fread(3S) UNIX System V(C Development Set) fread(3S)
NAME
fread, fwrite - binary input/output
SYNOPSIS
#include <stdio.h>
sizet fread (void *ptr, sizet size, sizet nitems, FILE *stream);
sizet fwrite (const void *ptr, sizet size, sizet nitems, FILE
*stream);
DESCRIPTION
fread reads into an array pointed to by ptr up to nitems items of data
from stream, where an item of data is a sequence of bytes (not
necessarily terminated by a null byte) of length size. fread stops
reading bytes if an end-of-file or error condition is encountered while
reading stream, or if nitems items have been read. fread increments the
data pointer in stream to point to the byte following the last byte read
if there is one. fread does not change the contents of stream. fread
returns the number of items read.
fwrite writes to the named output stream at most nitems items of data
from the array pointed to by ptr, where an item of data is a sequence of
bytes (not necessarily terminated by a null byte) of length size. fwrite
stops writing when it has written nitems items of data or if an error
condition is encountered on stream. fwrite does not change the contents
of the array pointed to by ptr. fwrite increments the data-pointer in
stream by the number of bytes written. fwrite returns the number of
items written.
If size or nitems is zero, then fread and fwrite return a value of 0 and
do not effect the state of stream.
The ferror or feof routines must be used to distinguish between an error
condition and end-of-file condition.
SEE ALSO
exit(2), lseek(2), read(2), write(2), abort(3C), fclose(3S), fopen(3S),
getc(3S), gets(3S), printf(3S), putc(3S), puts(3S), scanf(3S), stdio(3S).
DIAGNOSTICS
If an error occurs, the error indicator for stream is set.
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