Thread: Print to file

Greetings all,

Any idea on the following code? This code is out of a beginners 'C' book; at first I got the error message, then I fixed the file location address and the error message went away. Now when I check the file for content, there is nothing.

Note: I'm using Borland Turbo C++ Ver. 3.0

Code:

#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
FILE *fptr;

main()
{
   int age = 22;	/* Simple variables to write */

   float salary = 19670.50;

   fptr = fopen("C:\WINDOWS\DESKTOP\BT\MYDATA.TXT", "w");  /* Opens for output */

   if (fptr == 0)
	{ printf("An error occurred while opening the file.\n");
	  exit (1);
	}

   fprintf(fptr, "Here is some stuff:\n");

   fprintf(fptr, "I am %d years old.\n", age);

   fprintf(fptr, "I make $%.2f dolLars every three months!\n", salary);

   fclose(fptr);	/* Always close your files */

return 0;
}

Eating the elephant one byte at a time.

I find it hard to believe that the creation of that file succeeded. You would need to use a slash (/) or double backslashes (\\).

Apart from that, I can't see anything wrong with your code.

"C:\WINDOWS\DESKTOP\BT\MYDATA.TXT"

You need to escape the backslashes.

"C:\\WINDOWS\\DESKTOP\\BT\\MYDATA.TXT"

Or use slashes (easier to read, imho):

Code:

"C:/windows/desktop/bt/mydata.txt"

Got it! Get rid of the back slashes. Thanks, I'll fix and try again when I get to my home computer.

For cwr,

I'm sorry, but didn't mention that I had already created the 'mydata' file prior to the program run.

For info, this code is basically out of ' The absolute beginners guide to C' second edition a SAM's publication pg# 312. As originally written the code gave me an error message. The address was fixed by making it all capitals and changing C:\\ to C:\, then the error message went away.

Originally Posted by metaTron

For info, this code is basically out of ' The absolute beginners guide to C' second edition a SAM's publication pg# 312. As originally written the code gave me an error message. The address was fixed by making it all capitals and changing C:\\ to C:\, then the error message went away.

I don't have a copy of that book, but changing C:\\ to C:\ would not fix anything, it would only break things. What was the original error message that you got?

The original error message was the one that was supposed to happen,

Code:

if (fptr == 0)
{ printf("An error occurred while opening the file.\n");
	  exit (1);
	}

You probably should have paid attention to that error.

You should also have your code display why it failed. Look up the strerror function and errno.

Got it, this gives me some things to look at tonight. I appreciate the feedback and much thanks to all for taking the time to explain!




Eating the elephant one byte at a time. -- author not known

Originally Posted by metaTron

Greetings all,

Any idea on the following code? This code is out of a beginners 'C' book; at first I got the error message, then I fixed the file location address and the error message went away. Now when I check the file for content, there is nothing.

Note: I'm using Borland Turbo C++ Ver. 3.0

Code:

#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
FILE *fptr;

main()
{
   int age = 22;	/* Simple variables to write */

   float salary = 19670.50;

   fptr = fopen("C:\WINDOWS\DESKTOP\BT\MYDATA.TXT", "w");  /* Opens for output */

   if (fptr == 0)
	{ printf("An error occurred while opening the file.\n");
	  exit (1);
	}

   fprintf(fptr, "Here is some stuff:\n");

   fprintf(fptr, "I am %d years old.\n", age);

   fprintf(fptr, "I make $%.2f dolLars every three months!\n", salary);

   fclose(fptr);	/* Always close your files */

return 0;
}

Eating the elephant one byte at a time.

Couple of quick comments:

It's always a good idea to be specific about main.

As written, your main does not specify what it returns. Under C89 I believe any non-specified return values defaulted to int. Under C99 that is no longer the case. (However, I believe I read somewhere that the Borland compiler doesn't support C99 very well yet ). Still, it is good to get into the habit.

Also, there's no real need to make the FILE pointer a global variable. It can easily be declared inside main, given the way you are using it....

fwiw......

Thanks for all the input on this, the easy fix was to correct the file address and now everything works as advertised.

This is what I had--

Code:

fptr = fopen("C:\WINDOWS\DESKTOP\BT\MYDATA.TXT", "w");  /* Opens for output */

This was the fix--

Code:

fptr = fopen("MYDATA.TXT", "w");  /* Opens for output */

all comments noted and appreciated!