How to read until EOF from STDOUT in C? - c

#1: I do not know the size of output produced by stdout, given a command.
#2: I don't want to use char array like
char buffer[1024];
as it will result in memory shortage or wastage.
#3: If I use character pointer like
char *buffer;
I will have to allocate allocate memory for it like
buffer = (char *)malloc(1024 * sizeof(char));
#4: If I use getc() within while loop like
char *buf, c;
int i=0, j=1;
int pipefd[2];
int stdout_bk;
code[message_read] = '\0';
stdout_bk = dup(fileno(stdout));
pipe(pipefd);
dup2(pipefd[1], STDOUT_FILENO);
system(code);
close(pipefd[1]);
dup2(stdout_bk, STDOUT_FILENO);
buf = (char*)malloc(sizeof(char));
while(c!=End_Of_File) // What should I replace End_Of_File with?
{
c = getc(pipefd[0]);
buf = (char*)realloc(buf, j * sizeof(char));
buf[i] = c;
i++;
j++;
}
I do not know what is the End_Of_file for the stdout data.
P.S.: the program runs a command, e.g., system("setarch x86_64 -R dd if=/proc/self/maps | grep bin/dd") or system("ls -al") and I need to get the STDOUT. For that I have used dup2 and need to pipe the output to a buffer.
NOTE: the output can be of variable length.

There are many issues with your code:
c must be defined with type int
getc() cannot take a system handle as an argument, you must wrap that in a FILE* with fdopen().
End_Of_File for data returned by getc() is simply EOF and c must have type int for end of file testing to be reliable.
reallocating the array one byte at a time is inefficient and might be more wasteful than reallocating by chunks
more importantly you might want to allocate one extra byte for a null terminator if you intend to use this buffer as a C string.
the output of the system() command will be limited to the size of the system pipe buffers, usually around 5KB, so your program will get stuck for any larger output.
it is much simpler to use popen() for your purpose.
Here is a simplified version:
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
int main() {
char code[] = "ls -lR";
char *buf = NULL;
int c;
int i = 0;
FILE *fp;
fp = popen(code, "r");
if (fp == NULL) {
fprintf(stderr, "popen error\n");
return 1;
}
while ((c = getc(fp)) != EOF) {
buf = (char *)realloc(buf, i + 2);
if (buf == NULL) {
fprintf(stderr, "out of memory\n");
pclose(fp);
return 1;
}
buf[i++] = (char)c;
}
pclose(fp);
printf("output: %d bytes\n", i);
if (buf != NULL) {
buf[i] = '\0';
fputs(buf, stdout);
}
free(buf);
return 0;
}

Related

zsh: segmentation fault when reading a file in c [duplicate]

I wrote this function to read a line from a file:
const char *readLine(FILE *file) {
if (file == NULL) {
printf("Error: file pointer is null.");
exit(1);
}
int maximumLineLength = 128;
char *lineBuffer = (char *)malloc(sizeof(char) * maximumLineLength);
if (lineBuffer == NULL) {
printf("Error allocating memory for line buffer.");
exit(1);
}
char ch = getc(file);
int count = 0;
while ((ch != '\n') && (ch != EOF)) {
if (count == maximumLineLength) {
maximumLineLength += 128;
lineBuffer = realloc(lineBuffer, maximumLineLength);
if (lineBuffer == NULL) {
printf("Error reallocating space for line buffer.");
exit(1);
}
}
lineBuffer[count] = ch;
count++;
ch = getc(file);
}
lineBuffer[count] = '\0';
char line[count + 1];
strncpy(line, lineBuffer, (count + 1));
free(lineBuffer);
const char *constLine = line;
return constLine;
}
The function reads the file correctly, and using printf I see that the constLine string did get read correctly as well.
However, if I use the function e.g. like this:
while (!feof(myFile)) {
const char *line = readLine(myFile);
printf("%s\n", line);
}
printf outputs gibberish. Why?
If your task is not to invent the line-by-line reading function, but just to read the file line-by-line, you may use a typical code snippet involving the getline() function (see the manual page here):
#define _GNU_SOURCE
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
int main(void)
{
FILE * fp;
char * line = NULL;
size_t len = 0;
ssize_t read;
fp = fopen("/etc/motd", "r");
if (fp == NULL)
exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
while ((read = getline(&line, &len, fp)) != -1) {
printf("Retrieved line of length %zu:\n", read);
printf("%s", line);
}
fclose(fp);
if (line)
free(line);
exit(EXIT_SUCCESS);
}
FILE* filePointer;
int bufferLength = 255;
char buffer[bufferLength]; /* not ISO 90 compatible */
filePointer = fopen("file.txt", "r");
while(fgets(buffer, bufferLength, filePointer)) {
printf("%s\n", buffer);
}
fclose(filePointer);
In your readLine function, you return a pointer to the line array (Strictly speaking, a pointer to its first character, but the difference is irrelevant here). Since it's an automatic variable (i.e., it's “on the stack”), the memory is reclaimed when the function returns. You see gibberish because printf has put its own stuff on the stack.
You need to return a dynamically allocated buffer from the function. You already have one, it's lineBuffer; all you have to do is truncate it to the desired length.
lineBuffer[count] = '\0';
realloc(lineBuffer, count + 1);
return lineBuffer;
}
ADDED (response to follow-up question in comment): readLine returns a pointer to the characters that make up the line. This pointer is what you need to work with the contents of the line. It's also what you must pass to free when you've finished using the memory taken by these characters. Here's how you might use the readLine function:
char *line = readLine(file);
printf("LOG: read a line: %s\n", line);
if (strchr(line, 'a')) { puts("The line contains an a"); }
/* etc. */
free(line);
/* After this point, the memory allocated for the line has been reclaimed.
