I like to open a binary file and then like to check some headers and after that reading I like to get FilePosition through ftell() and I am assigned a Struct into a Shared Memory. I like to get file data into that Struct in a loop. But I am getting this error-
MWriter.c:71:43: error: invalid conversion from ‘char’ to ‘void*’ [-fpermissive]
fread(M->Data[i*BufferSize], sizeof(char), BufferSize, FP+FilePosition);
I like to open a binary file and then like to check some headers and after that reading I like to get FilePosition through ftell() and I am assigned a Struct into a Shared Memory. I like to get file data into that Struct in a loop. But I am getting this error-
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <string.h>
#include <fcntl.h>
#include <unistd.h>
#include <sys/stat.h>
#include <sys/mman.h>
int main(void){
struct MemData{
char FileName[128];//POINTER PUTS DATA INTO NON-SHARED MEMORY
int LastByteLength;
int ReadPointer;
int WritePointer;
char Data[512000];//MEMORY BLOCK SIZE: 500 KB
};
int SD;
struct MemData *M;
int NumberOfBuffers=10;
int BufferSize=51200;//FILE BUFFER SIZE 50 KB
SD= shm_open("/program.shared", O_RDWR|O_CREAT, S_IREAD|S_IWRITE);
if(SD< 0){
printf("\nshm_open() error \n");
return EXIT_FAILURE;
}
fchmod(SD, S_IRWXU|S_IRWXG|S_IRWXO);
if(ftruncate(SD, sizeof(MemData))< 0){
printf ("ftruncate() error \n");
return EXIT_FAILURE;
}
//THE FOLLOWING TYPECASTING AVOIDS THE NEED TO ATTACH THROUGH shmat() in shm.h HEADER I GUESS.
M=(struct MemData*)mmap(NULL, sizeof(MemData), PROT_READ|PROT_WRITE, MAP_SHARED, SD, 0);
if(M== MAP_FAILED){
printf("mmap() error");
return EXIT_FAILURE;
}else{
strcpy(M->FileName, "xaa");
M->LastByteLength=0;
M->ReadPointer=-1;
M->WritePointer=-1;
memset(M->Data, '\0', strlen(M->Data));
}
char FileName[128]="xaa";
FILE *FP= fopen(FileName, "rb");
if(FP!= NULL){
struct stat StatBuf;
if(stat(FileName, &StatBuf)==-1){
printf("failed to fstat %s\n", FileName);
exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
}
long long FileSize=StatBuf.st_size;
printf("\n File Size: %lld", FileSize);
long long FilePosition=ftell(FP);
FilePosition=ftell(FP);
long long CopyableMemorySize=FileSize-FilePosition;
printf("\n Copyable File Size: %lld", CopyableMemorySize);
int NumberOfFileBuffers=CopyableMemorySize/BufferSize;
printf("\n Number Of File Buffers: %d", NumberOfFileBuffers);
for(int i=0; i<NumberOfFileBuffers; i++){
if(abs(M->WritePointer-M->ReadPointer)==NumberOfBuffers){
//WAIT
}else{
fread(M->Data[i*BufferSize], sizeof(char), BufferSize, FP+FilePosition);
}
}
fclose(FP);
}
close(SD);
return 0;
}
Related
I want to build a File Copier using Reader-Writer Synchronization Paradigm.
The Writer initializes the both of the Mutexes. The FullMutex is denoting how many Buffers are available to Write and the FreeMutex is denoting how many Buffers are available to Read.
The Writer waits when the Block is Full.
The WritePointer and ReadPointer is using the Ring Buffer. Therefore I have used Mod Operation.
The Block Size=M.
The Buffer Size=B.
There are N number of Buffers.
So, M=N*B.
The File Size=2M.
And therefore BufferCount is actually advancing File Pointer.
When all Bytes are written, I am issuing FileEnding=1.
The compilation commands are-
g++ Writer.c -o Writer -lpthread -lrt
g++ Reader.c -o Reader -lpthread -lrt
And in 2 different comand prompts are open and the commands are issued-
./Writer
./Reader
Now I do not know why it is not copying and do not know how to use sem_post.
