checking for files

[gcn_zelda]

what would i do to find if a file was already made?
for example

fstream a_file("data.dat")
return(a_file.open());
if(FALSE)

etc....Please help!

[Hammer]

>>what would i do to find if a file was already made
Do you mean you want to check is a file exists?

For a standard way, open it in read mode, if it fails, the chances are it doesn't exist (but there could be other reasons).

For a non-standard way, use a compiler specific function that will give you additional information, maybe you have stat()?

[gcn_zelda]

Do you mean you want to check is a file exists?

Exactly. Then I want it to return true or false or something like that so I can use an if(FALSE) command.

[Hammer]

Start from here (or something similar):

  ifstream checker;
  
  checker.open("junk1.c");
  if (checker)
    cout <<"junk1.c exists" <<endl;
  else
    cout <<"junk1.c does not exist" <<endl;
  checker.close();