what is the deffrence between (!fp) and (fp == NULL) //FILE *fp = NULL

Hello,...

i got a strange beahvioer with NULL and 0 (when working on SMSer progect source attached):

This code will work fine for me :

Code:

---

int CalcPendingSMS()
{
    FILE *fp = NULL;
    char tmp[MAXLINELENGTH];
    int counter=0; //array counter
       
    //add home path to centericq
    char OfflinePath[MAXLINELENGTH];
    sprintf(OfflinePath,"%s%s", HOMEDIR,OFFLINEFILE);
       
    fp=fopen(OfflinePath,"r");
    printf("%d",fp);
    if (!fp)
    {
            return -1;
    }
    while (fgets(tmp,MAXLINELENGTH,fp)!=NULL)
        counter++;
       
    fclose(fp);
   
    counter=(counter) /7;   
    return counter;
}

---

but this won't (SIGSEGV error )

Code:

---

int CalcPendingSMS()
{
    FILE *fp = NULL;
    char tmp[MAXLINELENGTH];
    int counter=0; //array counter
       
    //add home path to centericq
    char OfflinePath[MAXLINELENGTH];
    sprintf(OfflinePath,"%s%s", HOMEDIR,OFFLINEFILE);
       
    fp=fopen(OfflinePath,"r");
    printf("%d",fp);
    if (fp == NULL)
    {
            return -1;
    }
    while (fgets(tmp,MAXLINELENGTH,fp)!=NULL)
        counter++;
       
    fclose(fp);
   
    counter=(counter) /7;   
    return counter;
}

---

but the problem is that afaik there isn't any real difference between that two.

fp == NULL compares fp to NULL
!fp compares against 0

NULL need not be defined as zero.

From your description of the problem it would seem that NULL is indeed not equal to 0. You could printf() the value of NULL to your terminal to check this.

P.S. You should do something about your indentation.

But if !fp can be true, as jabka states, then there is no way NULL isn't zero. fopen returns NULL on failure, after all.

SIGSIEV errors can occur anywhere within the program after you've corrupted the memory pool or accessed things that don't belong to you. To be really sure that your function isn't causing the problem, then you need to do unit testing.

Code:

---

int CalcPendingSMS( void );

#include <stdio.h>
#define MAXLINELENGTH  512uL
#define HOMEDIR        "C:/Documents and Settings/JCK/Desktop/"
#define OFFLINEFILE    "dump.txt"
int main( void )
{
    printf( "CalcPendingSMS returned %d successfully.\n",
        CalcPendingSMS()
    );
    return 0;
}

int CalcPendingSMS( void )
{
    FILE *fp = NULL;
    char tmp[MAXLINELENGTH];
    int counter=0;
 
    /* add home path to centericq */
    char OfflinePath[MAXLINELENGTH];
    sprintf(OfflinePath,"%s%s", HOMEDIR, OFFLINEFILE);
       
    fp=fopen(OfflinePath,"r");
    printf("%p\n", (void*)fp);
    if (fp == NULL)
    {
            return -1;
    }
    while (fgets(tmp, MAXLINELENGTH, fp) != NULL)
    counter++;
    fclose(fp);
   
    counter = counter / 7;
    return counter;
}

---

I didn't observe any SIGSEIV error. Perhaps your LINELENGTHs are too small or something else.

since MAXLINELENGTH is used only to store the line (in fgets) i can't understand why the only change to get the error is to change the fp == NULL to !fp.


just for clearfiing :
$smser -t
on debian etch kernel 2.6.22
was used to get the error.

Ill try (tomorrow it is 2:37 am here) to search for potential memory corruption.
maybe it was just a strange quintessence.

That's a stupid function call. feof( fp ) and !fp do not do anything close to the same thing.

feof( fp ) tests the eof bit of the file stream pointed to by fp, but regardless fp is still a valid pointer. The man page for feof() doesn't say anything about correctly handling a NULL argument, which is where you have your problem. Compare fp with NULL first, before you call that.

A recently opened file will result in feof( fp ) returning 0 also.

sorry i mistiped it should be fp == NULL and !fp (it abit late )

There are places in your code where you do this.

Code:

---

    if (fp = NULL)

---

Rather that simply be a comparison, it is an assignment of NULL to fp and automatic failure of the if condition. I'd double check your code and fix these issues.

To be clear: There is no difference between

Code:

---

(!fp)

---

and

Code:

---

(fp == NULL)

---

It makes no difference how NULL is defined; those will both yield the same thing (assuming, of course, fp is indeed a pointer).

Even with basic levels of compiler warnings, we get

Code:

---

$ gcc -Wall -c foo.c
foo.c: In function `fGetnumberfile':
foo.c:71: warning: suggest parentheses around assignment used as truth value
foo.c: In function `fSetLineStr':
foo.c:124: warning: suggest parentheses around assignment used as truth value
foo.c:131: warning: suggest parentheses around assignment used as truth value
foo.c: In function `sendSMS':
foo.c:321: warning: suggest parentheses around assignment used as truth value
foo.c: In function `CalcPendingSMS':
foo.c:432: warning: int format, pointer arg (arg 2)

$ gcc -W -Wall -c foo.c
foo.c: In function `fGetnumberfile':
foo.c:71: warning: suggest parentheses around assignment used as truth value
foo.c: In function `fSetLineStr':
foo.c:124: warning: suggest parentheses around assignment used as truth value
foo.c:131: warning: suggest parentheses around assignment used as truth value
foo.c: At top level:
foo.c:227: warning: unused parameter 'a'
foo.c: In function `ValidMessage':
foo.c:284: warning: comparison between signed and unsigned
foo.c: In function `sendSMS':
foo.c:321: warning: suggest parentheses around assignment used as truth value
foo.c: In function `CalcPendingSMS':
foo.c:432: warning: int format, pointer arg (arg 2)

$ gcc -W -Wall -O2 -c foo.c
foo.c: In function `fGetnumberfile':
foo.c:71: warning: suggest parentheses around assignment used as truth value
foo.c: In function `fSetLineStr':
foo.c:124: warning: suggest parentheses around assignment used as truth value
foo.c:131: warning: suggest parentheses around assignment used as truth value
foo.c: In function `ValidMessage':
foo.c:284: warning: comparison between signed and unsigned
foo.c: In function `sendSMS':
foo.c:321: warning: suggest parentheses around assignment used as truth value
foo.c: In function `CalcPendingSMS':
foo.c:432: warning: int format, pointer arg (arg 2)
foo.c: At top level:
foo.c:227: warning: unused parameter 'a'
foo.c: In function `AccountParserLine':
foo.c:453: warning: 'c' might be used uninitialized in this function


---

If you run code with these kinds of warnings still present in the code, then expect to get a spanking.

The colours just highlight the additional warnings which appear when you ramp up the warning levels of the compiler.