Here is the Writer.c
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <string.h>
#include <semaphore.h>
#include <fcntl.h>
#include <unistd.h>
#include <sys/stat.h>
#include <sys/mman.h>
int main(void){
struct MemData{
sem_t FullMutex;
sem_t FreeMutex;
char FileName[128];
int ReadPointer;
int WritePointer;
int FileEnding;
char Data[512000];//MEMORY BLOCK SIZE: 500 KB
};
int SD;
struct MemData *M;
int NumberOfBuffers=10;
//int BufferSize=51200;//FILE BUFFER SIZE 50 KB
int BufferSize=2;//EXPERIMENATION
unsigned char Buf[BufferSize];
int BufferCount=0;
SD= shm_open("/program.shared", O_RDWR|O_CREAT, S_IREAD|S_IWRITE);
if(SD< 0){
printf("\nshm_open() error \n");
return EXIT_FAILURE;
}
fchmod(SD, S_IRWXU|S_IRWXG|S_IRWXO);
if(ftruncate(SD, sizeof(MemData))< 0){
printf ("ftruncate() error \n");
return EXIT_FAILURE;
}
M=(struct MemData*)mmap(NULL, sizeof(MemData), PROT_READ|PROT_WRITE, MAP_SHARED, SD, 0);
if(M== MAP_FAILED){
printf("mmap() error");
return EXIT_FAILURE;
}else{
sem_init(&M->FullMutex, 1, 0);
sem_init(&M->FreeMutex, 1, NumberOfBuffers);
strcpy(M->FileName, "aaa.txt");
M->FileEnding=0;
M->ReadPointer=0;
M->WritePointer=0;
memset(M->Data, '\0', strlen(M->Data));
}
char FileName[128]="aaa.txt";
FILE *FP= fopen(FileName, "rb");
if(FP!= NULL){
struct stat StatBuf;
if(stat(FileName, &StatBuf)==-1){
printf("failed to fstat %s\n", FileName);
exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
}
long long FileSize=StatBuf.st_size;
printf("\nFile Size: %lld", FileSize);
long long FilePosition=ftell(FP);
FilePosition=ftell(FP);
long long CopyableMemorySize=FileSize-FilePosition;
printf("\nCopyable File Size: %lld", CopyableMemorySize);
int NumberOfFileBuffers=CopyableMemorySize/BufferSize;
printf("\n Number Of File Buffers: %d", NumberOfFileBuffers);
while(1){
sem_wait(&M->FreeMutex);
fseek(FP, BufferCount*BufferSize, SEEK_SET);
fread(Buf, sizeof(unsigned char), BufferSize, FP);
int FreeMutexValue;
sem_getvalue(&M->FreeMutex, &FreeMutexValue);
int FullMutexValue;
sem_getvalue(&M->FullMutex, &FullMutexValue);
printf("\nMutexes-Free: %d and Full: %d", FreeMutexValue, FullMutexValue);
printf("\nBuffer Writing: %s", BufferCount);
memcpy(&M->Data[M->WritePointer*BufferSize], &Buf, sizeof(Buf)*sizeof(unsigned char));
BufferCount++;
M->WritePointer=(M->WritePointer+1)%NumberOfBuffers;
if(BufferCount>=NumberOfFileBuffers && M->WritePointer==M->ReadPointer){
M->FileEnding=1;
break;
}
sem_post(&M->FullMutex);
}
fclose(FP);
}
close(SD);
return 0;
}
The Reader is using the Mutex opened by the Writer.c.
All the Block Size, Buffer Size and Number of Buffers are same like the Writer.c.
When the Reader gets FileEnding==1, it breaks the loop since there is nothing to process.
The Reader destroy the Mutex and deallocates Memory.
