Reading the whole text file into a char array in C

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I want to read the contents of a text file into a char array in C. Newlines must be kept.

How do I accomplish this? I've found some C++ solutions on the web, but no C only solution.

Edit: I have the following code now:

void *loadfile(char *file, int *size)
{
    FILE *fp;
    long lSize;
    char *buffer;

    fp = fopen ( file , "rb" );
    if( !fp ) perror(file),exit(1);

    fseek( fp , 0L , SEEK_END);
    lSize = ftell( fp );
    rewind( fp );

    /* allocate memory for entire content */
    buffer = calloc( 1, lSize+1 );
    if( !buffer ) fclose(fp),fputs("memory alloc fails",stderr),exit(1);

    /* copy the file into the buffer */
    if( 1!=fread( buffer , lSize, 1 , fp) )
      fclose(fp),free(buffer),fputs("entire read fails",stderr),exit(1);

    /* do your work here, buffer is a string contains the whole text */
    size = (int *)lSize;
    fclose(fp);
    return buffer;
}

I get one warning: warning: assignment makes pointer from integer without a cast. This is on the line size = (int)lSize;. If I run the app, it segfaults.

Update: The above code works now. I located the segfault, and I posted another question. Thanks for the help.

file-io c text
5 Answers

I have used following code to read xml file in to a char buffer and I had to add \0 at the end of file

FILE *fptr;
char *msg;
long length;
size_t read_s = 0;  
fptr = fopen("example_test.xml", "rb");
fseek(fptr, 0L, SEEK_END);
length = ftell(fptr);
rewind(fptr);
msg = (char*)malloc((length+1));
read_s = fread(msg, 1, length, fptr);
*(mip_msg+ read_s) = 0;
if (fptr) fclose(fptr);
user_108577740
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