What is File Handling in C?
"File handling in C" helps us create, manipulate, update, and delete files stored on the local file system using C programs.
File Handling in C Definition
File Handling in C programming language is a feature that lets you operate the files with the help of C programs or C code.
Sometimes merely displaying the facts on the console is insufficient. The quantity of data displayed on the console may be extremely small or very vast. Because the memory is volatile, it is hard to repeatedly restore the programmatically generated data. However, we can store data on the local file system, which is volatile and accessible whenever we need to. Here, file handling in C becomes necessary.
What is a File in C?
A file in C can be defined as a sequence of bytes. A file can be a text file straight away or a binary code sequence. Regardless of this, it is treated as a sequence of bytes.
The C programming language for managing files on storage devices offers access to both low-level (OS level) calls and high-level functions.
Types of Files in C
A file is typically used in computers to store user data. In other words, a computer uses files to store data. These data files are now available in the C language in 2 different forms, namely:
- Binary Files
- Text Files
Now we shall briefly discuss each type of file in C.
Binary File
The binary files contain information and data using the 0s and 1s binary coding scheme (the binary number system). As a result, the files take up far less storage space. In other words, binary files retain data and information like a computer does in its memory. As a result, it is easier to access than a text file.
The disadvantage of text files in a program is overcome by the binary files, which are produced with the extension.bin and can only be read by computers, as opposed to humans, who cannot read them.
Text File
The most fundamental types of files that a user in a C program can produce are text files. We produce the text files using a basic text editor with the.txt extension. These files internally hold information in ASCII character format. However, the content or text appears in a readable format when we view them.
Thus, accessing and using text files is quite simple. There is, however, one significant drawback: lack of security. Information isn't secure in a text file because it can be retrieved quickly. Apart from the security issue, text files occupy a larger storage space than binary files.
Functions for File Handling in C
A file can be opened, read, expanded upon, created, closed, deleted, searched for, etc., via several different functions. In C, these are referred to as file handling operators.
The following is a list of the functions that let you do that:
Description of Function | Function in Use |
To open an existing file or a new file | fopen() |
For writing data into a file | fprintf() |
For reading the data in a file | fscanf() |
For writing any character into the program file | fputc() |
For reading the character from a file | fgetc() |
To close the program file | fclose() |
To set the file pointer to the intended file position | fseek() |
For writing an integer into an available file | fputw() |
To read an integer from the given file | fgetw() |
For reading the current position of a file | ftell() |
To set an intended file pointer to the file's beginning itself | rewind() |
Operations in File Handling in C
A user can update, create, open, read, write, and finally delete the file/content in the file that already exists on the local file system of the C program through the file handling process. The main file operations you can carry out in a C program are listed below:
- Opening a file
- Creating a new file
- Writing data to file
- Reading data from file
- Deleting data from file
Need for File Handling in C
Occasionally, a program's output after it has been compiled and run does not meet our objectives. We might want to check the program's output several times in these circumstances. It takes a lot of work for any coder to repeatedly compile and run the same software. This is the precise situation when file handling is helpful. Some of the features of file handling in C that provide a user or programmer with convenience are:
- Portability of the source code.
- Provides storage capacity.
- Provides reusability of the programs that are stored in the file.
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