Here is the Reader.c
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <string.h>
#include <semaphore.h>
#include <fcntl.h>
#include <unistd.h>
#include <sys/stat.h>
#include <sys/mman.h>
int main(void){
char FileName[128]="bbb.txt";
struct MemData{
sem_t FullMutex;
sem_t FreeMutex;
char FileName[128];
int ReadPointer;
int WritePointer;
int FileEnding;
char Data[512000];//MEMORY BLOCK SIZE: 500 KB
};
int SD;
struct MemData *M;
int NumberOfBuffers=10;
//int BufferSize=51200;//FILE BUFFER SIZE 50 KB
int BufferSize=2;//EXPERIMENATION
unsigned char Buf[BufferSize];
int BufferCount=0;
SD= shm_open("/program.shared", O_RDWR|O_CREAT, S_IREAD|S_IWRITE);
if(SD< 0){
printf("\nshm_open() error \n");
return EXIT_FAILURE;
}
M=(struct MemData*)mmap(NULL, sizeof(MemData), PROT_READ|PROT_WRITE, MAP_SHARED, SD, 0);
if(M== MAP_FAILED){
printf("mmap() error");
return EXIT_FAILURE;
}
FILE *FP= fopen(FileName, "wb");
if(FP!= NULL){
while(1){
sem_wait(&M->FullMutex);
int FreeMutexValue;
sem_getvalue(&M->FreeMutex, &FreeMutexValue);
int FullMutexValue;
sem_getvalue(&M->FullMutex, &FullMutexValue);
printf("\nMutexes-Free: %d and Full: %d", FreeMutexValue, FullMutexValue);
printf("\nBuffer Writing: %d", BufferCount);
printf("\nReadPointer: %d", M->ReadPointer);
printf("\nWritePointer: %d", M->WritePointer);
fseek(FP, BufferCount*BufferSize, SEEK_SET);
fseek(FP, BufferCount*BufferSize, SEEK_SET);
fwrite(&M->Data[M->ReadPointer*BufferSize], sizeof(unsigned char), BufferSize, FP);
BufferCount++;
M->ReadPointer=(M->ReadPointer+1)%NumberOfBuffers;
if(M->FileEnding){
fclose(FP);
break;
}
sem_post(&M->FreeMutex);
}
}
munmap(M,sizeof(MemData));
close(SD);
return 0;
}
The input(aaa.txt) file contains these lines-
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
The output(bbb.txt) file contains these lines-
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
Here is a Synchronized Reader and Writer. The target is passing data between these two Processes via a Shared Memory.
The Writer opens a Shared Memory through a Structure and writes Some Data. I am getting Segmentation Fault(Core Dumped) error message.
The code is compiled through the following command in Ubuntu.
g++ Writer.c -o Writer -lrt
g++ Reader.c -o Reader -lrt
And these two Processes are run by-
./Writer
./Reader
The Writer.c
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <string.h>
#include <fcntl.h>
#include <unistd.h>
#include <sys/stat.h>
#include <sys/mman.h>
int main(void){
struct MemData{
char* FileName;
int LastByteLength;
int ReadPointer;
int WritePointer;
char Data[512000];//MEMORY BLOCK SIZE: 500 KB
};
int SD;
struct MemData *M;
int NumberOfBuffers=10;
int BufferSize=51200;//FILE BUFFER SIZE 50 KB
SD= shm_open("/program.shared", O_RDWR|O_CREAT, S_IREAD|S_IWRITE);
if(SD< 0){
printf("\nshm_open() error \n");
return EXIT_FAILURE;
}
fchmod(SD, S_IRWXU|S_IRWXG|S_IRWXO);
if(ftruncate(SD, sizeof(MemData))< 0){
printf ("ftruncate() error \n");
return EXIT_FAILURE;
}
//THE FOLLOWING TYPECASTING AVOIDS THE NEED TO ATTACH THROUGH shmat() in shm.h HEADER I GUESS.
