:
FILE *File_fp = fopen("Example.dat", "r");
And you made a mistake in this code. If it fails to create a file, fopen() function will return NULL. Then the value of the file pointer would be NULL.
So, in your code if section will execute when the file is successfully created. So, change your code like this:
if(File_fp)
{
printf("An error occurred while creating the file.\n");
exit(1);
}
Just remove the (!) logical not sign.

can´t open txt file

#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
int main()
{
char c[1000];
FILE *fptr;
if ((fptr = fopen("program.txt", "r")) == NULL)
{
printf("Error! opening file");
// Program exits if file pointer returns NULL.
exit(1);
}
// reads text until newline
fscanf(fptr,"%[^\n]", c);
printf("Data from the file:\n%s", c);
fclose(fptr);
return 0;
}
Output is Error! opening file
I have program and txt file in same dir.
How can I direct access to that file?
To diagnose, use the system command to issue a ls or dir depending on your platform. That will tell you where you are running from. Odds are it is a different location than the files you are trying to open.
As suggested in the comment, try replacing printf with perror
if ((fptr = fopen("program.txt", "r")) == NULL)
{
perror("Error");
// Program exits if file pointer returns NULL.
exit(1); // Exiting with a non-zero status.
}
perror prototype is
void perror(const char *str)
where str is the C string containing a custom message to be printed before the error message itself.
However some causes of the of the file not being read are
File is not present in the current working directory. If this is the case, rectifying the path should fix the issue.
The program might not have the permissions to read from the file usually because of a setting related to discretionary access control. Perhaps do a chmod with file?
I made a quick run of your program on TURBOC++ by Borland and it executed without complaining any sort of Warning or Error
As mentioned in the earlier posted answers, you should replace printf by perror
CURRENT REPLACE BY
printf("Error! opening file"); perror("Error! Opening File.");
As in your case of file not found printf("Error! opening file"); will result in :
Error! Opening file.
However in case of perror("Error! Opening File."); if the file program.txt does not exist, something similar to this may be expected as program output
The following error occurred: No such file or directory
The difference is obvious from above explanations.
Regarding your program, I am making an assumption that either your path to the file is wrong or there is some problem with your compiler.
Try to open your file in w+ mode also to ensure that the file exist.

Can not open files with c

Im supposed to write a program that opens an excel file, reads the numbers on the file, multiplies them by 9.8 and the shows the answer in another excel gile.
I wrote this, and I did not get any errors in the compiler, but when I run it, it does not open any files. How do I make it open the files?
#include <stdio.h>
int main() {
FILE *archivo;
FILE *archivoSalida;
int masa;
float peso;
archivo = fopen("C:/Users/nacho/Documents/UNAM/Informatica/proyecto/archivoEntrada.txt", "r");
archivoSalida = fopen("C:/Users/nacho/Documents/UNAM/Informatica/proyecto/archivoSalida.txt", "r");
if (archivo != NULL)
{
printf("The file was opened succesully");
while (fscanf(archivo,"%d", &masa)!= EOF)
{
peso=masa*9.81;
fprintf(archivoSalida, "%f\n", peso);
}
}
else
{
printf ("Error");
}
fclose(archivo);
fclose(archivoSalida);
return 0;
}
You'll want to fopen the output file ("archivoSalida") with mode "w" (for write) instead of "r" (for read). See e.g. http://pubs.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/009695399/functions/fopen.html.
You do check if the input file could be opened (if (archivo != NULL)). Why don't you do the same for the output file?
Upon an error, you should output which error occured from errno, e.g. via perror(...). That should help in finding the actual problem.
Your file denominated by archivoSalida is opened in read mode ('r').
You should also check the return codes of read/writes functions to be sure everything happen as wanted.
The file names look Windows-ish. Is it possible that all of the forward slashes (/) that you have in both file names should really be back slashes (\)?

Why is rewind() not working as expected in this simple program?