You can't use the value of `line` again (though you can assign a new value
to the `line` variable if you want). */
//open and get the file handle
FILE* fh;
fopen_s(&fh, filename, "r");
//check if file exists
if (fh == NULL){
printf("file does not exists %s", filename);
return 0;
}
//read line by line
const size_t line_size = 300;
char* line = malloc(line_size);
while (fgets(line, line_size, fh) != NULL) {
printf(line);
}
free(line); // dont forget to free heap memory
A complete, fgets() solution:
#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>
#define MAX_LEN 256
int main(void)
{
FILE* fp;
fp = fopen("file.txt", "r");
if (fp == NULL) {
perror("Failed: ");
return 1;
}
char buffer[MAX_LEN];
while (fgets(buffer, MAX_LEN, fp))
{
// Remove trailing newline
buffer[strcspn(buffer, "\n")] = 0;
printf("%s\n", buffer);
}
fclose(fp);
return 0;
}
Output:
First line of file
Second line of file
Third (and also last) line of file
Remember, if you want to read from Standard Input (rather than a file as in this case), then all you have to do is pass stdin as the third parameter of fgets() method, like this:
while(fgets(buffer, MAX_LEN, stdin))
Appendix
Removing trailing newline character from fgets() input
how to detect a file is opened or not in c
readLine() returns pointer to local variable, which causes undefined behaviour.
To get around you can:
Create variable in caller function and pass its address to readLine()
Allocate memory for line using malloc() - in this case line will be persistent
Use global variable, although it is generally a bad practice
Use fgets() to read a line from a file handle.
Some things wrong with the example:
you forgot to add \n to your printfs. Also error messages should go to stderr i.e. fprintf(stderr, ....
(not a biggy but) consider using fgetc() rather than getc(). getc() is a macro, fgetc() is a proper function
getc() returns an int so ch should be declared as an int. This is important since the comparison with EOF will be handled correctly. Some 8 bit character sets use 0xFF as a valid character (ISO-LATIN-1 would be an example) and EOF which is -1, will be 0xFF if assigned to a char.
There is a potential buffer overflow at the line
lineBuffer[count] = '\0';
If the line is exactly 128 characters long, count is 128 at the point that gets executed.
As others have pointed out, line is a locally declared array. You can't return a pointer to it.
strncpy(count + 1) will copy at most count + 1 characters but will terminate if it hits '\0' Because you set lineBuffer[count] to '\0' you know it will never get to count + 1. However, if it did, it would not put a terminating '\0' on, so you need to do it. You often see something like the following:
char buffer [BUFFER_SIZE];
strncpy(buffer, sourceString, BUFFER_SIZE - 1);
buffer[BUFFER_SIZE - 1] = '\0';
if you malloc() a line to return (in place of your local char array), your return type should be char* - drop the const.
Here is my several hours... Reading whole file line by line.
char * readline(FILE *fp, char *buffer)
{
int ch;
int i = 0;
size_t buff_len = 0;
buffer = malloc(buff_len + 1);
if (!buffer) return NULL; // Out of memory
while ((ch = fgetc(fp)) != '\n' && ch != EOF)
{
buff_len++;
void *tmp = realloc(buffer, buff_len + 1);
if (tmp == NULL)
{
free(buffer);
return NULL; // Out of memory
}
buffer = tmp;
buffer[i] = (char) ch;
i++;
}
buffer[i] = '\0';
// Detect end
if (ch == EOF && (i == 0 || ferror(fp)))
{
free(buffer);
return NULL;
}
return buffer;
}
void lineByline(FILE * file){
char *s;
while ((s = readline(file, 0)) != NULL)
{
puts(s);
free(s);
printf("\n");
}
}
int main()
{
char *fileName = "input-1.txt";
FILE* file = fopen(fileName, "r");
lineByline(file);
return 0;
}
const char *readLine(FILE *file, char* line) {
if (file == NULL) {
printf("Error: file pointer is null.");
exit(1);
}
int maximumLineLength = 128;
char *lineBuffer = (char *)malloc(sizeof(char) * maximumLineLength);
if (lineBuffer == NULL) {
printf("Error allocating memory for line buffer.");
exit(1);
}
char ch = getc(file);
int count = 0;
while ((ch != '\n') && (ch != EOF)) {
if (count == maximumLineLength) {
maximumLineLength += 128;
lineBuffer = realloc(lineBuffer, maximumLineLength);
if (lineBuffer == NULL) {
printf("Error reallocating space for line buffer.");
exit(1);
}
}
lineBuffer[count] = ch;
count++;
ch = getc(file);
}
lineBuffer[count] = '\0';
char line[count + 1];
strncpy(line, lineBuffer, (count + 1));
free(lineBuffer);
return line;
}
char linebuffer[256];
while (!feof(myFile)) {
const char *line = readLine(myFile, linebuffer);
printf("%s\n", line);
}
note that the 'line' variable is declared in calling function and then passed, so your readLine function fills predefined buffer and just returns it. This is the way most of C libraries work.
There are other ways, which I'm aware of:
defining the char line[] as static
(static char line[MAX_LINE_LENGTH]
-> it will hold it's value AFTER returning from the function). -> bad,
the function is not reentrant, and
race condition can occur -> if you
call it twice from two threads, it
will overwrite it's results
malloc()ing the char line[], and
freeing it in calling functions ->
too many expensive mallocs, and,
delegating the responsibility to free the buffer to another function (the most elegant solution is to call malloc and free on any buffers in same function)
btw, 'explicit' casting from char* to const char* is redundant.
btw2, there is no need to malloc() the lineBuffer, just define it char lineBuffer[128], so you don't need to free it
btw3 do not use 'dynamic sized stack arrays' (defining the array as char arrayName[some_nonconstant_variable]), if you don't exactly know what are you doing, it works only in C99.
void readLine(FILE* file, char* line, int limit)
{
int i;
int read;
read = fread(line, sizeof(char), limit, file);
line[read] = '\0';
for(i = 0; i <= read;i++)
{
if('\0' == line[i] || '\n' == line[i] || '\r' == line[i])
{
line[i] = '\0';
break;
}
}
if(i != read)
{
fseek(file, i - read + 1, SEEK_CUR);
}
}
what about this one?
