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C program to create, write and read text in/from file

File handling in C language: Here, we will learn to create a file, write and read text in/from file using C program, example of fopen, fclose, fgetc and fputc. By IncludeHelp Last updated : March 10, 2024

Here, we are going to learn all about file handling with examples in C programming language, following topics we are going to cover in this article:

Steps to create, write and read text in/from file

• Creating variable of file pointer
• Opening/creating a file
• Write some of the characters in a file
• Reading one by one character from a file
• Closing a file
• And with second example
  • Writing continuous text (complete paragraph until we do not press any special character defined in program).
  • Reading all text until EOF (End of the file) is not found.
• And closing the file

Example 1

In this program, we are writing some of the characters (without taking input from the keyboard) and reading, printing , written characters.

#include< stdio.h >
int main()
{
 
    FILE *fp;   /* file pointer*/
    char fName[20];
 
    printf("\nEnter file name to create :");
    scanf("%s",fName);
 
    /*creating (open) a file*/
    fp=fopen(fName,"w");
    /*check file created or not*/
    if(fp==NULL)
    {
        printf("File does not created!!!");
        exit(0); /*exit from program*/
    }
 
    printf("File created successfully.");
    /*writting into file*/
    putc('A',fp);
    putc('B',fp);
    putc('C',fp);
 
    printf("\nData written successfully.");
    fclose(fp);
 
    /*again open file to read data*/
    fp=fopen(fName,"r");
    if(fp==NULL)
    {
        printf("\nCan't open file!!!");
        exit(0);
    }
 
    printf("Contents of file is :\n");
    printf("%c",getc(fp));
    printf("%c",getc(fp));
    printf("%c",getc(fp));
 
    fclose(fp);
    return 0;
}

Output

Enter file name to create : ok.txt
File created successfully.
Data written successfully.
Contents of file is :
ABC

Example 2

In this program, we are writing characters (by taking input from the keyboard) to the file until new line is not pressed and reading, printing the file.

#include< stdio.h >
int main()
{
 
    FILE *fp;   /* file pointer*/
    char fName[20];
    char ch;
 
    printf("\nEnter file name to create :");
    scanf("%s",fName);
 
    /*creating (open) a file*/
    fp=fopen(fName,"w");
    /*check file created or not*/
    if(fp==NULL)
    {
        printf("File does not created!!!");
        exit(0); /*exit from program*/
    }
 
    printf("File created successfully.");
    /*writting into file*/
    printf("\nEnter text to write (press < enter > to save & quit):\n");
    while( (ch=getchar())!='\n')
    {
        putc(ch,fp); /*write character into file*/
    }
 
    printf("\nData written successfully.");
    fclose(fp);
 
    /*again open file to read data*/
    fp=fopen(fName,"r");
    if(fp==NULL)
    {
        printf("\nCan't open file!!!");
        exit(0);
    }
 
    printf("\nContents of file is :\n");
    /*read text untill, end of file is not detected*/
    while( (ch=getc(fp))!=EOF )
    {
        printf("%c",ch); /*print character on screen*/
    }
 
    fclose(fp);
    return 0;
}

Output

Enter file name to create : ok.txt
File created successfully.
Enter text to write (press < enter > to save & quit):
Hello Guys! Learn C Programming here.
Data written successfully.
Contents of file is :
Hello Guys! Learn C Programming here.

C File Handling Programs »