File C Language

File

A computer file is a computer resource for recording data discretely in a computer storage device. Just as words can be written to paper, so can information be written to a computer file. Files can be edited and transferred through the internet on that particular computer system.

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 a few commands in C.

·         You can easily move your data from one computer to another without any changes.

Types of Files

When dealing with files, there are two types of files you should know about:

• Text files
• Binary files

TEXT FILES

A Text file contains only the text information like alphabets ,digits and special symbols. The ASCII code of these characters are stored in these files.It uses only 7 bits allowing 8 bit to be zero.

Binary File

Binary files are very similar to arrays of structures, except the structures are in a disk file rather than in an array in memory. Because the structures in a binary file are on disk, you can create very large collections of them (limited only by your available disk space). They are also permanent and always available. The only disadvantage is the slowness that comes from disk access time.

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