Implement method to read, and get content from a file (input1.txt)
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
void testGetFile() {
// open file
FILE *fp = fopen("input1.txt", "r");
size_t len = 255;
// need malloc memory for line, if not, segmentation fault error will occurred.
char *line = malloc(sizeof(char) * len);
// check if file exist (and you can open it) or not
if (fp == NULL) {
printf("can open file input1.txt!");
return;
}
while(fgets(line, len, fp) != NULL) {
printf("%s\n", line);
}
free(line);
}
Hope this help. Happy coding!
You should use the ANSI functions for reading a line, eg. fgets. After calling you need free() in calling context, eg:
...
const char *entirecontent=readLine(myFile);
puts(entirecontent);
free(entirecontent);
...
const char *readLine(FILE *file)
{
char *lineBuffer=calloc(1,1), line[128];
if ( !file || !lineBuffer )
{
fprintf(stderr,"an ErrorNo 1: ...");
exit(1);
}
for(; fgets(line,sizeof line,file) ; strcat(lineBuffer,line) )
{
if( strchr(line,'\n') ) *strchr(line,'\n')=0;
lineBuffer=realloc(lineBuffer,strlen(lineBuffer)+strlen(line)+1);
if( !lineBuffer )
{
fprintf(stderr,"an ErrorNo 2: ...");
exit(2);
}
}
return lineBuffer;
}
My implement from scratch:
FILE *pFile = fopen(your_file_path, "r");
int nbytes = 1024;
char *line = (char *) malloc(nbytes);
char *buf = (char *) malloc(nbytes);
size_t bytes_read;
int linesize = 0;
while (fgets(buf, nbytes, pFile) != NULL) {
bytes_read = strlen(buf);
// if line length larger than size of line buffer
if (linesize + bytes_read > nbytes) {
char *tmp = line;
nbytes += nbytes / 2;
line = (char *) malloc(nbytes);
memcpy(line, tmp, linesize);
free(tmp);
}
memcpy(line + linesize, buf, bytes_read);
linesize += bytes_read;
if (feof(pFile) || buf[bytes_read-1] == '\n') {
handle_line(line);
linesize = 0;
memset(line, '\0', nbytes);
}
}
free(buf);
free(line);
Provide a portable and generic getdelim function, test passed via msvc, clang, gcc.
/*
* An implementation conform IEEE Std 1003.1-2017:
* https://pubs.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/9699919799/functions/getdelim.html
*
* <nio.h>:
* https://github.com/junjiemars/c/blob/c425bd0e49df35a2649327664d3f6cd610791996/src/posix/nio.h
* <nio.c>:
* https://github.com/junjiemars/c/blob/c425bd0e49df35a2649327664d3f6cd610791996/src/posix/nio.c
*
*/
#include <errno.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <stdio.h>
#include <limits.h>
/*
* LINE_MAX dependents on OS' implementations so check it first.
* https://github.com/junjiemars/c/blob/c425bd0e49df35a2649327664d3f6cd610791996/src/posix/nlim_auto_check
*/
#define NM_LINE_MAX 4096 /* Linux */
#if (MSVC)
typedef SSIZE_T ssize_t;
# if !defined(SSIZE_MAX)
# define SSIZE_MAX ((ssize_t)((size_t)((ssize_t)-1) >> 1))
# endif
#endif
ssize_t getdelim(char **restrict lineptr, size_t *restrict n, int delimiter,
FILE *restrict stream);
#if defined(getline)
# undef getline
#endif
#define getline(lp, n, f) getdelim((lp), (n), 0x0a, (f))
ssize_t
getdelim(char **restrict lineptr, size_t *restrict n, int delimiter,
FILE *restrict stream)
{
int c;
char *p, *p1;
ssize_t len;
if (NULL == lineptr || NULL == n || NULL == stream
|| (UCHAR_MAX < delimiter || delimiter < 0))
{
errno = EINVAL;
return EOF;
}
if (feof(stream) || ferror(stream))
{
return EOF;
}
if (0 == *lineptr)
{
if (0 == *n)
{
*n = NM_LINE_MAX;
}
*lineptr = malloc(*n);
if (0 == *lineptr)
{
return EOF;
}
}
p = *lineptr;
len = 0;
while (EOF != (c = fgetc(stream)))
{
if (SSIZE_MAX == (ssize_t) len)
{
errno = EOVERFLOW;
return EOF;
}
if ((size_t) len == (*n - 1))
{
*n <<= 1;
p1 = realloc(*lineptr, *n);
if (0 == p1)
{
return EOF;
}
*lineptr = p1;
p = p1 + len;
}
*p++ = (char) c;
len++;
if (c == delimiter)
{
break;
}
}
if (ferror(stream))
{
return EOF;
}
*p = 0;
return len;
}
int
main(void)
{
FILE *fp;
char *line = NULL;
size_t len = 0;
ssize_t read;
fp = fopen("/some-file", "r");
if (fp == NULL)
exit(1);
while ((read = getline(&line, &len, fp)) != -1) {
printf("Retrieved line of length %zu :\n", read);
printf("%s", line);
}
if (ferror(fp)) {
/* handle error */
}
free(line);
fclose(fp);
return 0;
}
You make the mistake of returning a pointer to an automatic variable.
The variable line is allocated in the stack and only lives as long as the function lives.
