File pointer still NULL after inizialization? - c

Question

Hi guys i have a problem when I try to open a file. In a function when i try to read an existing text file, after i initialized the file pointer i still get the error "cannot open the file", this is the code:
FILE * fp;
fp = NULL;
fp=fopen("results.txt","r");
if(fp==NULL){
printf("error!");
exit(1);
}
using the debugger i can see the fp initialized to NULL, as requested. In the next order i can see its value changed to '0x751d9c68'.
So now it's not NULL, but the program still prints error.
PS: I used the same code to open another file in another program (that works): as always the initial value of fp is NULL, then it's changed to '0x751d9c68' (yes, it has the same value in both programs), but this time works, because fp is in fact different from NULL.
PPS: I'm using Codelite, if that helps.
EDIT: adding a printf("%p\n", fp); prints this "751D9C68"
Atleta * leggiRisultati (char fileName [], int * dim){FILE * fp; int count, i;
Atleta temp;
fp = NULL;
fp=fopen(fileName,"r");
printf("%p\n", fp);
if(fp==NULL){
perror("Error");
}
while (fscanf (fp, "%s%s%d%d%d", temp.cod, temp.nome, &temp.tN, &temp.tB, &temp.tC)== 5)
count ++;
rewind (fp);
Atleta * atl = (Atleta*) malloc(count * sizeof(Atleta));
for (i=0; i<count; i++){
int nr = fscanf(fp, "%s%s%d%d%d",atl[i].cod, atl[i].nome, &atl[i].tN, &atl[i].tB, &atl[i].tC);
//just controlling if the reading is done properly
if (nr < 4) {
printf ("cannot read the file %s",fileName);
exit (1);
}
} fclose(fp);
return atl;
}
I then use this function in this main
int main (){ int dim; Atleta * a; int i;
a = leggiRisultati("risultati.txt", &dim);
for (i =0; i<dim;i++){
stampaRisultato(a[i]);}
return 0;
}
Where "stampaRisultato" prints a line of the file just read and "Atleta" is a struct defined as:
typedef struct {
char cod[5];
char nome[21];
int tN, tB, tC;
}Atleta;
And last, yes the text file is in the same directory as my executable, yes I have the permission to open the file, the file contains a certain number of lines with 2 strings and 3 int each.

Answer 1

Your code should work, I can only think of 3 things that may cause this issue.
In my experience, it's oftentimes the simplist mistakes that get you, because you're so focused on the more complex elements that some things slip your mind. I can't see the rest of your program, so forgive me if any of these answers seem patronizing. Here are the first things I would check:
1.) file permissions. Make sure you're a user with permission to access and/or change the file in question. This is a pretty easy fix on linux, but I don't know about windows.
2.) file location. Make sure your text file is in the same directory as your executable. You'll need to do this if you don't specify file location.
3.) #include statements. Sometimes even the best of us get too excited to get into the bulk of our program, and we forget to include stdio.h and/or stdlib.h. If this is the case you may run into an issue where you set the file pointer to null, and then the fopen function doesn't run, so your pointer remains null.