How To Read a File That Has Spaces In Its Name in C

Question

I'm trying to open a file to read its content, but when it has spaces in its name (like lot of spaces.txt), it doesn't even open it. How can I do that? I searched on the internet but only found the backslash \ solution (add a backslash before every space [like lot\ of\ spaces.txt]), that doesn't works to me.

MyFileCompressor.c

int main()
{

    char directory[100];
    char * direct;

    printf("File: ");
    scanf("%s", directory);

    if((direct = malloc(strlen(diretorio)+strlen(".newextension")+1)) != NULL)
    {
        direct[0] = '\0';
        strcat(direct, directory);
        strcat(directory,".newextension");
    }
    else
    {
        printf("Error!\n\n");
        return;
    }

    compress_file(directory, direct); //compress the file in typed directory to the new directory (direct)

    return 0;

}

C does not care about spaces in filenames. There is no difference between opening `lot of spaces.txt` and `hello.txt` with e.g. `open()` or `fopen()`. — that other guy, Nov 21 '19 at 01:42
Are you sure? Because I'm not able to open a file like that. — IncredibleCoding, Nov 21 '19 at 01:43
As far as C is concerned, a call like `FILE *fp = fopen("filename with spaces.txt", "r")` is totally fine. — Steve Summit, Nov 21 '19 at 01:44
are you running the compiled in the same directory which there should be that file? — Alberto Sinigaglia, Nov 21 '19 at 01:44
Note that there's a huge difference in "C opening a file with spaces in its name" and the shell "passing a filename with spaces in it to a C program as an argument". — Andrew Henle, Nov 21 '19 at 01:45
It's impossible to tell you why your code isn't working, because you've not posted that code. We've already told you that C will open the file fine, and instead of repeating *Are you sure? Are you sure?*, it would be more productive to post your code and ask a specific question related to that code. — Ken White, Nov 21 '19 at 01:46
I suspect the problem you're having isn't with opening the file, it's with reading the filename from the user. — Barmar, Nov 21 '19 at 01:47
@Barmar `scanf("%s", filename)` was also going to be my guess :P — that other guy, Nov 21 '19 at 01:48
If you try to use `scanf` with `%s` format, it will only read one word. — Barmar, Nov 21 '19 at 01:48
Whenever you're having trouble opening a file, for this or any reason, the advice is the same (1) print back out the exact filename string you (think you) are trying to open. (2) print out the errno value and/or the perror/strerror text. — Steve Summit, Nov 21 '19 at 01:51
Let us [continue this discussion in chat](https://chat.stackoverflow.com/rooms/202765/discussion-between-incrediblecoding-and-steve-summit). — IncredibleCoding, Nov 21 '19 at 01:52
Anyway, if it isn't obvious, the problem is `scanf("%s", directory)`, which won't read a name with spaces into `directory`. — Steve Summit, Nov 21 '19 at 01:55
Option 1: `fgets`, although you have to strip the newline. Option 2: `scanf("%[^\n]")`. — Steve Summit, Nov 21 '19 at 01:59
[How to read one whole line](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/41861208/how-to-read-one-whole-line-from-text-file-using) — Steve Summit, Nov 21 '19 at 02:00
So, considering the option 2, I should do: `scanf("%[^\n]", directory);`? — IncredibleCoding, Nov 21 '19 at 02:00
@IncredibleCoding Try again. Worked for me. And do study the answers at [this other question](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/41861208/how-to-read-one-whole-line-from-text-file-using). — Steve Summit, Nov 21 '19 at 02:12
@IncredibleCoding You should put a space in the format string `" %[^\n]"`. That will skip any whitespace *before* the first character of the name. But you'll still need to strip any whitespace *after* the last character of the name. Also, the name must **not** be enclosed in quotes, or contain backslash characters. And as others have pointed out, you should be printing the name (e.g. `printf("'%s'\n", directory);`) until you've got this part of the code working perfectly. — user3386109, Nov 21 '19 at 02:25

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered Nov 23 '19 at 01:00

2

scanf() only reads one string per space (" "), so I've changed this:

     scanf("%s", directory);

to this:

    getchar();
    gets(directory);

    //NOTE THAT THE USER NEEDS TO TYPE A DIRECTORY WITHOUT QUOTES ("")!

Now it's working.

answered Nov 23 '19 at 01:00

IncredibleCoding

191
2
14

How To Read a File That Has Spaces In Its Name in C

1 Answers1