M=(struct MemData*)mmap(NULL, sizeof(MemData), PROT_READ|PROT_WRITE, MAP_SHARED, SD, 0);
if(M== MAP_FAILED){
printf("mmap() error");
return EXIT_FAILURE;
}else{
M->FileName=(char*)"xaa";
M->LastByteLength=0;
M->ReadPointer=-1;
M->WritePointer=-1;
memset(M->Data, '\0', strlen(M->Data));
}
/*
FILE *FP= fopen(FileName, "rb");
if(FP!= NULL){
unsigned long int FilePosition;
fseek(FP, 0, SEEK_SET);
FilePosition=ftell(FP);
fclose(FP);
}
*/
close(SD);
return 0;
}
The Reader.c
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <string.h>
#include <fcntl.h>
#include <unistd.h>
#include <sys/stat.h>
#include <sys/mman.h>
int main(void){
struct MemData{
char* FileName;
int LastByteLength;
int ReadPointer;
int WritePointer;
char Data[512000];//MEMORY BLOCK SIZE: 500 KB
};
int SD;
struct MemData *M;
int NumberOfBuffers=10;
int BufferSize=51200;//FILE BUFFER SIZE 50 KB
SD= shm_open("/program.shared", O_RDWR|O_CREAT, S_IREAD|S_IWRITE);
if(SD< 0){
printf("\nshm_open() error \n");
return EXIT_FAILURE;
}
fchmod(SD, S_IRWXU|S_IRWXG|S_IRWXO);
if(ftruncate(SD, sizeof(MemData))< 0){
printf ("ftruncate() error \n");
return EXIT_FAILURE;
}
//THE FOLLOWING TYPECASTING AVOIDS THE NEED TO ATTACH THROUGH shmat() in shm.h HEADER I GUESS.
M=(struct MemData*)mmap(NULL, sizeof(MemData), PROT_READ|PROT_WRITE, MAP_SHARED, SD, 0);
if(M== MAP_FAILED){
printf("mmap() error");
return EXIT_FAILURE;
}else{
printf("\n%s", M->FileName);
printf("\n%d", M->LastByteLength);
printf("\n%d", M->ReadPointer);
printf("\n%d", M->WritePointer);
}
/*
FILE *FP= fopen(FileName, "rb");
if(FP!= NULL){
unsigned long int FilePosition;
fseek(FP, 0, SEEK_SET);
FilePosition=ftell(FP);
fclose(FP);
}
*/
munmap(M,sizeof(MemData));
close(SD);
return 0;
}
Based on your comments, the issue is because of the way you're assigning and passing the FileName value.
M->FileName=(char*)"xaa";
This results in M->FileName holding a pointer to a string in the writer process' memory. Dereferencing this pointer in the reader process results in a segmentation fault due to the filename being stored in the writer process memory, which is not shared with the reader. You need to store the characters themselves in the shared memory, not a pointer to writer process memory.
If you can safely assume the maximum length of the filename string, you can change your struct to store the entire string rather than a pointer: change char* FileName; to char FileName[256]; or some other fixed length value. You will need to use strcpy rather than direct assignment after making this change: change M->FileName=(char*)"xaa"; to strcpy(M->FileName, "xaa");.
If you want a dynamic length string, you can call mmap again to allocate shared memory for just the string, and then store the pointer to this shared memory string in FileName.
I am reading a file name off the standard input and the function returns something that is completely wrong. The code below returns 4294967296 rather than what should be 7. I am running the file like this on linux:
echo "p3test.txt" | ./totalsize
#define _GNU_SOURCE
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <string.h>
#include <sys/stat.h>
#include <errno.h>
//find the file size
off_t filesize(const char* fileName){
printf("%s", fileName);
struct stat st;
if(stat(fileName, &st) == 0)
printf("%zd", st.st_size);
return st.st_size;
fprintf(stderr, "Cannot determine size of %s: %s\n",
fileName, strerror(errno));
return -1;
}
int main (int argc, char *argv[])
{
char tmpstring[1024];
const char* fileName;
off_t size;
while (fgets(tmpstring, 1024, stdin))
{
fileName = tmpstring;
size = filesize(fileName);
}
}
When you use:
while (fgets(tmpstring, 1024, stdin))
you get the '\n' in tmpstring. Trim that character from the name before calling filesize.
Also, the lines
if(stat(fileName, &st) == 0)
printf("%zd", st.st_size);
return st.st_size;
should be:
if(stat(fileName, &st) == 0)
{
printf("%zd", st.st_size);
return st.st_size;
}
Otherwise, the if statement terminates at the printf line and you end up returning st.st_size regardless of the return value of stat.
Update
Thanks to #chux for the suggestion. The format "%zd" might not be appropriate for the type used for stat.st_size. You should use:
printf("%jd", (intmax_t)st.st_size);
This question already has an answer here:
Closed 10 years ago.
