readFile.c

readFile.c contains three public domain C language functions: readFile, readLines and freeLines.

readFile function

char *readFile(const char *fileName, int textMode,
    int terminate, size_t maxSize, size_t *length)

readFile reads the entire contents of a file into a newly-malloc'ed buffer and returns a pointer to it. It will read the file in text mode, if requested, by removing any carriage returns found. It will terminate the contents with '\0' if requested. maxSize may specify a maximum size for the buffer. The content's byte count may be obtained through length.

readLines function

char **readLines(const char *fileName, size_t maxSize, 
    size_t *lineCount)

readLines reads the entire contents of a text file into a newly-malloc'ed buffer and returns an argv-like array of pointers to the lines of text in the buffer. Carriage returns and linefeeds are excluded from the lines. Each line is terminated with '\0'. maxSize may specify a maximum amount of memory to use. The number of lines found may be obtained through lineCount.

freeLines function

void freeLines(char **lines)

freeLines frees all memory allocated by readLines.

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If -DREADFILE_TEST is given when readFile.c is compiled a simple test main will be included. main writes a file named on the command line to stdout, and displays on stderr the number of lines read.

Ron Charlton