Accessing int at end of file

Hi, I'm learning to use files in C and I was wondering how to access an integer at the end of a text file.
The file has some strings before, and the last line should be:

Output=6

I'd like to make a function that stores that 6 in a variable and returns it.
I've managed to store integers when the file is made just out of numbers, eg:

Code:

FILE *pf;
    int i;
    int input[]={25,1,2,5,4};
    int output;
    char pepe[20]="pepe";
    
    pf=fopen("test.txt","w"); 
    for(i=0;i<5;i++)
    fprintf(pf,"%d\n",input[i]);
    fclose(pf);
    
    pf=fopen("test.txt","r");
    while(fscanf(pf,"%d",&output)!=EOF)
       printf("Output: %d\n",output);
    fclose(pf);

But not when there are strings throughout the file.
Any help?
thanks!

If you can be absolutely certain that there will not be another line after the last line (not even an extra space) then something like this will work:

Code:

    while (fgets(line, sizeof line, pf))
        ;
    // Now line will contain the last line.
    sscanf(line, " Output = %d", &n);

The extra spaces around the word "Output" and the "=" allow there to be spaces (or not) in the string.

If it's possible that there is an extra blank line at the end of the file, or if you just want to be more careful, then you'll have to do it more like this:

Code:

while (fgets(line, sizeof line, pf)) {
    if (!isBlank(line)) // you have to write isBlank()
        strcpy(last_line, line);
}
sscanf(last_line, " Output = %d", &n);

I'm sorry but, being a novice, i don't quite understand your code there.
I assume it looks for the last written line, copies it to another string and then uses sscanf to identify the integer
Evenif I interpreted the behaviour correctly (which I doubt), I dont understand how the condition for your while works.

Last, is the isBlank() function supposed to check if a string is blank?
Thank you very much!

I assume it looks for the last written line, copies it to another string and then uses sscanf to identify the integer

Well it actually reads the whole file and skips over most of the content. By the time you reach the end of the file, the last line is still in last_line, and sscanf identifies the integer. If you needed the other content in the file you would have to use rewind(FILE*) first.

Last, is the isBlank() function supposed to check if a string is blank?

If you had a file that ended with a blank line, there would actually be a string like "\n".

I dont understand how the condition for your while works.

Code:

  while (fgets(line, sizeof line, pf) != NULL)

My own edits aside, it's the way to read a text file line by line in C. fgets is called and it returns a string, or NULL on failure, that will be used to control the loop. When fgets returns NULL, it should break.

Hi, I'm learning to use files in C and I was wondering how to access an integer at the end of a text file.

Read the text file in order first and then the integer at the end will eventually come. Use the other content first. That's my take on it anyway. Skipping around a binary file is easier than this. (shrug)

Thank you both, I now understand how the function works, but I'm still fighting with the isBlank() condition:

Originally Posted by whiteflags

If you had a file that ended with a blank line, there would actually be a string like "\n".

Then,

Code:

if(line!="\n")

should do the trick, right?
I've tried it but I don't get the desired result

When comparing strings in C, you can't use == or != directly. You have to call the function strcmp() for "string compare".

This is because "\n" is a string constant located somewhere in memory, and line can be treated as a pointer to the first element of the array; so the == or != syntax is really checking whether the pointers are actually the same or not. This is clearly not what you want, since "\n" will be put by the compiler at some special place in memory, and your line buffer will be elsewhere; hence the pointer comparison will always indicate that line != "\n".

Seriously, I'm gonna end up in a madhouse!
This is my function:

Code:

int get_data(FILE *pf){
    int data=0;
    char line[CHAR];
    char last_line[CHAR];
    char empty_line[CHAR]="\n";
    while(fgets(line,sizeof line,pf)){
        if(strcmp(line,empty_line)!=0)
            strcpy(last_line,line);                         
    }
    sscanf(last_line,"Total sencillos = %d",&data);
    return data;

where CHAR represents 140.
This is my function call:

Code:

    int total_sencillos=0;
    pf=fopen("BONOSSENCILLOS.txt","a");
    total_sencillos=get_data(pf);
    total_sencillos++;
    fprintf(pf,"Total sencillos=%d\n",total_sencillos);
    return pf;
}

And it keeps reading 0 and writing 1, time after time
I'm a few hours away from smashing my computer

What exactly is contained in the last line? When you use the scanf() family with a constant that constant must be retrieved exactly or the retrieval will fail. For example you are writing "Total sencillos=%d\" to your file, notice no spaces. But you try to retrieve "Total sencillos = %d", notice the spaces.

See the following quote form the above link.

The format string consists of a sequence of directives which describe how to process the sequence of input characters. If processing of a directive fails, no further input is read, and scanf() returns. A "failure" can be either of the following: input failure, meaning that input characters were unavailable, or matching failure, meaning that the input was inappropriate (see below).

A directive is one of the following:

•

A sequence of white-space characters (space, tab, newline, etc.; see isspace(3)). This directive matches any amount of white space, including none, in the input.

• An ordinary character (i.e., one other than white space or '%'). This character must exactly match the next character of input.

Jim

Originally Posted by jimblumberg

You are writing "Total sencillos=%d\" to your file, notice no spaces. But you try to retrieve "Total sencillos = %d", notice the spaces.

From your quote:

A sequence of white-spae characters. This directive matches any amount of white space, including none, in the input.

I have tried changing everything to "Total sencillos = %d" and also to "Total sencillos=%d", with no luck

Originally Posted by GCWilkins

Code:

    int total_sencillos=0;
    pf=fopen("BONOSSENCILLOS.txt","a");
    total_sencillos=get_data(pf);
    total_sencillos++;
    fprintf(pf,"Total sencillos=%d\n",total_sencillos);
    return pf;
}

You're not opening the file for reading. The "a" mode string tells fopen to open the file for appending (writing at the end of the file). Since you want to read from the file too, you need to add a "+" after the mode string, so it becomes "a+".

I believe that the quote about the white-space characters is only valid for the beginning of the string before any other character is encountered.

I don't recommend trying to use a "constant" in your scanf(), in my opinion you would be better off using strtok() with the '=' as the token. Then use atoi() to convert that string to a number. The other option if there is a space separating the '=' from your number is to retrieve the string into a temporary string and then retrieve your number.
Example for a value of "Total sencillos = 140" in your file:

Code:

char trash[100];
int valueWanted;
sscanf(last_line,"%s%s%s%d",trash,trash,trash, &valueWanted);

Jim

Big thanks to all of you!
I finally solved my problem by changing the way data is written to the file:
I made sure it always had three digits and then used fseek() to point to SEEK_END - 3. fscanf did the rest for me.
It's been pretty frustrating, but I learned quite a lot from your replies.