Unit-III

Preprocessor:

The C preprocessor is a macro processor that is used automatically by the C

compiler to transform your program before actual compilation. It is called a
macro processor because it allows you to define macros.
The C preprocessor provides following type:
• Inclusion of header files : These are files of declarations that can be
substituted into your program.
• Macro expansion: You can define macros, which are abbreviations for C
code, and then the C preprocessor will replace the macros with their
definitions throughout the program.
• Conditional compilation: Using special preprocessing directives, you can
include or exclude parts of the program according to various conditions.

Preprocessing directives are lines in your program that start with `#'.
The `#' is followed by an identifier that is the directive name.

For example, `#define' is the directive that defines a macro. Whitespace is

also allowed before and after the `#'.

Sr.No. Directive & Description

1 #define
Substitutes a preprocessor macro.

2 #include
Inserts a particular header from another file.

3 #undef
Undefines a preprocessor macro.

4 #ifdef
Returns true if this macro is defined.

5 #ifndef
Returns true if this macro is not defined.

6 #if
Tests if a compile time condition is true.

7 #else
The alternative for #if.

8 #elif
 #else and #if in one statement.

9 #endif
Ends preprocessor conditional.

Header Files: (#include)

A header file is a file containing C declarations and macro definitions. we
request the use of a header file in our program with the C preprocessing
directive `#include'.

The header files names end with `.h'.

Both user and system header files are included using the preprocessing
directive `#include'

• System header files declare the interfaces to parts of the operating

system. we include them in our program to supply the definitions and
declarations of predefined code.
• User can create their own header file and add in the program if needed.

There are two ways to add header file in program-

#include <file>: It searches for a file named file in a list of directories specified
by you, then in a standard list of system directories.

#include "file": It searches for a file named file first in the current directory,
then in the same directories used for system header files.

Inclusion of header files:

User can create their own header file. Following program explain how to create

Example: Creating an user header Example: use of an user header file

file
File name: factprogram.c
File name: fact.h #include<stdio.h>
#include<stdio.h> #include “fact.h”
int fact(int n) int main()
{ {
int i=1,f=1; int i,n=5;
while(i<=n) i=fact(n);
{ printf(“factorial is %d\n”,i);
f=f*i; }
i++;
} Output: factorial is 120
Return f;
}
Macro expansion: (#define)

Simple Macros
Syntax:

#define Template_name value

Note: Template_name replace with its value in program.

Example: #define upper 20

when we add above syntax in the program, wherever upper come it

replace with 20

#include<stdio.h>

# define upper 20

int main()

int i,n=5;

i=upper+n;

printf(“value of i is %d\n”,i);

Output: value of i is 25.

Macros with Arguments:

Here user pass an argument with the macro template .

Syntax:

#define Template_name(Arguments,...) (Expression)

Example:

#include<stdio.h>

# define rectanglearea(a,b) (a*b)

int main()

{
 int a,b,area;

printf(“enter a & b value\n”);

scanf(“%d%d”,&a,&b);

area=rectanglearea(a,b);

printf(“area of rectangle is %d\n”,area);

Output:

Enter a & b value

2 5

area of rectangle is 10

Miscellaneous Directives: (#undef)

the #undef directive tells the preprocessor to remove the definitions for the
specified macro. A macro can be redefined after it has been removed by the
#undef directive.
Syntax:

#undef Template_name(Arguments,...) (Expression)

Example:
# define rectanglearea(a,b) (a*b) //macro definition

# undef rectanglearea(a,b) (a*b) //macro undefined

# define rectanglearea(a,b) (a*b) //macro redefined

 Example 2:
Example 1:
#include<stdio.h>
#include<stdio.h> # define area(a,b) (a*b)
# define area(a,b) (a*b) # undef area(a,b) (a*b)
# undef area(a,b) (a*b) # define area(a,b) (a*b)
int main()
{ int main()
int a=2,b=11; {
printf("area of rectangle is %d", int a=2,b=11;
area(a,b)); printf("area of rectangle is %d",
return 0; area(a,b));
} return 0;
}
Output:
Error // area is not defined macro Output:
area of rectangle is 22

Conditional compilation : (#ifdef, #ifndef, #endif)

Using conditional compilation, if user want, compiler to skip over part of code
by using preprocessing commands #ifdef and #endif

