fopen

fopen

FILE * fopen ( const char * filename, const char * mode );

Opens the file whose name is specified in the parameter filename and associates it with a stream that can be identified in future operations by the FILE object whose pointer is returned. The operations that are allowed on the stream and how these are performed are defined by the mode parameter.

filename
C string containing the name of the file to be opened. This paramenter must follow the file name specifications of the running environment and can include a path if the system supports it.

mode
C string containing a file access modes. It can be:
"r" Open a file for reading. The file must exist.
"w" Create an empty file for writing. If a file with the same name already exists its content is erased and the file is treated as a new empty file.
"a" Append to a file. Writing operations append data at the end of the file. The file is created if it does not exist.
"r+" Open a file for update both reading and writing. The file must exist.
"w+" Create an empty file for both reading and writing. If a file with the same name already exists its content is erased and the file is treated as a new empty file.
"a+" Open a file for reading and appending. All writing operations are performed at the end of the file, protecting the previous content to be overwritten. You can reposition (fseek, rewind) the internal pointer to anywhere in the file for reading, but writing operations will move it back to the end of file. The file is created if it does not exist.

With the mode specifiers above the file is open as a text file. In order to open a file as a binary file, a "b" character has to be included in the mode string. This additional "b" character can either be appended at the end of the string (thus making the following compound modes: "rb", "wb", "ab", "r+b", "w+b", "a+b") or be inserted between the letter and the "+" sign for the mixed modes ("rb+", "wb+", "ab+").
Additional characters may follow the sequence, although they should have no effect. For example, "t" is sometimes appended to make explicit the file is a text file.
In the case of text files, depending on the environment where the application runs, some special character conversion may occur in input/output operations to adapt them to a system-specific text file format. In many environments, such as most UNIX-based systems, it makes no difference to open a file as a text file or a binary file; Both are treated exactly the same way, but differentiation is recommended for a better portability.

Return Value

If the file has been succesfully opened the function will return a pointer to a FILE object that is used to identify the stream on all further operations involving it. Otherwise, a null pointer is returned.

/* fopen example */
#include
int main ()
{
FILE * pFile;
pFile = fopen ("myfile.txt","w");
if (pFile!=NULL)
{
fputs ("fopen example",pFile); //this is same as puts(str);
//fputs() - Writes the string to a file as we can see from
//mode as "w"
fclose (pFile);
}
return 0;
}

/* fopen example */
#include
int main ()
{
FILE * pFile;
pFile = fopen ("myfile.txt","r");
if (pFile!=NULL)
{
fgets ("fopen example",pFile); //this is same as puts(str);
//fgets() - Reads the string from a file as we can see from
//mode as "r"
fclose (pFile);
}
return 0;
}