You are not allowed to return a pointer to it, because as soon as it returns the memory will be given elsewhere.
const char* func x(){
char line[100];
return (const char*) line; //illegal
}
To avoid this, you either return a pointer to memory which resides on the heap eg. lineBuffer
and it should be the user's responsibility to call free() when he is done with it.
Alternatively you can ask the user to pass you as an argument a memory address on which to write the line contents at.
I want a code from ground 0 so i did this to read the content of dictionary's word line by line.
char temp_str[20]; // you can change the buffer size according to your requirements And A single line's length in a File.
Note I've initialized the buffer With Null character each time I read line.This function can be Automated But Since I need A proof of Concept and want to design a programme Byte By Byte
#include<stdio.h>
int main()
{
int i;
char temp_ch;
FILE *fp=fopen("data.txt","r");
while(temp_ch!=EOF)
{
i=0;
char temp_str[20]={'\0','\0','\0','\0','\0','\0','\0','\0','\0','\0','\0','\0','\0','\0','\0','\0','\0','\0','\0'};
while(temp_ch!='\n')
{
temp_ch=fgetc(fp);
temp_str[i]=temp_ch;
i++;
}
if(temp_ch=='\n')
{
temp_ch=fgetc(fp);
temp_str[i]=temp_ch;
}
printf("%s",temp_str);
}
return 0;
}

My code crashes at long texts? Reading from file character by character into a dynamic char array in C

I want to read a whole text from txt file, then print it.
It should be with dynamic memory managment and character by character.
My code works good with short texts (max. 40 characters), but crashes when I read more characters.
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
int main()
{
char *s;
int n, i;
s = (char*) malloc(sizeof(char));
n=0;
FILE *f=fopen("input.txt","r");
while (fscanf(f, "%c", &s[n]) != EOF)
n++;
fclose(f);
free(s);
for (i=0;i<n;i++)
printf("%c",s[i]);
return 0;
}
Please don't cast malloc.
You allocating the wrong number of bytes, sizeof(char) returns you the size of
a single char, so you are allocating one byte only. That's not enough to hold
a string.
You should use malloc like this:
int *a = malloc(100 * sizeof *a);
if(a == NULL)
{
// error handling
// do not continue
}
Using sizeof *a is better than sizeof(int), because it will always return
the correct amount of bytes. sizeof(int) will do that as well, but the problem
here is the human factor, it's easy to make a mistake and write sizeof(*int)
instead. There are thousands of questions here with this problem.
Note that a char is defined to have the size of 1, that's why when you are
allocating memory for strings or char arrays, people usually don't write the
* sizeof *a:
char *s = malloc(100);
// instead of
char *s = malloc(100 * sizeof *s);
would be just fine. But again, this is only the case for char. For other types
you need to use sizeof operator.
You should always check the return value of malloc, because if it returns
NULL, you cannot access that memory.
while (fscanf(f, "%c", &s[n]) != EOF)
n++;
If you for example allocated 100 spaces, you have to check that you haven't
reached the limit. Otherwise you will overflow s:
char *s = malloc(100);
if(s == NULL)
{
fprintf(stderr, "not enough memory\n");
return 1;
}
int n = 0;
while ((fscanf(f, "%c", &s[n]) != EOF) && n < 100)
n++;
In this case you are not using the allocated memory to store a string, so it's
fine that it doesn't have the '\0'-terminating byte. However, if you want to
have a string, you need to write one:
while ((fscanf(f, "%c", &s[n]) != EOF) && n < 99)
n++;
s[n] = '\0';
Also you are doing this
free(s);
for (i=0;i<n;i++)
printf("%c",s[i]);
You are freeing the memory and then trying to access it. You have to do the
other way round, access then free.
Correct way:
for (i=0;i<n;i++)
printf("%c",s[i]);
free(s);
EDIT
If you want the contents of a whole file in a single string, then you have 2
options:
Calculate the length of the file beforehand and then use allocate the correct
amount of data
Read one fixed size chunk of bytes at a time and resize the memory every time
you read a new chunk.
The first one is easy, the second one is a little bit more complicated because
you have to read the contents, look how much you've read, resize the memory with
realloc, check that the resizing was successful. This is something you could
do later when you have for knowledge in simple memory managment.
I'll show you the first one, because it's much easier. The function fseek
allows you to advance your file pointer to the end of the file, with the
function ftell you can get the size of the file and with rewind
rewind the file pointer and set it to the beginning:
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
int main(int argc, char **argv)
{
if(argc != 2)
{
fprintf(stderr, "usage: %s file\n", argv[0]);
return 0;
}
FILE *fp = fopen(argv[1], "r");
if(fp == NULL)
{
fprintf(stderr, "Could not open %s for reading.\n", argv[1]);
return 1;
}
// calculating the size
// setting file pointer to the end of the file
if(fseek(fp, 0L, SEEK_END) < 0)
{
fprintf(stderr, "Could not set the file pointer to the end\n");
fclose(fp);
return 1;
}
// getting the size
long size = ftell(fp);
if(size < 0)
{
fprintf(stderr, "Could not calculate the size\n");
fclose(fp);
return 1;
}
printf("file size of %s: %ld\n", argv[1], size);
// rewinding the file pointer to the beginning of the file
rewind(fp);
char *s = malloc(size + 1); // +1 for the 0-terminating byte
if(s == NULL)
{
fprintf(stderr, "not enough memory\n");
fclose(fp);
return 1;
}
int n = 0;
// here the check && n < size is not needed
// you allocated enough memory already
while(fscanf(fp, "%c", &s[n]) != EOF)
n++;
s[n] = '\0'; // writing the 0-terminating byte
fclose(fp);
printf("Contents of file %s\n\n", argv[1]);
for(int i=0; i<n; i++)
printf("%c",s[i]);
free(s);
return 0;
}
You are only allocating space for one single char (sizeof(char)):
s = (char*) malloc(sizeof(char));
If you want to store more characters you have to allocate more space, for example:
s = (char*) malloc(sizeof(char) * 100);
To read the whole file you best first find out how large the file is, so that you know how much space you need to allocate for s.