Syntax:
#ifdef macroname
Statement 1;
Statement 1;
.
.
#endif

If macronme has been #defind, the block of code will be processed as usual;
otherwise not.
Example 1: Example 2:

#include<stdio.h> #include<stdio.h>
# define rectanglearea(a,b) (a*b) # define rectanglearea(a,b) (a*b)
# define upper 2 # define upper 2
int main() int main()
{ {
int a,b,area; int a,b,area;
#ifdef upper #ifdef u
printf("enter a & b value"); printf("enter a & b value");
scanf("%d%d",&a,&b); scanf("%d%d",&a,&b);
area=rectanglearea(a,b); area=rectanglearea(a,b);
printf("area of rectangle is %d",area); printf("area of rectangle is
#endif %d",area);
Printf(“\n end of the program”): #endif
return 0; Printf(“\n end of the program”):
} return 0;
}
Output:
enter a & b value Output:
57 end of the program
area of rectangle is 35
end of the program

• Sometimes we can use #ifndef, instead #ifdef.

• #ifndef works exactly opposite to #ifdef.

Example:

#include<stdio.h>
# define rectanglearea(a,b) (a*b)
# define upper 2
int main()
{
int a,b,area;

#ifndef upper
printf("enter a & b value");
scanf("%d%d",&a,&b);
area=rectanglearea(a,b);
printf("area of rectangle is %d",area);
#endif

Printf(“\n end of the program”):

return 0;
}
Output:

end of the program

#if, #else, #elif, #endif Directives:

The #if directive is used to test whether an expression evaluate to a nonzero

value or not. If result is non zero(ie true) the subsequent line of code execute
upto #else, #elif or #endif comes; otherwise they are skipped.

Example: check number is +ve, -ve or zero.

#include<stdio.h>
int main()
{
int num;

printf("enter number");
scanf("%d",&num);
#if num>0
printf("number is +ve\n");
#elif num<0

printf("number is -ve\n");

#else

printf("number is zero\n");

#endif

return 0;
}

Output: enter number

25

number is +ve

File:
In C programming, file is a place on computer disk where information is stored
permanently. Which represents a sequence of bytes ending with an end-of-
file marker(EOF) .

Why files are needed?

• When a program is terminated, the entire data is lost. Storing in a file

will preserve your data even if the program terminates.
• If you have to enter a large number of data, it will take a lot of time to
enter them all.
However, if you have a file containing all the data, you can easily access
the contents of the file using few commands in C.
• You can easily move your data from one computer to another without
any changes.

Types of Files

1. Text files
2. Binary files

1. Text files

Text files are the normal .txt files that you can easily create using Notepad or
any simple text editors.

When you open those files, you'll see all the contents within the file as plain
text. You can easily edit or delete the contents.

They take minimum effort to maintain, are easily readable, and provide least
security and takes bigger storage space.

2. Binary files

Binary files are mostly the .bin files in your computer.

Instead of storing data in plain text, they store it in the binary form (0's and
1's).

They can hold higher amount of data, are not readable easily and provides a
better security than text files.

File Operations

In C, you can perform four major operations on the file, either text or binary:

1. Creating a new file

2. Opening an existing file
3. Closing a file
 4. Reading from and writing information to a file

Declaration for file Pointer:

When working with files, you need to declare a pointer of type file. This
declaration is needed for communication between the file and program.

Syntax:

FILE *file_pointer_name;

Example: FILE *fp;

Common File Functions

unction description

fopen() create a new file or open a existing file

fclose() closes a file

getc() reads a character from a file

putc() writes a character to a file

fscanf() reads a set of data from a file

fprintf() writes a set of data to a file

getw() reads a integer from a file

putw() writes a integer to a file

fseek() set the position to desire point

ftell() gives current position in the file

rewind() set the position to the begining point

Opening a File or Creating a File:

The fopen() function is used to create a new file or to open an existing file. this
function available in stdio.h file
Syntax:
fp= fopen(“filename”, “mode”);

filename is the name of the file to be opened and mode specifies the purpose
of opening the file. Mode can be of following types,
Example:

fp= fopen(“sample.txt”, “w”);

fp= fopen(“sample.txt”, “r”);

description
mode

r opens a text file in reading mode

w opens or create a text file in writing mode.

