File I/O, help

[greg677]

Hey guys need help on opening a file in c. i know how to open a file using a hardcoded path

for example: "C:\Program Files\input.txt"
but i want to be able to type any path and then c searches for the file and then opens it,

example: "Input the location for the input.txt file" , then the user types the path "C:\Documents and Settings\Temp\Input.txt" and then c will look for the text file in the indicated folder, and open it. Any help would be appreciated

[vart]

Cprogramming.com FAQ > Get a line of text from the user/keyboard (C)

[greg677]

i have attempted the following, and it does ask the user to input a path for the file, however when the program runs it always says "cannot open the file selected", i am trying to open "u:\input.txt"

int main()
{
	char filename;

option_1:
	printf("Option 1 has been selected\n");
	printf("Please enter the full path of the file to be loaded: ");
	scanf("%s", filename);
	getchar();
		
		FILE * fptr;
		if((fptr = fopen(filename,"r")))
		{
			printf("Cannot open the file selected\n);
		}

		else
		{
			printf("The file has opened sucessfully for reading\n\n");
		}
		
		int fclose(FILE * fptr);
	return 0;
}

[tabstop]

Recommendation: You should put the filename in the message, like

printf("Cannot open the file %s selected\n", filename);

which will allow you to immediately see if there's something up with how your filename got input. In this case, you will find the error immediately, as the compiler will then tell you that filename is not a C-style string, but merely a single char.

And of course the file has to previously exist.

[kermit]

Also have a look at this bit of your code:

char filename;
...
scanf("%s", filename);

The filename you want to grab from the user will be input as an array of chars terminated by a nul character, AKA, a string. Armed with this knowledge, what sort of data type would you store an array of chars in?