File Copying in C

By: Fazal in C Tutorials on 2007-09-20

Given getchar and putchar, you can write a surprising amount of useful code without knowing anything more about input and output. The simplest example is a program that copies its input to its output one character at a time:

read a character
    while (charater is not end-of-file indicator)
        output the character just read
        read a character

Converting this into C gives:

   #include <stdio.h>

   /* copy input to output; 1st version  */
   main()
   {
       int c;

       c = getchar();
       while (c != EOF) {
           putchar(c);
           c = getchar();
       }
   }

The relational operator != means ``not equal to''.

What appears to be a character on the keyboard or screen is of course, like everything else, stored internally just as a bit pattern. The type char is specifically meant for storing such character data, but any integer type can be used. We used int for a subtle but important reason.

The problem is distinguishing the end of input from valid data. The solution is that getchar returns a distinctive value when there is no more input, a value that cannot be confused with any real character. This value is called EOF, for ``end of file''. We must declare c to be a type big enough to hold any value that getchar returns. We can't use char since c must be big enough to hold EOF in addition to any possible char. Therefore we use int.

EOF is an integer defined in <stdio.h>, but the specific numeric value doesn't matter as long as it is not the same as any char value. By using the symbolic constant, we are assured that nothing in the program depends on the specific numeric value.

The program for copying would be written more concisely by experienced C programmers. In C, any assignment, such as

   c = getchar();

is an expression and has a value, which is the value of the left hand side after the assignment. This means that a assignment can appear as part of a larger expression. If the assignment of a character to c is put inside the test part of a while loop, the copy program can be written this way:

   #include <stdio.h>

   /* copy input to output; 2nd version  */
   main()
   {
       int c;

       while ((c = getchar()) != EOF)
           putchar(c);
   }

The while gets a character, assigns it to c, and then tests whether the character was the end-of-file signal. If it was not, the body of the while is executed, printing the character. The while then repeats. When the end of the input is finally reached, the while terminates and so does main.

This version centralizes the input - there is now only one reference to getchar - and shrinks the program. The resulting program is more compact, and, once the idiom is mastered, easier to read. You'll see this style often. (It's possible to get carried away and create impenetrable code, however, a tendency that we will try to curb.)

The parentheses around the assignment, within the condition are necessary. The precedence of != is higher than that of =, which means that in the absence of parentheses the relational test != would be done before the assignment =. So the statement