a opens a text file in append mode

r+ opens a text file in both reading and writing mode

w+ opens a text file in both reading and writing mode

a+ opens a text file in both reading and writing mode

rb opens a binary file in reading mode

wb opens or create a binary file in writing mode

ab opens a binary file in append mode

rb+ opens a binary file in both reading and writing mode

wb+ opens a binary file in both reading and writing mode

ab+ opens a binary file in both reading and writing mode

If fopen( ) cannot open "test.dat " it will a return a NULL pointer which should
always be tested for as follows.
Example:
FILE *fp ;
 if ( ( fp = fopen( "test.dat", "r" ) ) == NULL )
{
puts( "Cannot open file") ;
exit( 1) ;
}
This will cause the program to be exited immediately if the file cannot be
opened.

Closing a File:

The file (both text and binary) should be closed after reading/writing.

Closing a file is performed using library function fclose().

Syntax:

fclose(file_pointer_name);

Example:

fclose(fp); //fp is the file pointer associated with file to be closed

Reading and writing to a text file:

For reading and writing to a text file, we use the functions fprintf() and fscanf().

They are just the file versions of printf() and scanf(). The only difference is that,
fprint and fscanf expects a pointer to the structure FILE.

Writing to a text file:

Example 1: Write to a text file using fprintf()

#include <stdio.h>
int main()
{
int num;
FILE *fptr;
fptr = fopen("program.txt","w");

if(fptr == NULL)
{
printf("Error!");
exit(1);
 }

printf("Enter num: ");

scanf("%d",&num);

fprintf(fptr,"%d",num);
fclose(fptr);

return 0;
}

This program takes a number from user and stores in the file program.txt.

Reading from a text file

Example 2: Read from a text file using fscanf()

#include <stdio.h>
int main()
{
int num;
FILE *fptr;

if ((fptr = fopen("C:\\program.txt","r")) == NULL){

printf("Error! opening file");

// Program exits if the file pointer returns NULL.

exit(1);
}

fscanf(fptr,"%d", &num);

printf("Value of n=%d", num);

fclose(fptr);

return 0;
}

This program reads the integer present in the program.txt file and prints it
onto the screen.

If you succesfully created the file from Example 1, running this program will
get you the integer you entered.
Note: Other functions like fgetchar(), fgetc(),fputc(),fgets(),fputs() etc. can be
used in similar way.

Reading and writing to a binary file:

Functions fread() and fwrite() are used for reading from and writing to a file on
the disk respectively in case of binary files.

Writing to a binary file

To write into a binary file, you need to use the function fwrite().

The functions takes four arguments: Address of data to be written in disk, Size
of data to be written in disk, number of such type of data and pointer to the file
where you want to write.

fwrite(address_data,size_data,numbers_data,pointer_to_file);

Example 3: Writing to a binary file using fwrite()

#include <stdio.h>

struct threeNum
{
int n1, n2, n3;
};

int main()
{
int n;
struct threeNum num;
FILE *fptr;

if ((fptr = fopen("C:\\program.bin","wb")) == NULL){

printf("Error! opening file");

// Program exits if the file pointer returns NULL.

exit(1);
}
for(n = 1; n < 5; ++n)
{
num.n1 = n;
num.n2 = 5n;
 num.n3 = 5n + 1;
fwrite(&num, sizeof(struct threeNum), 1, fptr);
}
fclose(fptr);
return 0;
}

In this program, you create a new file program.bin in the C drive.

We declare a structure threeNum with three numbers - n1, n2 and n3, and
define it in the main function as num.

Now, inside the for loop, we store the value into the file using fwrite.

The first parameter takes the address of num and the second parameter takes
the size of the structure threeNum.

Since, we're only inserting one instance of num, the third parameter is 1. And,
the last parameter *fptr points to the file we're storing the data.

Finally, we close the file.

Reading from a binary file

Function fread() also take 4 arguments similar to fwrite() function as above.

fread(address_data,size_data,numbers_data,pointer_to_file);

Example 4: Reading from a binary file using fread()

#include <stdio.h>

struct threeNum
{
int n1, n2, n3;
};

int main()
{
int n;
struct threeNum num;
FILE *fptr;
 if ((fptr = fopen("C:\\program.bin","rb")) == NULL){
printf("Error! opening file");

// Program exits if the file pointer returns NULL.

exit(1);
}

for(n = 1; n < 5; ++n)

{
fread(&num, sizeof(struct threeNum), 1, fptr);
printf("n1: %d\tn2: %d\tn3: %d", num.n1, num.n2, num.n3);
}
fclose(fptr);

return 0;
}

In this program, you read the same file program.bin and loop through the
records one by one.