Calculate size of the file with the help of fseek.
fseek(fp, 0L, SEEK_END); sz = ftell(fp);
You can then seek back,to the begining of file
fseek(fp, 0L, SEEK_SET);
Allocate that much memory through malloc.
S= (char*)malloc((sizeof(char)×sz)+1)
Now you can use this memory to copy bytes in while lopp

Replace string in binary file

I am trying to write a *nix program that copies itself and replaces a string inside the binary. The copy process doesn't seem to work though.
Here's the code:
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <unistd.h>
#include <string.h>
#include <sys/types.h>
#include <stdio.h>
#include <fcntl.h>
#define BUFSIZE 10
#define FILENAME "token"
void findstring(const char *exe, const char* str)
{
char buf[BUFSIZE];
int line_num = 1;
int i = 0, find_result = 0;
FILE *fp = fopen(exe, "rb");
if(fp == NULL)
exit(-1);
FILE *out = fopen("out", "wb");
if(out == NULL)
exit(-1);
while(fgets(buf, BUFSIZE, fp) != NULL) {
if((strstr(buf, str)))
{
printf("A match found on line: %d\n", line_num);
printf("\n%s\n", buf);
find_result++;
// reverse "token" string in the output
for(i = 0; i< BUFSIZE; i++)
{
if(strstr(&buf[i], "t") != NULL)
buf[i] = 'n';
else if(strstr(&buf[i], "o") != NULL)
buf[i] = 'e';
else if(strstr(&buf[i], "k") != NULL)
buf[i] = 'k';
else if(strstr(&buf[i], "e") != NULL)
buf[i] = 'o';
else if(strstr(&buf[i], "n") != NULL)
buf[i] = 't';
}
}
line_num++;
fputs(buf, out);
}
if(find_result == 0) {
printf("\nSorry, couldn't find a match.\n");
}
fclose(fp);
fclose(out);
}
int main(int argc, char **argv, char **envp)
{
// argv[1] = FILENAME;
char buf[1024];
int fd, rc;
findstring(argv[0], "token");
if(argc == 1) {
printf("\n\n%s [file to read]\n\n", argv[0]);
exit(1);
}
printf("FILENAME macro = %s", FILENAME);
if(strstr(argv[1], "token") != NULL) {
printf("\n\nYou may not access '%s'\n\n", argv[1]);
exit(2);
}
fd = open(argv[1], O_RDONLY);
if(fd == -1) {
printf("\n\nUnable to open %s\n\n", argv[1]);
exit(3);
}
rc = read(fd, buf, sizeof(buf));
if(rc == -1) {
printf("\n\nUnable to read fd %d\n\n", fd);
exit(4);
}
write(1, buf, rc);
return 0;
}
"Token" string should be reversed in the output binary ("nekot"), with the findstring function responsible of performing this task.
It is also worth noting that the number of matches found strictly depends on the BUFSIZE constant.
What is this code missing?
Thanks
consider what this does:
if(strstr(&buf[i], "t") != NULL)
buf[i] = 'n';
This will search the buffer starting at index i, and if the string "t" appears anywhere in the buffer, it will replace the first character with n. So if your buffer has
a string with token inside.
the first iteration of the for loop will change it to
n string with token inside.
as the loop proceeds you'll get
nnnnnnnnnnith token inside.
after 10 iterations and ultimately
nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnekooooooooo.
Other issues:
fgets reads a string up to a newline or up to BUFSIZE-1 characters. There may well be bytes that are equivalent to newline chars.
You're scanning through BUFSIZE bytes regardless of how many bytes you read.
fputs will write up to the first NUL byte. If there are NUL bytes anywhere in your input binary, stuff after the NUL in the buffer will be lost.
The above means you probably want to use fread/fwrite instead of fgets/fputs, and you want to carefully check return values for shot read or writes.
1.
All C style string functions break at first '\0' . So if buf contains null character before Your goal, will be never found.
if((strstr(buf, str))) { ... }
I suggest loop with step one character (byte) coded by hand, or functions from family memXXXXcmp etc
If Your token is over boundaries of two buffers (from two loo[ iterations), no comparison can fount is

C How to read from a binary file to a string?

I have the function bellow that reads a line from a file and saves it into a string regardless BUFF_SIZE length. I would like to expand its usage by making it capable of reading binary files. Is it possible to do this by only using the functions : open/read/malloc/free ?
static int read_to_stock(int const fd, char **stock){
char *buff;
int ret;
if (fd < 0 || BUFF_SIZE < 0)
return (-1);
if (!(buff = (char *)malloc(sizeof(*buff) * (BUFF_SIZE + 1))))
return (-1);
ret = read(fd, buff, BUFF_SIZE);
if (ret > 0)
{
buff[ret] = '\0';
*stock = ft_strjoin(*stock, buff); //joins two strings
}
free(buff);
return (ret);
}
int get_next_line(int const fd, char ** line){
static char *stock = NULL;
char *bn;
int ret;
if (!stock && (stock = (char *)malloc(sizeof(*stock))) == NULL)
return (-1);
bn = ft_strchr(stock, '\n'); //search in string 'stock' for char '\n' and returns a pointer to it.
while (bn == NULL)
{
ret = read_to_stock(fd, &stock);
if (ret == 0)
return (0);
if (ret < 0)
return (-1);
else
bn = ft_strchr(stock, '\n'); //search in string 'stock' for char '\n' and returns a pointer to it.
