Deleting 4 lines from a file

[Vega(Claw)]

Hi, I'm pretty new to programming and I have a question. I've created a function for a program that is supposed to delete 4 lines from a file. The program is movie database and I want it to take in the year(in this case 1994) and delete the year and the 4 lines below it. I've gotten to the point where it deletes 1 line, 1994. Can anyone help me figure out what I should do to delete 4?

void deleteLines(struct MovieDB *pMovies, int count){    FILE *pFile;//pointing to buffer
    char line[50];
    char *buffer;//pointers are 4 bytes, better than creating a buffer array 
    char *ptr;
    printf("Enter a name you want deleted");
    buffer = (char *)malloc(1000*sizeof(char)); //passes the type and returns the size of that type
    //you want this buffer to initilized to all zeros ^
    memset(buffer, 0, 1000*sizeof(char));


    /*buffer is that start adress, the value you want to store in each element which is zero
     The number of bytes which is the same as above. when you allocate a buffer you have to zero it
    */
    ptr = buffer;
    //open the file
    pFile =fopen(FileName, "r");


    if(pFile != NULL)
    {
        while (!feof(pFile)){
            fgets(line, 50, pFile);


            if(strcmp(line, "1994\n") != 0)//line is equal to "1994"
            {
                //put line in buffer
                strcpy(ptr, line);//destination string, source string
                ptr += strlen(line); //increments ptr by the length of the line. puts it back into ptr
            }
        }
        fclose(pFile);
        
        pFile = fopen(FileName, "w");
        fprintf(pFile, "%s", buffer);
        fclose(pFile);
    }
    else{
            printf("Could not open the file.\n");
    }


    getch();
}

[Salem]

A really simple way would be to call fgets() just 3 times in a row and throw the result away.

Oh, and make your initial while loop
while ( fgets(line, 50, pFile) )
See the FAQ for why using feof() to control a loop is bad.

Are you assuming that the file will always fit in 1000 characters (the buffer you allocate)?

You also need
free(buffer);
when you're done.

[Vega(Claw)]

Thank You for responding . I'm just assuming for now that the file will always fit into the buffer. Also, do you literally mean write my fgets() line three times or something else?

[oogabooga]

He means something like this:

        while (fgets(line, 50, pFile))
        {
            if (strcmp(line, "1994\n") == 0)  // changed from != to ==
            {
                // read and discard next 4 lines
                fgets(line, 50, pFile);
                fgets(line, 50, pFile);
                fgets(line, 50, pFile);
                fgets(line, 50, pFile);
                continue;
            }
            strcpy(ptr, line);
            ptr += strlen(line);
        }

[Vega(Claw)]

Ok, I understand. Thanks again.