C files I/O functions handle data on a secondary storage device, such as a hard disk.
C can handle files as Stream-oriented data (Text) files, and System oriented data (Binary) files.
Stream-oriented data files | The data is stored in the same manner as it appears on the screen. The I/O operations like buffering, data conversions, etc. take place automatically. |
System-oriented data files | System-oriented data files are more closely associated with the OS and data stored in memory without converting into text format. |
Table of Contents
C File Operations
Five major operations can be performed on file are:
- Creation of a new file.
- Opening an existing file.
- Reading data from a file.
- Writing data in a file.
- Closing a file.
Steps for Processing a File
- Declare a file pointer variable.
- Open a file using fopen() function.
- Process the file using the suitable function.
- Close the file using fclose() function.
To handling files in C, file input/output functions available in the stdio library are:
Function | Uses/Purpose |
---|---|
fopen | Opens a file. |
fclose | Closes a file. |
getc | Reads a character from a file |
putc | Writes a character to a file |
getw | Read integer |
putw | Write an integer |
fprintf | Prints formatted output to a file |
fscanf | Reads formatted input from a file |
fgets | Read string of characters from a file |
fputs | Write string of characters to file |
feof | Detects end-of-file marker in a file |