In simple terms, you read one threeNum record of threeNum size from the file
pointed by *fptr into the structure num.

Reading & Writing Characters:

Once a file pointer has been linked to a file we can write characters to it
using the fputc() function.
fputc( ch, fp ) ;
If successful the function returns the character written otherwise EOF.
Characters may be read from a file using the fgetc() standard library function.
ch = fgetc( fp ) ;
When EOF is reached in the file fgetc( ) returns the EOF character which
informs us to stop reading as there is nothing more left in the file.

Example :- Program to copy a file byte by byte

#include <stdio.h>
void main()
{
FILE *fin, *fout ;
char dest[30], source[30], ch ;

puts( "Enter source file name" );

gets( source );
puts( "Enter destination file name" );
gets( dest ) ;
 if ( ( fin = fopen( source, "rb" ) ) == NULL )
{
puts( "Cannot open input file ") ;
puts( source ) ;
exit( 1 ) ;
}
// open as binary as we don’t know what is in file

if ( ( fout = fopen( dest, "wb" ) == NULL ) )

{
puts( "Cannot open output file ") ;
puts( dest ) ;
exit( 1 ) ;
}

while ( ( ch = fgetc( fin ) ) != EOF )

fputc( ch , fout ) ;

fclose( fin ) ;
fclose( fout ) ;
}

Note : When any stream I/O function such as fgetc() is called the current
position of the file pointer is automatically moved on by the appropriate
amount, 1 character/ byte in the case of fgetc() ;

Appending Data To Existing File

Append mode is used to append or add data to the existing data of file(if any). Hence, when
you open a file in Append(a) mode, the cursor is positioned at the end of the present data in
the file.
In general, to append is to join or add on to the end of something. For example, an appendix is
a section appended (added to the end) of a document. In computer programming, append is
the name of a procedure for concatenating (linked) lists or arrays in some high-
level programming languages.
FILE *pFile;
FILE *pFile2;
char buffer[256];

pFile=fopen("myfile.txt", "r");
pFile2=fopen("myfile2.txt", "a");
if(pFile==NULL) {
perror("Error opening file.");
}
else {
while(fgets(buffer, sizeof(buffer), pFile)) {
fprintf(pFile2, "%s", buffer);
}
}
fclose(pFile);
fclose(pFile2);

program

WRITING AND READING STRUCTURES USING BINARY FILES

Read, write and seek operations can be performed on binary files with the help of fread(),
fwrite() and fseek() functions, respectively. After reading or writing a structure, the file pointer
is moved to the next structure. The fseek() function can move the pointer to the position as
requested

Reading and Writing from Binary Files

Binary files are very similar to arrays except for the fact that arrays are temporary storage in the
memory but binary files are permanent storage in the disks. The most important difference between
binary files and a text file is that in a binary file, you can seek, write, or read from any position inside
the file and insert structures directly into the files. You must be wondering - why do we need binary
files when we already know how to handle plaintexts and text files? Here are the reasons why
binary files are necessary:

1. I/O operations are much faster with binary data.

Usually, large text files contain millions of numbers. It takes a lot of time to convert 32-bit integers to
readable characters. This conversion is not required in the case of binary files as data can be
directly stored in the form of bits.

2. Binary files are much smaller in size than text files.

For data that is in the form of images, audio or video, this is very important. Small size means less
storage space and faster transmission. For example, a storage device can store a large amount of
binary data as compared to data in character format.