}
*line = ft_strsub(stock, 0, ft_strlen(stock) - ft_strlen(bn)); //subs-tracts a part of a string(string_from, starting_index, length)
if (!*line)
return (-1);
stock = ft_strdup(bn + 1); //duplicate a string
return (1);
}
int main(void){
int fd;
char *line;
fd = open("file1", O_RDONLY);
while (get_next_line(fd, &line) > 0)
{
printf("%s\n", line);
}
close(fd);
return (0);
}
Reading from binary files can definitely be performed via the functions open, read, malloc, free on platforms that support them, but be aware that binary files may contain '\0' bytes.
Therefore you cannot rely on the string functions that you use such as ft_strchr, ft_join, printf etc. These handle C strings and will stop on embedded '\0' bytes. You need to handle blocks of bytes directly, not C strings.
Furthermore, handling binary files as sequences of lines is not recommended: line endings may be transcoded by the runtime library: for instance CR LF pairs are converted to single '\n' bytes when reading files in text mode on Windows and vice versa when writing to stdout where text mode is the default. Other such transcoding may occur on other platforms. Sadly, not every computer is a unix box.
Finally, even if no such transcoding occurs, the file may not end with a '\n' and adding one in the output may corrupt the file.

C read file line by line

I wrote this function to read a line from a file:
const char *readLine(FILE *file) {
if (file == NULL) {
printf("Error: file pointer is null.");
exit(1);
}
int maximumLineLength = 128;
char *lineBuffer = (char *)malloc(sizeof(char) * maximumLineLength);
if (lineBuffer == NULL) {
printf("Error allocating memory for line buffer.");
exit(1);
}
char ch = getc(file);
int count = 0;
while ((ch != '\n') && (ch != EOF)) {
if (count == maximumLineLength) {
maximumLineLength += 128;
lineBuffer = realloc(lineBuffer, maximumLineLength);
if (lineBuffer == NULL) {
printf("Error reallocating space for line buffer.");
exit(1);
}
}
lineBuffer[count] = ch;
count++;
ch = getc(file);
}
lineBuffer[count] = '\0';
char line[count + 1];
strncpy(line, lineBuffer, (count + 1));
free(lineBuffer);
const char *constLine = line;
return constLine;
}
The function reads the file correctly, and using printf I see that the constLine string did get read correctly as well.
However, if I use the function e.g. like this:
while (!feof(myFile)) {
const char *line = readLine(myFile);
printf("%s\n", line);
}
printf outputs gibberish. Why?
If your task is not to invent the line-by-line reading function, but just to read the file line-by-line, you may use a typical code snippet involving the getline() function (see the manual page here):
#define _GNU_SOURCE
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
int main(void)
{
FILE * fp;
char * line = NULL;
size_t len = 0;
ssize_t read;
fp = fopen("/etc/motd", "r");
if (fp == NULL)
exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
while ((read = getline(&line, &len, fp)) != -1) {
printf("Retrieved line of length %zu:\n", read);
printf("%s", line);
}
fclose(fp);
if (line)
free(line);
exit(EXIT_SUCCESS);
}
FILE* filePointer;
int bufferLength = 255;
char buffer[bufferLength]; /* not ISO 90 compatible */
filePointer = fopen("file.txt", "r");
while(fgets(buffer, bufferLength, filePointer)) {
printf("%s\n", buffer);
}
fclose(filePointer);
In your readLine function, you return a pointer to the line array (Strictly speaking, a pointer to its first character, but the difference is irrelevant here). Since it's an automatic variable (i.e., it's “on the stack”), the memory is reclaimed when the function returns. You see gibberish because printf has put its own stuff on the stack.
You need to return a dynamically allocated buffer from the function. You already have one, it's lineBuffer; all you have to do is truncate it to the desired length.
lineBuffer[count] = '\0';
realloc(lineBuffer, count + 1);
return lineBuffer;
}
ADDED (response to follow-up question in comment): readLine returns a pointer to the characters that make up the line. This pointer is what you need to work with the contents of the line. It's also what you must pass to free when you've finished using the memory taken by these characters. Here's how you might use the readLine function:
char *line = readLine(file);
printf("LOG: read a line: %s\n", line);
if (strchr(line, 'a')) { puts("The line contains an a"); }
/* etc. */
free(line);
/* After this point, the memory allocated for the line has been reclaimed.
You can't use the value of `line` again (though you can assign a new value
to the `line` variable if you want). */
//open and get the file handle
FILE* fh;
fopen_s(&fh, filename, "r");
//check if file exists
if (fh == NULL){
printf("file does not exists %s", filename);
return 0;
}
//read line by line
const size_t line_size = 300;
char* line = malloc(line_size);
while (fgets(line, line_size, fh) != NULL) {
printf(line);
}
free(line); // dont forget to free heap memory
A complete, fgets() solution:
#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>
#define MAX_LEN 256
int main(void)
{
FILE* fp;
fp = fopen("file.txt", "r");
if (fp == NULL) {
perror("Failed: ");
return 1;
}
char buffer[MAX_LEN];
while (fgets(buffer, MAX_LEN, fp))
{
// Remove trailing newline
buffer[strcspn(buffer, "\n")] = 0;
printf("%s\n", buffer);
}
fclose(fp);
return 0;
}
Output:
First line of file
Second line of file
Third (and also last) line of file
Remember, if you want to read from Standard Input (rather than a file as in this case), then all you have to do is pass stdin as the third parameter of fgets() method, like this:
while(fgets(buffer, MAX_LEN, stdin))
Appendix
Removing trailing newline character from fgets() input
how to detect a file is opened or not in c
readLine() returns pointer to local variable, which causes undefined behaviour.
