Search through a file & return a pointer?

Hi,

Are there any functions similar to strstr() that can search through a file and return a pointer to that location, so i can then read in the data to a buffer?

Example..

Code:

---

FILE* fFile;
fFile = fopen("Test.dat");
int iLocation = look_through_file(fFile, "XPR0");

etc etc..

---

If not how would one get the location of such a string in a file?

Thanks

To my knowledge you can't read contents of a file in it's original location. You have to load it to memory and read it from there. If you knew in advance the offset from the front of the file, then you could place the file pointer at that position and not have to read the contents of the file preceding the disired position. However, that is not the case for many programs.

Quote:

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Originally posted by Marc
Hi,

Are there any functions similar to strstr() that can search through a file and return a pointer to that location, so i can then read in the data to a buffer?

Example..

Code:

---

FILE* fFile;
fFile = fopen("Test.dat");
int iLocation = look_through_file(fFile, "XPR0");

etc etc..

---

If not how would one get the location of such a string in a file?

Thanks

---

The only way to search through a file is to read the file, so no. You'll have to read the file from the beginning and search thru the buffer for what you're looking for.

But it IS possible to read the bytes directly at, say, 100 thru 125. You need lseek() or a related function.

Thanks for the replys guys.

I never thought about doing it that way!

Luckily all the files that the prog will use should be less than 10mb, so its fine to read it all into memory and sort from there.

Thanks for the help.



Out of curiosity if the files were say 500mb or more, what techniques could one use to sort through them?

Thanks

If you can't get them in memory all at once, read them in say 100mb chuncks. Keep track of the chunk you've loaded to get the exact address.