Small C problem

[satory]

sorry for asking the question but can any one here see whats worng with the following

int main (void)
{
	//...Determining whether there is stored tree or not...
	printf("\n+--------------------------+");
	printf("\n|      Guessing Game       |");
	printf("\n|------------By------------|");
	printf("\n|------------?-------------|");
	printf("\n+--------------------------+");
	printf("\n\n\nPress any key to continue..."); 
	//getch(); 
	//clrscr();
	FILE *in;

	in = fopen ( "people.txt", "rb" );
	if (in == NULL)
	{
	         //fclose(in); 
		//BeginNew(); 
		//Continue();
	}
	else
	{
                  //fclose(in); 
		//ReadFile(); 
		//Continue();
	}
	return 0;
}

when i run that i get 2 errors the first is about the use of FILE:

C:\guessing_game\Game.c(35) : error C2275: 'FILE' : illegal use of this type as an expression

the other is:

C:\guessing_game\Game.c(35) : error C2065: 'in' : undeclared identifier

ive gone through various posts here and gone through the FAQ for files but as far as i can see im doing nothing wrong.

Can any one offer a bit of insight as to what im doing wrong or am missing?

[CrazedBrit]

Hmm...try declaring the FILE at the beginning of main, where you normaly declare variables. The compiler might like it better there. Otherwise...I'm not really sure what the issue is.
Also, you might want to read the file before you close it
-Crazed

[satory]

Hmm...try declaring the FILE at the beginning of main, where you normaly declare variables. The compiler might like it better there. Otherwise...I'm not really sure what the issue is.
Also, you might want to read the file before you close it
-Crazed

wow thats the craziest thing i ever saw as soon as i moved the line

FILE *in;

it completely takes away all the errors cheers

[Richie T]

in c, all local variable declarations must be made at the start of
a code block (i.e. a function). this may have been changed in
the last standard but i'm too tired to check, and if it was, then its
still better practice to declare them at the start anyways.

[sand_man]

I'm not sure if you were meant to do this or not but you are opening a .txt file in binary mode.

[fgw_three]

in c, all local variable declarations must be made at the start of
a code block (i.e. a function). this may have been changed in
the last standard but i'm too tired to check, and if it was, then its
still better practice to declare them at the start anyways.

C99 allows interspersing of declarations and code.

I won't completely agree with you about it being a better practice, but if your compiler does not support C99 then you have to declare them before the first executable line of code.

If you're coming to C from C++, and if your compiler supports C99, then declaring variables just before you use them will be a familiar practice.