To get around you can:
Create variable in caller function and pass its address to readLine()
Allocate memory for line using malloc() - in this case line will be persistent
Use global variable, although it is generally a bad practice
Use fgets() to read a line from a file handle.
Some things wrong with the example:
you forgot to add \n to your printfs. Also error messages should go to stderr i.e. fprintf(stderr, ....
(not a biggy but) consider using fgetc() rather than getc(). getc() is a macro, fgetc() is a proper function
getc() returns an int so ch should be declared as an int. This is important since the comparison with EOF will be handled correctly. Some 8 bit character sets use 0xFF as a valid character (ISO-LATIN-1 would be an example) and EOF which is -1, will be 0xFF if assigned to a char.
There is a potential buffer overflow at the line
lineBuffer[count] = '\0';
If the line is exactly 128 characters long, count is 128 at the point that gets executed.
As others have pointed out, line is a locally declared array. You can't return a pointer to it.
strncpy(count + 1) will copy at most count + 1 characters but will terminate if it hits '\0' Because you set lineBuffer[count] to '\0' you know it will never get to count + 1. However, if it did, it would not put a terminating '\0' on, so you need to do it. You often see something like the following:
char buffer [BUFFER_SIZE];
strncpy(buffer, sourceString, BUFFER_SIZE - 1);
buffer[BUFFER_SIZE - 1] = '\0';
if you malloc() a line to return (in place of your local char array), your return type should be char* - drop the const.
Here is my several hours... Reading whole file line by line.
char * readline(FILE *fp, char *buffer)
{
int ch;
int i = 0;
size_t buff_len = 0;
buffer = malloc(buff_len + 1);
if (!buffer) return NULL; // Out of memory
while ((ch = fgetc(fp)) != '\n' && ch != EOF)
{
buff_len++;
void *tmp = realloc(buffer, buff_len + 1);
if (tmp == NULL)
{
free(buffer);
return NULL; // Out of memory
}
buffer = tmp;
buffer[i] = (char) ch;
i++;
}
buffer[i] = '\0';
// Detect end
if (ch == EOF && (i == 0 || ferror(fp)))
{
free(buffer);
return NULL;
}
return buffer;
}
void lineByline(FILE * file){
char *s;
while ((s = readline(file, 0)) != NULL)
{
puts(s);
free(s);
printf("\n");
}
}
int main()
{
char *fileName = "input-1.txt";
FILE* file = fopen(fileName, "r");
lineByline(file);
return 0;
}
const char *readLine(FILE *file, char* line) {
if (file == NULL) {
printf("Error: file pointer is null.");
exit(1);
}
int maximumLineLength = 128;
char *lineBuffer = (char *)malloc(sizeof(char) * maximumLineLength);
if (lineBuffer == NULL) {
printf("Error allocating memory for line buffer.");
exit(1);
}
char ch = getc(file);
int count = 0;
while ((ch != '\n') && (ch != EOF)) {
if (count == maximumLineLength) {
maximumLineLength += 128;
lineBuffer = realloc(lineBuffer, maximumLineLength);
if (lineBuffer == NULL) {
printf("Error reallocating space for line buffer.");
exit(1);
}
}
lineBuffer[count] = ch;
count++;
ch = getc(file);
}
lineBuffer[count] = '\0';
char line[count + 1];
strncpy(line, lineBuffer, (count + 1));
free(lineBuffer);
return line;
}
char linebuffer[256];
while (!feof(myFile)) {
const char *line = readLine(myFile, linebuffer);
printf("%s\n", line);
}
note that the 'line' variable is declared in calling function and then passed, so your readLine function fills predefined buffer and just returns it. This is the way most of C libraries work.
There are other ways, which I'm aware of:
defining the char line[] as static
(static char line[MAX_LINE_LENGTH]
-> it will hold it's value AFTER returning from the function). -> bad,
the function is not reentrant, and
race condition can occur -> if you
call it twice from two threads, it
will overwrite it's results
malloc()ing the char line[], and
freeing it in calling functions ->
too many expensive mallocs, and,
delegating the responsibility to free the buffer to another function (the most elegant solution is to call malloc and free on any buffers in same function)
btw, 'explicit' casting from char* to const char* is redundant.
btw2, there is no need to malloc() the lineBuffer, just define it char lineBuffer[128], so you don't need to free it
btw3 do not use 'dynamic sized stack arrays' (defining the array as char arrayName[some_nonconstant_variable]), if you don't exactly know what are you doing, it works only in C99.
void readLine(FILE* file, char* line, int limit)
{
int i;
int read;
read = fread(line, sizeof(char), limit, file);
line[read] = '\0';
for(i = 0; i <= read;i++)
{
if('\0' == line[i] || '\n' == line[i] || '\r' == line[i])
{
line[i] = '\0';
break;
}
}
if(i != read)
{
fseek(file, i - read + 1, SEEK_CUR);
}
}
what about this one?
Implement method to read, and get content from a file (input1.txt)
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
void testGetFile() {
// open file
FILE *fp = fopen("input1.txt", "r");
size_t len = 255;
// need malloc memory for line, if not, segmentation fault error will occurred.
char *line = malloc(sizeof(char) * len);
// check if file exist (and you can open it) or not
if (fp == NULL) {
printf("can open file input1.txt!");
return;
}
while(fgets(line, len, fp) != NULL) {
printf("%s\n", line);
}
free(line);
}
Hope this help. Happy coding!
