C File Input/output - Overview of Functions

Overview of Functions

Most of the C file input/output functions are defined in stdio.h (cstdio header in C++).

	Byte character	Wide character	Description
File access	`fopen`		opens a file
	`freopen`		opens a different file with an existing stream
	`fflush`		synchronizes an output stream with the actual file
	`fclose`		closes a file
	`setbuf`		sets the buffer for a file stream
	`setvbuf`		sets the buffer and its size for a file stream
	`fwide`		switches a file stream between wide character I/O and narrow character I/O
Direct input/output	`fread`		reads from a file
Direct input/output	`fwrite`		writes to a file
Unformatted input/output	`fgetc` `getc`	`fgetwc` `getwc`	reads a byte/`wchar_t` from a file stream
	`fgets`	`fgetws`	reads a byte/`wchar_t` line from a file stream
	`fputc` `putc`	`fputwc` `putwc`	writes a byte/`wchar_t` to a file stream
	`fputs`	`fputws`	writes a byte/`wchar_t` string to a file stream
	`getchar`	`getwchar`	reads a byte/`wchar_t` from stdin
	`gets`		reads a byte string from stdin (deprecated in C99, obsoleted in C11)
	`putchar`	`putwchar`	writes a byte/`wchar_t` to stdout
	`puts`		writes a byte string to stdout
	`ungetc`	`ungetwc`	puts a byte/`wchar_t` back into a file stream
Formatted input/output	`scanf` `fscanf` `sscanf`	`wscanf` `fwscanf` `swscanf`	reads formatted byte/`wchar_t` input from stdin, a file stream or a buffer
	`vscanf` `vfscanf` `vsscanf`	`vwscanf` `vfwscanf` `vswscanf`	reads formatted input byte/`wchar_t` from stdin, a file stream or a buffer using variable argument list
	`printf` `fprintf` `sprintf` `snprintf`	`wprintf` `fwprintf` `swprintf`	prints formatted byte/`wchar_t` output to stdout, a file stream or a buffer
	`vprintf` `vfprintf` `vsprintf` `vsnprintf`	`vwprintf` `vfwprintf` `vswprintf`	prints formatted byte/`wchar_t` output to stdout, a file stream, or a buffer using variable argument list
File positioning	`ftell`		returns the current file position indicator
	`fgetpos`		gets the file position indicator
	`fseek`		moves the file position indicator to a specific location in a file
	`fsetpos`		moves the file position indicator to a specific location in a file
	`rewind`		moves the file position indicator to the beginning in a file
Error handling	`clearerr`		clears errors
	`feof`		checks for the end-of-file
	`ferror`		checks for a file error
	`perror`		displays a character string corresponding of the current error to stderr
Operations on files	`remove`		erases a file
	`rename`		renames a file
	`tmpfile`		returns a pointer to a temporary file
	`tmpnam`		returns a unique filename

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“When Western people train the mind, the focus is generally on the left hemisphere of the cortex, which is the portion of the brain that is concerned with words and numbers. We enhance the logical, bounded, linear functions of the mind. In the East, exercises of this sort are for the purpose of getting in tune with the unconscious—to get rid of boundaries, not to create them.”
—Edward T. Hall (b. 1914)