Why is the below program not printing the first character of the newly created text file ("E") as expected? It's a simple program and I tried to look at the issue from all aspects but couldn't find the reason. The text file is being created on my D drive with the content "EFGHI", but for some reason "E" is not being read even if I rewind and read using getc() and the output is -1.
#include<stdio.h>
#include<stdlib.h>
int main()
{
int x;
FILE *fp;
fp=fopen("F:\\demo.txt","w");
if(fp==NULL)
puts("Write error");
fputs("EFGHI",fp);
rewind(fp);
x=getc(fp);
printf("%d",x);
fclose(fp);
}
UPDATED:
#include<stdio.h>
#include<stdlib.h>
int main()
{
int x;
FILE *fp;
fp=fopen("F:\\demo.txt","w+");
if(fp==NULL)
{
puts("Write error");
exit(EXIT_SUCCESS);
}
fputs("EFGHI",fp);
rewind(fp);
while(!feof(fp))
{
x=getc(fp);
printf("%d\n",x);
}
fclose(fp);
}
File mode "w" opens the file for writing only.
Use "w+" to open a file for writing and reading.
(Please see man fopen for more file modes.)
Regarding getc() returning -1, verbatim from man getc:
[...] getc() [...] return[s] the character read as an unsigned char cast to an int or EOF on end of file or error.
EOF typically equals -1. To test this do a printf("EOF=%d\n", EOF);
fp=fopen("F:\\demo.txt","w");
Opens the file for writing, then you try to read from it. That's not going to work.
I'll also note that your program keeps trying to use fp even if it fails to be created since your if checking fp only prints an error, it doesn't stop the program.

C appending to file after writing

I'm testing out the basic functions to operate files with.
I try to first open/close a file to create it, and then open/close it again to append to it. Lastly, I print out what is in the file.
My code currently looks like the following:
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
int main()
{
FILE * file;
char mark;
/* WRITING: */
file= fopen("goodbye.c","w");
if(!file)
{ printf("Couldn't open file.\n");
exit(EXIT_FAILURE); }
printf("Enter data to write to .c file:");
while((mark= getchar())!=EOF)
{
putc(mark,file);
}
fclose(file);
/* APPENDING: */
file= fopen("goodbye.c","a");
if(!file)
{ printf("Couldn't open file.\n");
exit(EXIT_FAILURE); }
char add;
scanf("%c",add);
putc(add,file);
fclose(file);
/* READING: */
file= fopen("goodbye.c","r");
if(!file)
{ printf("Couldn't open file.\n");
exit(EXIT_FAILURE); }
while((mark= getc(file))!= EOF)
{
printf("%c",mark);
}
fclose(file);
}
With this, I'm not able to append to the file. When using getchar(), I type ctrl+d once finished writing in the first place. After this it goes on to printing out what I just wrote, not giving me the chance to append to the file. Does ctrl+d somehow interrupt with scanf?
And how to get the result that I was looking for?
Your code only allows you to append a single character to the file, which is a little stingy. It can also (at least in theory) lead to problems on some systems if the last line of the text file does not end with a newline, which it won't if you add something other than a newline. Maybe you need a loop to read multiple characters?
Also, since you don't stop the initial input until EOF, you need to clear the 'error' on stdin with clearerr(stdin) to allow further input to occur. This works correctly on Mac OS X 10.10.1 Yosemite; it should work the same on other Unix systems. I can't answer confidently for Windows-based code unless it is using something like Cygwin to simulate Unix, but I expect it would work in much the same way there, too, even with MSVC.
Incidentally, my compiler complains about a missing & in the call to scanf() at:
char add;
scanf("%c",add);
If your compiler doesn't complain, either turn up the warning level or get a better compiler.
This code works as I'd expect:
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
int main(void)
{
FILE *file;
char mark;
/* WRITING: */
file = fopen("goodbye.c", "w");
if (!file)
{
printf("Couldn't open file.\n");
exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
}
printf("Enter data to write to .c file:");
while ((mark = getchar()) != EOF)
{
putc(mark, file);
}
fclose(file);
printf("EOF 1\n");
/* APPENDING: */
file = fopen("goodbye.c", "a");
if (!file)
{
printf("Couldn't open file.\n");
exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
}
clearerr(stdin);
char add;
while (scanf("%c", &add) == 1)
putc(add, file);
fclose(file);
printf("EOF 2\n");
/* READING: */
file = fopen("goodbye.c", "r");
if (!file)
{
printf("Couldn't open file.\n");
exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
}
while ((mark = getc(file)) != EOF)
{
printf("%c", mark);
}
fclose(file);
return 0;
}
The only substantive changes are adding a loop around the scanf() — though frankly it would be better to use getchar() again, like in the first input loop — fixing the call to scanf(), adding the two printf() statements that report when EOF is detected, and including clearerr(stdin); to allow input to continue.
Sample output
Code without clearerr(stdin):
Enter data to write to .c file:Happiness is a bug-free program.
Happiness is seldom attained.
EOF 1
EOF 2
Happiness is a bug-free program.
Happiness is seldom attained.
Code with clearerr(stdin):
Enter data to write to .c file:Happiness is a bug-free program.
Happiness is seldom attained.
EOF 1
But it helps when you add the clearerr(stdin) to this one.
EOF 2
Happiness is a bug-free program.
Happiness is seldom attained.
But it helps when you add the clearerr(stdin) to this one.

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