You should use the ANSI functions for reading a line, eg. fgets. After calling you need free() in calling context, eg:
...
const char *entirecontent=readLine(myFile);
puts(entirecontent);
free(entirecontent);
...
const char *readLine(FILE *file)
{
char *lineBuffer=calloc(1,1), line[128];
if ( !file || !lineBuffer )
{
fprintf(stderr,"an ErrorNo 1: ...");
exit(1);
}
for(; fgets(line,sizeof line,file) ; strcat(lineBuffer,line) )
{
if( strchr(line,'\n') ) *strchr(line,'\n')=0;
lineBuffer=realloc(lineBuffer,strlen(lineBuffer)+strlen(line)+1);
if( !lineBuffer )
{
fprintf(stderr,"an ErrorNo 2: ...");
exit(2);
}
}
return lineBuffer;
}
My implement from scratch:
FILE *pFile = fopen(your_file_path, "r");
int nbytes = 1024;
char *line = (char *) malloc(nbytes);
char *buf = (char *) malloc(nbytes);
size_t bytes_read;
int linesize = 0;
while (fgets(buf, nbytes, pFile) != NULL) {
bytes_read = strlen(buf);
// if line length larger than size of line buffer
if (linesize + bytes_read > nbytes) {
char *tmp = line;
nbytes += nbytes / 2;
line = (char *) malloc(nbytes);
memcpy(line, tmp, linesize);
free(tmp);
}
memcpy(line + linesize, buf, bytes_read);
linesize += bytes_read;
if (feof(pFile) || buf[bytes_read-1] == '\n') {
handle_line(line);
linesize = 0;
memset(line, '\0', nbytes);
}
}
free(buf);
free(line);
Provide a portable and generic getdelim function, test passed via msvc, clang, gcc.
/*
* An implementation conform IEEE Std 1003.1-2017:
* https://pubs.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/9699919799/functions/getdelim.html
*
* <nio.h>:
* https://github.com/junjiemars/c/blob/c425bd0e49df35a2649327664d3f6cd610791996/src/posix/nio.h
* <nio.c>:
* https://github.com/junjiemars/c/blob/c425bd0e49df35a2649327664d3f6cd610791996/src/posix/nio.c
*
*/
#include <errno.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <stdio.h>
#include <limits.h>
/*
* LINE_MAX dependents on OS' implementations so check it first.
* https://github.com/junjiemars/c/blob/c425bd0e49df35a2649327664d3f6cd610791996/src/posix/nlim_auto_check
*/
#define NM_LINE_MAX 4096 /* Linux */
#if (MSVC)
typedef SSIZE_T ssize_t;
# if !defined(SSIZE_MAX)
# define SSIZE_MAX ((ssize_t)((size_t)((ssize_t)-1) >> 1))
# endif
#endif
ssize_t getdelim(char **restrict lineptr, size_t *restrict n, int delimiter,
FILE *restrict stream);
#if defined(getline)
# undef getline
#endif
#define getline(lp, n, f) getdelim((lp), (n), 0x0a, (f))
ssize_t
getdelim(char **restrict lineptr, size_t *restrict n, int delimiter,
FILE *restrict stream)
{
int c;
char *p, *p1;
ssize_t len;
if (NULL == lineptr || NULL == n || NULL == stream
|| (UCHAR_MAX < delimiter || delimiter < 0))
{
errno = EINVAL;
return EOF;
}
if (feof(stream) || ferror(stream))
{
return EOF;
}
if (0 == *lineptr)
{
if (0 == *n)
{
*n = NM_LINE_MAX;
}
*lineptr = malloc(*n);
if (0 == *lineptr)
{
return EOF;
}
}
p = *lineptr;
len = 0;
while (EOF != (c = fgetc(stream)))
{
if (SSIZE_MAX == (ssize_t) len)
{
errno = EOVERFLOW;
return EOF;
}
if ((size_t) len == (*n - 1))
{
*n <<= 1;
p1 = realloc(*lineptr, *n);
if (0 == p1)
{
return EOF;
}
*lineptr = p1;
p = p1 + len;
}
*p++ = (char) c;
len++;
if (c == delimiter)
{
break;
}
}
if (ferror(stream))
{
return EOF;
}
*p = 0;
return len;
}
int
main(void)
{
FILE *fp;
char *line = NULL;
size_t len = 0;
ssize_t read;
fp = fopen("/some-file", "r");
if (fp == NULL)
exit(1);
while ((read = getline(&line, &len, fp)) != -1) {
printf("Retrieved line of length %zu :\n", read);
printf("%s", line);
}
if (ferror(fp)) {
/* handle error */
}
free(line);
fclose(fp);
return 0;
}
You make the mistake of returning a pointer to an automatic variable.
The variable line is allocated in the stack and only lives as long as the function lives.
You are not allowed to return a pointer to it, because as soon as it returns the memory will be given elsewhere.
const char* func x(){
char line[100];
return (const char*) line; //illegal
}
To avoid this, you either return a pointer to memory which resides on the heap eg. lineBuffer
and it should be the user's responsibility to call free() when he is done with it.
Alternatively you can ask the user to pass you as an argument a memory address on which to write the line contents at.
I want a code from ground 0 so i did this to read the content of dictionary's word line by line.
char temp_str[20]; // you can change the buffer size according to your requirements And A single line's length in a File.
Note I've initialized the buffer With Null character each time I read line.This function can be Automated But Since I need A proof of Concept and want to design a programme Byte By Byte
#include<stdio.h>
int main()
{
int i;
char temp_ch;
FILE *fp=fopen("data.txt","r");
while(temp_ch!=EOF)
{
i=0;
char temp_str[20]={'\0','\0','\0','\0','\0','\0','\0','\0','\0','\0','\0','\0','\0','\0','\0','\0','\0','\0','\0'};
while(temp_ch!='\n')
{
temp_ch=fgetc(fp);
temp_str[i]=temp_ch;
i++;
}
if(temp_ch=='\n')
{
temp_ch=fgetc(fp);
temp_str[i]=temp_ch;
}
printf("%s",temp_str);
}
return 0;
}

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