Pointer problem with FILE *f in function

I declared

Code:

FILE *f = NULL;

in the main-function. Then I call a function, where I close the file f and open it again. I thought, the function prototype can look like this:

Code:

void my_function(FILE *f);

and I call it in the main-function this way:

Code:

my_function(f);

But now, in my_function, when I close the file and open it again, the pointer is messed up in the main-function.


When I have the prototype this way:

Code:

void my_function(FILE **f);

and call the function this way:

Code:

my_function(&f);

then it works, but it doesn't looks that good with the pointer to the pointer...

Any suggestions how to remove the double-pointer?

thx

You could define it like this:

Code:

FILE *my_function(FILE *f)
{
.
.
   return f;
}

And then call it like this:

Code:

f = my_function(f);

hmmyes, but I have to return error numbers as int... So the easiest way would be the FILE **f. Or is there another solution?

thx @swoopy

Rather than a close and reopen, why not do an open and a close? And then pass the name of the file as a parameter? Open the file, do your thing, close the file, return success/failure?

[edit]With your other posts, I'm wondering if this might not be similar to what you may be trying to do.

I'm not programming for a PC, I'm programming with TIGC-C for my calculator. So there's a way to add a user file extension to the file or to archive the file, and for that I have to close the file first. To make the function easier to use, I don't think it's good if you have to open your file yourselve after each call of the function.
It would also be faster, if you call the function several times in a loop to load more than one block from the file, when the function does not open and close the file each time (there are options you can control if you want to add a file extension, archive it, ...)

[edit]With your other posts, I'm wondering if this might not be similar to what you may be trying to do.

Yes, kind of. But I added some options to my function that you can read, add, edit, ... data.

Because fopen modifies fp

Code:

fp = fopen(fn, mode);

you need a ** or need to return fp. (Or you could use a reference in C++.) I would suggest a **. If you really don't like how it looks you can use a typedef.

I'm now using a **. It's the easiest way I think.

Thx for your help