Thread: getting values from text file twice

Hey there,

I'm writing a program which is reading in values from a text file in two different parts.

For part 1, I have used scanf to read in values up to line 3.

For part two, I need to use all lines of the text file (5 lines) to make a calculation.

How do I go about doing this?

I've tried doing a second scanf but that isn't quite working.

Thanks

Hi Tigertan,please post the code you have so far in order to see your attempt and make some comments

Can you show your code so far?

[edit]
I was too slow and there are
no prizes for second place :P
[/edit]

So I've got this:

Code:

while((scanf("%d,%d,%d", &a, &b, &c) == 3) && (i<3)){        i++;            
        printf("%d  %d  %d\n", a, b, c);
        }

And now I want to look at the whole text file and print out the following

Code:

if (a > 4){
            number = number + 1;
            
        }
printf("Number of lines where a is greater than 4 = %d", number);

scanf is used to request input from the user...for handling a file you should use fopen,fread,fgets,fclose...It is good practice to post all the code that must be shown to other people

Also i suggest you to look at this example (this was posted by Adak(with some modifications),hope no copyright violations are provoked )

/******************************ADAK's post********************************************** ********************/
There are two common ways to read in all the data from a file:

1) Use fgets(), in a while loop. When NULL is returned, the loop should end.

2) Use fscanf(), in a while loop. When the count of objects stored is less than it should be, the loop should end.

Here's a simple example program:

Code:

#include <stdio.h>
#include <time.h>
 
int main(void) {
   int i;
   char a[7][128];
   FILE *fp=fopen("Edelweiss.txt", "r");/*the name of the txt*/
   if(!fp)
{printf("\nError: unable to open the file.\n"); return 1;}
    
 
   i=0;
 
   while((fgets(a[i],sizeof(a[i]), fp)) != NULL) {
      fputs(a[i++],stdout);
      //getchar();
   }
/*
   //shows the use of fscanf() reading a line until it reaches a
   //newline, and reading all the data in a file, while it can store at
   //least one object.
   while((fscanf(fp, " %[^\n]s",a[i])) > 0) {
      printf("%s\n",a[i++]);
      //getchar();
   }
*/
   fclose(fp);
  
   return 0;
}
/*
In a file named "Edelweiss.txt, put this into the programs directory before you run it:
      "Edelweiss, edelweiss, every morning you greet me.
      Small and white, clean and bright, you look happy to meet me.
      Blossom of snow may you bloom and grow, bloom and grow forever.
      Edelweiss, edelweiss, bless my homeland forever.
      Small and white, clean and bright, you look happy to meet me
      Blossom of snow, may you bloom and grow, bloom and grow forever.
      Edelweiss, edelweiss, bless my homeland forever."
*/

If you use fgets(), you have the data in a string. You still need to use sscanf() to store the numbers out of the string, into your array. If the data is STRICTLY formatted - not user entered (which will always have errors), then fscanf() is perfectly fine to store the data into the array.

<< What, no royalties?? >> <grin, grin>

*Somebody* has been digging around in here.

I've been told I must use the scanf syntax for the initial part before printing the first 3 lines.

Am I able to build on this in order to work out part two (using the whole text file)?
Are all the lines "stored" in the system after the first scanf? Do I even NEED to be scanning through again>

Originally Posted by Tigertan

Are all the lines "stored" in the system after the first scanf? Do I even NEED to be scanning through again>

scanf() just reads as much from stdin as it can according to the format string you provide. If your format string is "%d,%d,%d" it tries to read 3 decimal numbers separated by commas, and stops at the first character which isn't a digit. The rest (if there is one) stays in the input stream.

You probably don't need to scan through it a second time (which is also not possible if you read from stdin). Just read the first three digits, process them (printing, calculating, ...) and then read the next three until you reach the end.

If you want more help you have to show your current code.

Bye, Andreas