3. Some data cannot be converted to character formats.

For example, Java compilers generate bytecodes after compilation.
Having said that, let's move on to handling I/O operations in a binary file in C. The basic
parameters that the read and write functions of binary files accept are:

• the memory address of the value to be written or read

• the number of bytes to read per block
• the total number of blocks to read
• the file pointer

program
For writing in file, it is easy to write string or int to file using fprintf and putc, but you
might have faced difficulty when writing contents of struct. fwrite and fread make task
easier when you want to write and read blocks of data.
1. fwrite : Following is the declaration of fwrite function
2. size_t fwrite(const void *ptr, size_t size, size_t nmemb, FILE
*stream)
 3. ptr - This is pointer to array of elements to be written
4. size - This is the size in bytes of each element to be written
5. nmemb - This is the number of elements, each one with a size of size
bytes
stream - This is the pointer to a FILE object that specifies an
output stream

fread : Following is the declaration of fread function

size_t fread(void *ptr, size_t size, size_t nmemb, FILE *stream)

ptr - This is the pointer to a block of memory with a minimum size of
size*nmemb bytes.
size - This is the size in bytes of each element to be read.
nmemb - This is the number of elements, each one with a size of size
bytes.
stream - This is the pointer to a FILE object that specifies an input
stream.

Random Access to the file:

There is no need to read each record sequentially, if we want to access a

particular record. C supports these functions for random access file processing.

1. fseek()
2. ftell()
3. rewind()

fseek():
This function is used for seeking the pointer position in the file at the specified
byte.
Syntax: fseek( file_pointer, displacement, pointer position);
OR
int fseek ( FILE *fp, long num_bytes, int origin ) ;

Where
file_pointer ---- It is the pointer which points to the file.
displacement ---- It is positive or negative.
This is the number of bytes which are skipped backward (if negative) or
forward( if positive) from the current position.
This is attached with L because this is a long integer.
Pointer position:
This sets the pointer position in the file.

Value pointer position

0 Beginning of file.
1 Current position
2 End of file

Example:
1) fseek( p,10L,0)
0 means pointer position is on beginning of the file, from this statement
pointer position is skipped 10 bytes from the beginning of the file.
2) fseek( p,5L,1)
1 means current position of the pointer position.From this statement
pointer position is skipped 5 bytes forward from the current position.

3)fseek(p,-5L,1)

From this statement pointer position is skipped 5 bytes backward from the
current position.

ftell():
This function returns the value of the current pointer position in the file. The
value is count from the beginning of the file.

Syntax: ftell(fptr);
Where fptr is a file pointer.

rewind():
This function is used to move the file pointer to the beginning of the given file.
Syntax: rewind( fptr);
Where fptr is a file pointer.
Example: Write a program to read last ‘n’ characters of the file using
appropriate file functions(Here we need fseek() and fgetc()).

01 #include<stdio.h>

02 #include<conio.h>

03 void main()

04 {

05 FILE *fp;

06 char ch;

07 clrscr();

08 fp=fopen("file1.c", "r");

09 if(fp==NULL)

10 printf("file cannot be opened");

11 else

12 {

13 printf("Enter value of n to read last ‘n’ characters");

14 scanf("%d",&n);

15 fseek(fp,-n,2);

16 while((ch=fgetc(fp))!=EOF)

17 {

18 printf("%c\t",ch);

19 }

20 }

21 fclose(fp);
22 getch();

23 }

OUTPUT: It depends on the content in the file.

Previous year JNTUH question

DEC 2017:

1. What is the use of rewind ()?

2. What is the impact of fclose () on buffered data.

3. Explain the different types of files are used in C

b. Write a C program to print the records in reverse order. The file must be
opened in binary mode.

4. Write a program to append a binary file at the end of

another. b. Explain the function calls of fseek ().

SEPT 2017(Adv. Supply)

1. Compare fread and fscanf functions.

2. What is meant by opening a data file? How is this accomplished?

3. Write a program to copy contents of one file to another using file names
passed as the command line arguments.

4. What are the modes in which files can be opened?

b. Write a program to store information (id, name, address, marks) into a

file and print the information from the file.

May 2017 (Supply):

1. Write syntax of opening a file. Give example.

2. List the advantages of using files.
3. Discuss in detail about the file positioning functions.

b. Write a C program to count number of words, white spaces and tab

spaces present in a file.
4. Explain the file input and output function with examples Programs.
b. Distinguish r, r+, and w and w+ modes.

May 2017:

1. Explain about fseek ().

2. Discuss the different modes available for opening a file.

3. Write a C program to count the number of characters in

a file. b. Explain various standard library functions for
handling files.
Or

4. Write a C program to create a file contains a series of integer, read them

and write all odd numbers in odd file and also write all even numbers to a
file called even.

