Member Avatar for dhanashree

Hi
I want to know...
can we able to create array of files and how ?????????

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  • Latest Post Latest Post by kc0arf

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When you say "array of files" you probably mean an array of file handles (pointers or descriptors), not an array that contains disk files. , an array of FILE* or file descriptors is the usual approach. That’s what demonstrated, and is right to remind you that files themselves live on the filesystem — your program only holds references to them.

Practical points to watch for:

  • Keep a parallel list of filenames and the corresponding FILE* (or store both in a small struct) so you can report errors and close the right handle.
  • Always check the result of fopen/open. If one open fails, close any already-opened handles before exiting.
  • Don’t try to open huge numbers of files at once; OS limits exist (use sysconf(_SC_OPEN_MAX) or getrlimit(RLIMIT_NOFILE) on POSIX to check). If you need to process many files, open/process/close them in batches.
  • If multiple threads or processes access the same file, use proper locking (OS-specific) to avoid corruption.

Example pattern (dynamic array + error handling):

const char *names[] = { "in1.txt", "in2.txt", "in3.txt" };
size_t n = sizeof names / sizeof *names;
FILE **fps = malloc(n * sizeof *fps);
if (!fps) { perror("malloc"); exit(1); }
for (size_t i = 0; i < n; ++i) {
    fps[i] = fopen(names[i], "r");
    if (!fps[i]) { perror(names[i]); while (i-- > 0) fclose(fps[i]); free(fps); exit(1); }
}
/* use files */
for (size_t i = 0; i < n; ++i) fclose(fps[i]);
free(fps);

If your set of files is fixed and small, a static array is fine; for variable counts use dynamic allocation or a container. Handle errors and closes carefully — that’s the common pitfall.

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Member Avatar for XianBin

you can try it by yourself. :)

Member Avatar for Chainsaw

You could certainly have an array of file HANDLES or the like...

FILE* myFiles[10];

for (int i = 0; i < 10; i++)
    myFiles[i] = fopen("Chainsaw.txt","r");

is that what you mean?

Member Avatar for kc0arf

Hello,

An array of files makes no sense. Arrays are data structures; files are residents of a file system on a hard drive (or RAMdrive).

What are you really trying to do?

Christian

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