Possible Duplicate:
C programming print a certain amount of bytes to screen
I would like to read partSize amount of bytes from one file, which can be of any type, and print that same exact amount that was read to a new file which already exists. The program I wrote seems to write less than it is suppose to and gives a segmentation fault.
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <fcntl.h>
#include <unistd.h>
#include <sys/stat.h>
#include <sys/types.h>
#define PERMS 0777
#include <errno.h>
int main()
{
int createDescriptor;
int openDescriptorOriginal;
int closeCreateDescriptor;
char fileNameOriginal[15]="picture.jpg";
//char fileNameOriginal[15]="myFile.txt";
//char fileNameNew[15]="NEWFILE.txt";
char fileName[15]="NEWFILE.jpg";
int parts;
int partSize;
parts=2;
int bytesRemaining;
int partNumber;
char BUFFER[512];
int readDescriptor;
int openDescriptor;
if ((openDescriptorOriginal = open(fileNameOriginal, O_RDONLY )) == -1)
{
printf("Error opening %s", fileNameOriginal);
exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
}
struct stat buf;
int r = fstat(openDescriptorOriginal, &buf);
if(r)
{
fprintf(stderr, "error: fstat: %s\n",(char *)strerror(errno));
exit(1);
}
int originalFileSize=buf.st_size;
printf("The file is %d Bytes large.\n",originalFileSize);
partSize=((originalFileSize+parts)-1)/parts;
printf("Each part is %.9f Kilobytes large.\n",(double)partSize/1024 );
partNumber=1;
printf("Part number: %d\n", partNumber);
if ((openDescriptor = open(fileName, O_WRONLY )) == -1)
{
printf("Error creating %s\n", fileName);
exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
}
ssize_t count, total;
total = 0;
char *bufff = BUFFER;
while (partSize) {
count = read(openDescriptorOriginal, bufff, partSize);
if (count < 0) {
// handle error
break;
}
if (count == 0)
break;
bufff += count;
total += count;
partSize -= count;
}
write (openDescriptor, BUFFER, total);
printf("\n");
return 0;
}
Some initial problems:
add the CREAT flag to your open() in case the file isn't there.
partSize should not be adjusted
Take out the line where you adjust partSize and it should work.
int bytesReceived;
.... open files ....
while ((bytesReceived = read(openDescriptorOriginal, BUFFER, sizeof(BUFFER)) > 0) {
if (bytesReceived != write(openDescriptor, BUFFER, bytesReceived) {
printError(...);
}
}
This question already has answers here:
How do you determine the size of a file in C?
(15 answers)
Closed 3 years ago.
How can I find out the size of a file I opened with an application written in C ?
I would like to know the size, because I want to put the content of the loaded file into a string, which I allocate using malloc(). Just writing malloc(10000*sizeof(char)); is IMHO a bad idea.
You need to seek to the end of the file and then ask for the position:
fseek(fp, 0L, SEEK_END);
sz = ftell(fp);
You can then seek back, e.g.:
fseek(fp, 0L, SEEK_SET);
or (if seeking to go to the beginning)
rewind(fp);
Using standard library:
Assuming that your implementation meaningfully supports SEEK_END:
fseek(f, 0, SEEK_END); // seek to end of file
size = ftell(f); // get current file pointer
fseek(f, 0, SEEK_SET); // seek back to beginning of file
// proceed with allocating memory and reading the file
Linux/POSIX:
You can use stat (if you know the filename), or fstat (if you have the file descriptor).
Here is an example for stat:
#include <sys/stat.h>
struct stat st;
stat(filename, &st);
size = st.st_size;
Win32:
You can use GetFileSize or GetFileSizeEx.
If you have the file descriptor fstat() returns a stat structure which contain the file size.
#include <sys/types.h>
#include <sys/stat.h>
#include <unistd.h>
// fd = fileno(f); //if you have a stream (e.g. from fopen), not a file descriptor.
struct stat buf;
fstat(fd, &buf);
off_t size = buf.st_size;
I ended up just making a short and sweet fsize function(note, no error checking)
int fsize(FILE *fp){
int prev=ftell(fp);
fseek(fp, 0L, SEEK_END);
int sz=ftell(fp);
fseek(fp,prev,SEEK_SET); //go back to where we were
return sz;
}
It's kind of silly that the standard C library doesn't have such a function, but I can see why it'd be difficult as not every "file" has a size(for instance /dev/null)
How to use lseek/fseek/stat/fstat to get filesize ?
