Thread: Moving a file to a directory containing spaces

I have a "string," if you will, of a directory where I am going to move a file over, I've declared it as:

Code:

char duplicate_file[] = "C:\\Program Files\\File Manager\\";

After I get the original file's name, I want to move the file to it's new location. I do this with the following code:

Code:

/*Copy the file */
	org = fopen(original_file,"r");
	dup = fopen(duplicate_file,"w");
	if( org == NULL || dup == NULL)
		error_exit("Error opening or creating file");

	while( (ch=fgetc(org)) != EOF )
		fputc(ch,dup);

	fclose(org);
	fclose(dup);

The program works fine when my "duplicate_file" directory does not contain any spaces, so my question is how can I make this program work with the spaces?

Thanks a bunch for any input!

Originally Posted by notsocks

The program works fine when my "duplicate_file" directory does not contain any spaces, so my question is how can I make this program work with the spaces?

The language is completely agnostic about the contents of pathnames. If spaces in the path are causing problems, it's due to some operating system or system library limitation. Sadly, not much can be done about that aside from switching to a different C library or ditching the buggy platform altogether. I know that spaces in pathnames are not a problem on modern Windows, so I'd point fingers at the library being at fault.

you might want to try using 8.3 filenames or quotes like this:

Code:

char duplicate_file[] = "\"C:\\Program Files\\File Manager\\\"";

Thanks for the responses!

(I'm using Dev-C++ 4.9.9.2)

The language is completely agnostic about the contents of pathnames. If spaces in the path are causing problems, it's due to some operating system or system library limitation. Sadly, not much can be done about that aside from switching to a different C library or ditching the buggy platform altogether. I know that spaces in pathnames are not a problem on modern Windows, so I'd point fingers at the library being at fault.

I figured it might be a problem with the library... is there a different library I could use then? The ones I am trying to use are as follows:

Code:

#include <stdio.h>
#include <ctype.h>
#include <string.h>
#include <stdlib.h>

Not sure where to go from here.

Thanks!

I made some changes and experimented, but it's still not working. I've tried to put the entire path "C:\Program Files\File Mananger\File.txt" in quotes, and without (thanks for the idea robwhit), but neither way seems to affect it.

Code:

/* declare variables */
	char original_file[256];
	   //char duplicate_file[256] = "\"C:\\Program Files\\File Manager\\";
	char duplicate_file[256] = "C:\\Program Files\\File Mananger\\";
	FILE *org,*dup;
	char ch;

/* gather the file's name */
	printf("Enter the name of the original file: ");
	scanf("%255s",&original_file);
	fflush(stdin);
	if(strlen(original_file) == 0)
		error_exit("Missing filename");
	
       //strcat(original_file,"\"");           //Add a quote at the end of the original file's name.

       strcat(duplicate_file,original_file);     //Combine the destination directory and the file's name to make a copy of it.

/*Copy the file */
	org = fopen(original_file,"r");
	dup = fopen(duplicate_file,"w");
	if( org == NULL || dup == NULL)
		error_exit("Error opening or creating file");

	while( (ch=fgetc(org)) != EOF )
        fputc(ch,dup);

That is my chunk of code that is supposed to get the file's name and then move it to C:\Program Files\File Mananger. Still, works fine without the spaces but not with them. I'm really stumped here...

fflush(stdin);

isn't this a problem~

isn't this a problem~

I don't see how it could be, I need it in my program so the enter doesn't bypass my getchar();s that I've placed in the program so the user can see what's going on (becuase otherwise it'll run and close in an instant). Unless it's doing something other than that (and I did try commenting it out, but nothing changed except that the program ran and closed itself in less than a second) I don't think it's the root of the problem. Thanks for the suggestion, though.

Salem, that last bit did the trick! The file now moves to that directory without a problem!!! YAY!

And albert3721 and Macgyver, thanks for that heads up. I stand corrected! I'll look into that right away.

Thanks a bunch, guys! I really appreciate it!