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File Handling Notes

Files can be either text files, which store information in ASCII characters with each line terminated by an EOL character, or binary files, which contain information in the same format as memory with no delimiters. There are five basic steps to file input/output in C++: including header files, declaring a file stream object, opening the file, using input/output functions with the stream, and closing the file. Files can be opened using a constructor or open() function and have different modes like read/write that determine if existing files are overwritten.

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85 views4 pages

File Handling Notes

Files can be either text files, which store information in ASCII characters with each line terminated by an EOL character, or binary files, which contain information in the same format as memory with no delimiters. There are five basic steps to file input/output in C++: including header files, declaring a file stream object, opening the file, using input/output functions with the stream, and closing the file. Files can be opened using a constructor or open() function and have different modes like read/write that determine if existing files are overwritten.

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P.Palanisamy
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© © All Rights Reserved
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File: - The information / data stored under a specific name on a storage device, is called a file.

Stream: - It refers to a sequence of bytes.


Two Types of Create Files:
Text file: - It is a file that stores information in ASCII characters. In text files, each line of text is
terminated with a special character known as EOL (End of Line) character or delimiter character. When
this EOL character is read or written, certain internal translations take place.

Binary file:- It is a file that contains information in the same format as it is held in memory. In binary
files, no delimiters are used for a line and no translations occur here.

Basic Operation On Text File In C++


File I/O is a five-step process:
1. Include the header file fstream in the program.
2. Declare file stream object.
3. Open the file with the file stream object.
4. Use the file stream object with >>, <<, or other input/output functions.
5. Close the files.
Following program shows how the steps might appear in program.
Example:
#include <iostream>
#include <fstream>
using namespace std;

int main()
{
ofstream myDB("DB.text");
myDB << "Writing to file using fstream constructor!" << endl;
myDB.close ();
return 0;
}
Opening File:
Opening file using constructor
ofstream outFile("sample.txt"); //output only
ifstream inFile(“sample.txt”); //input only
Opening File Using open ()
StreamObject.open(“filename”, [mode]);
ofstream outFile;
outFile.open("sample.txt");
ifstream inFile; inFile.open("sample.txt");
function open():
fstream file;
file.open ("example.dat", ios::out | ios::app | ios::binary);
Closing File:
outFile.close();
inFile.close();
Example:
// io/read-file-sum.cpp - Read integers from file and print sum.
// Fred Swartz 2003-08-20
#include <iostream>
#include <iomanip>
#include <fstream>
using namespace std;
int main() {
int sum = 0;
int x;
ifstream inFile;
inFile.open("test.txt");
if (!inFile) {
cout << "Unable to open file";
exit(1); // terminate with error
}
while (inFile >> x) {
sum = sum + x;
}
inFile.close();
cout << "Sum = " << sum << endl;
return 0;
}

File Mode:
Files Explanation
MODES
ios::in Input mode – Default mode with ifstream and files can be read only

ios::out Output mode- Default with ofstream and files can be write only
ios::binary Open file as binary
ios::app Preserve previous contents and write data at the end ( move forward only)
ios::ate Preserve previous contents and write data at the end.( can move forward and
backward )
ios::trunc If the file already exists, all the data will lost.
ios::noreplace Open fails if the file already exist
ios::nocreate The file must already exist. If file doesn't exist, it will not create new file

Read from a text file and than write in another text file
#include<fstream.h>
void main()
{
ofstream fout(“sare1.txt”); //create a file to write
ifstream fin(“sare1.txt”);
fout<<“Hello….!!”;
fout.close(); //closing the file
fout.open(“sare2.txt”); //create file to write
char ch;
while(fin) //loop wiill run till end of file
{
fin>>ch; //reading data from file
fout<<ch; //writing data to file
}
fin.close();
fout.close();
}
/*you can see the file sare2 in your BIN
folder containg data same as of file sare1*/

Determining End of File. eof():-Checking state flags


 bad():Returns true if a reading or writing operation fails. For example, in the case that we try to
write to a file that is not open for writing or if the device where we try to write has no space left.
 fail(): Returns true in the same cases as bad(), but also in the case that a format error happens,
like when an alphabetical character is extracted when we are trying to read an integer number.
 eof() : Returns true if a file open for reading has reached the end.
 good():It is the most generic state flag: it returns false in the same cases in which calling any of
the previous functions would return true. Note that good and bad are not exact opposites
 clear(): The member function clear() can be used to reset the state flags.
File Pointers And Their Manipulation:
seekg() moves get pointer(input) to a specified location
seekp() moves put pointer (output) to a specified
location
tellg() gives the current position of the get pointer
tellp() gives the current position of the put pointer

The other prototype for these functions is:


 seekg(offset, refposition );
 seekp(offset, refposition );
The parameter offset represents the number of bytes(any negative or positive integer value for
backward or forward movement) the file pointer is to be moved from the location specified by the
parameter refposition. The refposition takes one of the following three constants defined in the ios class.
 ios::beg - start of the file
 ios::cur - current position of the pointer
 ios::end - end of the file
// Code to demonstrate the seekg function in file handling
#include <fstream>
#include <iostream>
using namespace std;
int main (int argc, char** argv)
{
// Open a new file for input/output operations
// discarding any current in the file (assumes
// a length of zero on opening)
fstream myFile("test.txt", ios::in | ios::out | ios::trunc);

// Add the characters "Hello World" to the file


myFile << "Hello World";

// Seek to 6 characters from the beginning of the file


myFile.seekg(6, ios::beg);

// Read the next 5 characters from the file into a buffer


char A[6];
myFile.read(A, 5);

// End the buffer with a null terminating character


A[5] = 0;

// Output the contents read from the file and close it


cout << buffer << endl;

myFile.close();
}

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