Thread: getc or not getc that is the problem

If you just open a file using "r", then it is a text file, and translation from the operating system line termination (\n\r) to the ANSI-C standard (\n) will apply (you've seen this)

If you open the file in binary mode ("rb"), then this translation effect is turned off, and you should see every character in the file.

> while ( ch != characterCount )
What's this do?
Apart from an expensive way of saying characterCount = ch;

This being so, why not do
charNo [ ch ]++;

> while ( ch != EOF )
Try

Code:

while ( (ch=fgetc ( filepointer )) != EOF ) {
    charNo[ch]++;
}

> Does opening the file as read binary mean that as far as C is concerned binary reading and text-reading are basically the same?
No

If you try and read a text file, opened in binary mode, using fgets (which is a text reading function), then there could be some surprises in store.

If its a binary file, then you use fgetc (single chars) or fread (a fixed block of chars).

You can also use fgetc to read single chars from a text file, and use fgets to read a whole line (most text file operations work with single lines at a time).

I think you can read a text file using fread, but I don't know why you would want to.