DEC 16:

1. What is meant of text file?

2. Discuss about rewind () function?

3. What is meant of state of a file? Write a C program to copy the contents of

one text file to another text file.
4. What is meant by binary file? Discuss about file positioning file functions.

May 2017 (REG)

1. Explain about the preprocessor commands.

Objective question:

1. #define PI 3.14 is a kind of .

(a) Compiler directive
(b) Pre compiler directive
(c) Preprocessor directive
(d) Processor directive

2. Which of the following would compute the square of x in ‘C’

(a) power(x,2)
(b) pow(x,2)
(c) pow(2,x)
(d) x**2
3. Which of the following is a correct way of defining a symbolic constant pie in
C
(a) #define pie= 3.142
(b) # Define pie 22/7
(c) # define pie = 22/7
(d) #define pie 22/7

4. Which of these complier directives access to the print function

(a) #include <stdio.h >
(b) #define print
(c) include stdio.h;
(d) #include conio.h;

5. Which of the following is the symbol for preprocessor

(a) *
(b) #
(c) <>
(d) $

6. How would you declare a constant of 5 called “MYCONST”?

(a) var int MYCONST=5
(b) int myconst = 5;
(c) constant MYCONST = 5;
(d) #define MYCONST 5

7. Preprocessing is typically done in

(a) after loading
(b) either before or at the beginning of compilation
(c) at the time of execution
(d) after compilation but before execution

8. If actual arguments are more than the formal arguments then

(a) extra actual arguments are discarded
(b) a compilation error
(c) extra actual arguments are initialized to garbage values
(d) extra actual arguments are initialized to zero

9.A file is
(a) a region of storage
(b) a variable
(c) a data type
(d) a data type and a region of storage

10. A file pointer is

(a) a stream pointer
(b) a Boolean pointer
(c) an integer pointer
(d) a pointer to FILE datatype

11 The structure FILE is defined in which of the following header files

(a) stdio.h
(b)conio.h
(c) math.h
(d) file.h

12. We declare file pointer as:FILE *fptr; FILE is a ……………data type defined
in stdio.h
(a) char
(b) string
(c) pointer
(d) struct

13. To open an existing file named myfile for reading only function is used
where fp is a file pointer
(a) fp=fopen(“myfile”,’w’);
(b) fp=fopen(“myfile”,”w”);
(c) fp=fopen(“myfile”,”r”);
(d) fp=fopen(“myfile”,’r’);

14. The action of disconnecting a file from a program is obtained by the

function
(a) fdisconnect()
(b) clear()
(c) fclose()
(d) delete()

15.If a file is opened in “r+” mode , then

(a) reading and writing are possible
(b) only reading possible
(c) a file will be created if it is not existing
(d) none

16. If a file is opened in “w+” mode , then

(a) appending is possible
(b) if the file already exists,it’s contentents are not erased
(c) it creates a file and opens it for both reading and writing
(d) none

17. the ftell() function in file management

(a) gives the current position in the file
(b) can be used to find the size of a file
(c) can guarantee to work properly only on binary files
(d) all the above
18. The fseek() function
(a) needs 3 arguments
(b) needs 2 arguments
(c) meant for checking whether a given file exists or not
(d) None

19.The rewind() function

(a) erases the contents of a file
(b) sets the position indicator to the end of the file
(c) sets the position indicator to the begining of the file
(d) reverses the data in a file

20. The fscanf() function reads data from

(a) keyboard
(b) data file
(c) keyboard and data file
(d) none

21. when fopen function fails to open data file, it returns

(a) 1
(b) -1
(c) null
(d) none

22. which one of the following functions is used to detect the end of file
(a)fseek()
(b) ferror()
(c)feof()
(d)fgetc()

23.The value of EOF is

(a) -1
(b)0
(c)1
(d) null

24. The action of disconnecting a file from a program is obtained by the

function
(a) fdisconnect()
(b) clear()
(c) fclose()
(d) delete()

25. ……… function is used to move the position indicator to a desired location
within the file
a) fseek()
(b) ftell()
(c) rewind()
(d) fputc()

26 ………… function can be used to find the end of the file maker
(a) fseek()
(b) ftell()
(c) rewind()
(d) none

27. To write strings in files, we use ………… function.

(a) puts()
(b) gets()
(c) fputs()
(d) fgets()