#include <fcntl.h>
#include <unistd.h>
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <sys/stat.h>
void
fseek_filesize(const char *filename)
{
FILE *fp = NULL;
long off;
fp = fopen(filename, "r");
if (fp == NULL)
{
printf("failed to fopen %s\n", filename);
exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
}
if (fseek(fp, 0, SEEK_END) == -1)
{
printf("failed to fseek %s\n", filename);
exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
}
off = ftell(fp);
if (off == -1)
{
printf("failed to ftell %s\n", filename);
exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
}
printf("[*] fseek_filesize - file: %s, size: %ld\n", filename, off);
if (fclose(fp) != 0)
{
printf("failed to fclose %s\n", filename);
exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
}
}
void
fstat_filesize(const char *filename)
{
int fd;
struct stat statbuf;
fd = open(filename, O_RDONLY, S_IRUSR | S_IRGRP);
if (fd == -1)
{
printf("failed to open %s\n", filename);
exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
}
if (fstat(fd, &statbuf) == -1)
{
printf("failed to fstat %s\n", filename);
exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
}
printf("[*] fstat_filesize - file: %s, size: %lld\n", filename, statbuf.st_size);
if (close(fd) == -1)
{
printf("failed to fclose %s\n", filename);
exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
}
}
void
stat_filesize(const char *filename)
{
struct stat statbuf;
if (stat(filename, &statbuf) == -1)
{
printf("failed to stat %s\n", filename);
exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
}
printf("[*] stat_filesize - file: %s, size: %lld\n", filename, statbuf.st_size);
}
void
seek_filesize(const char *filename)
{
int fd;
off_t off;
if (filename == NULL)
{
printf("invalid filename\n");
exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
}
fd = open(filename, O_RDONLY, S_IRUSR | S_IRGRP);
if (fd == -1)
{
printf("failed to open %s\n", filename);
exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
}
off = lseek(fd, 0, SEEK_END);
if (off == -1)
{
printf("failed to lseek %s\n", filename);
exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
}
printf("[*] seek_filesize - file: %s, size: %lld\n", filename, (long long) off);
if (close(fd) == -1)
{
printf("failed to close %s\n", filename);
exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
}
}
int
main(int argc, const char *argv[])
{
int i;
if (argc < 2)
{
printf("%s <file1> <file2>...\n", argv[0]);
exit(0);
}
for(i = 1; i < argc; i++)
{
seek_filesize(argv[i]);
stat_filesize(argv[i]);
fstat_filesize(argv[i]);
fseek_filesize(argv[i]);
}
return 0;
}
Have you considered not computing the file size and just growing the array if necessary? Here's an example (with error checking ommitted):
#define CHUNK 1024
/* Read the contents of a file into a buffer. Return the size of the file
* and set buf to point to a buffer allocated with malloc that contains
* the file contents.
*/
int read_file(FILE *fp, char **buf)
{
int n, np;
char *b, *b2;
n = CHUNK;
np = n;
b = malloc(sizeof(char)*n);
while ((r = fread(b, sizeof(char), CHUNK, fp)) > 0) {
n += r;
if (np - n < CHUNK) {
np *= 2; // buffer is too small, the next read could overflow!
b2 = malloc(np*sizeof(char));
memcpy(b2, b, n * sizeof(char));
free(b);
b = b2;
}
}
*buf = b;
return n;
}
This has the advantage of working even for streams in which it is impossible to get the file size (like stdin).
If you're on Linux, seriously consider just using the g_file_get_contents function from glib. It handles all the code for loading a file, allocating memory, and handling errors.
#include <stdio.h>
#define MAXNUMBER 1024
int main()
{
int i;
char a[MAXNUMBER];
FILE *fp = popen("du -b /bin/bash", "r");
while((a[i++] = getc(fp))!= 9)
;
a[i] ='\0';
printf(" a is %s\n", a);
pclose(fp);
return 0;
}
HTH