file size in c

[we_are]

is there a function to get lenght of a file in C

i am in linux and filelength would not work

[MrWizard]

Just create a file pointer like normal. Than use fseek to go to the end of the file. Then use ftell to let you know where it is. This should be correct for the file size. Just make sure to seek back to the beginning of the file before reading!

[moi]

exactly what mr wizard said:

// might not be 101% correct
long length;
FILE *bleh = fopen ("somefile", "rb");
fseek (bleh, 0, SEEK_END);
length = ftell (bleh);
rewind (bleh);
// now start reading

[Prelude]

>This should be correct for the file size.
Don't expect an exact byte count though, this technique is only effective on binary files and even then the count may be approximate due to different end of line representations. Most of the time you don't really need to know the size of a file, just read it and take the size as you go.

-Prelude

[Monster]

Or use the (non-portable) stat function:

#include <stdio.h>
#include <sys/stat.h>

int main(int argc, char *argv[])
{
   struct stat buf;

   if(stat(argv[0], &buf) == -1)
   {
      perror(argv[0]);
      return -1;
   }
   else
   {
      printf("File size = %ld bytes\n", buf.st_size);
      return 0;
   }
}