Top 50 VIVA Questions and Answers: File Handling in C Language

 Top 50 VIVA Questions and Answers: File Handling in C Language

1. What is File Handling in C?

• File handling is a mechanism in C programming to work with files, allowing operations like reading, writing, and manipulating file data.

2. How do you open a file in C?

• The fopen function is used to open a file. For example, FILE *file = fopen("example.txt", "r"); opens a file named "example.txt" in read mode.

3. Explain the modes used in the fopen function.

• Modes include "r" for read, "w" for write, "a" for append, "r+" for read and write, and "w+" for write and read (creates a new file or truncates an existing one).

4. How do you close a file in C?

• The fclose function is used to close an opened file. For example, fclose(file); closes the file.

5. What is the purpose of the getc function in C?

• getc is used to read a character from a file.

6. How do you write a character to a file using the putc function?

• putc writes a character to a file. For example, putc('A', file); writes the character 'A' to the file.

7. Explain the concept of buffering in file handling.

• Buffering involves temporarily storing data in memory before reading from or writing to a file, enhancing efficiency.

8. What is the fgets function used for in C file handling?

• fgets is used to read a line from a file.

9. How can you write a string to a file in C using the fputs function?

• fputs writes a string to a file. For example, fputs("Hello, World!", file); writes the string to the file.

10. Discuss the purpose of the fscanf function in C. - fscanf is used for reading formatted data from a file, similar to scanf for standard input.

11. What is the significance of the fprintf function in C? - fprintf is used for writing formatted data to a file, similar to printf for standard output.

12. How do you move the file position indicator in C file handling? - The fseek function is used to move the file position indicator to a specific location in the file.

13. What is the rewind function used for in C file handling? - rewind sets the file position indicator to the beginning of the file.

14. Explain the concept of binary file handling in C. - Binary file handling involves reading and writing data in binary format rather than text format.

15. How can you check the end of a file using the feof function? - feof returns a non-zero value if the end of the file has been reached.

16. Discuss the purpose of the fputc function in C. - fputc writes a character to a file, similar to putc.

17. How do you read a block of data from a file using the fread function? - fread is used to read a specified number of bytes from a file.

18. Explain the concept of file streams in C. - File streams are channels through which data is transferred between a program and a file.

19. How can you write a block of data to a file using the fwrite function? - fwrite writes a specified number of bytes to a file.

20. What is the role of the ftell function in C file handling? - ftell returns the current position of the file position indicator.

21. How do you create a new file in C using file handling? - Opening a file in write mode ("w") creates a new file, and if the file already exists, it is truncated.

22. Explain the use of the remove function in C file handling. - remove is used to delete a file from the file system.

23. How do you rename a file in C using file handling? - The rename function is used to change the name of a file.

24. Discuss the purpose of the feof function in C file handling. - feof checks for the end-of-file indicator, returning non-zero if the indicator is set.

25. How can you read and write structures to a file in C? - Using fwrite to write structures and fread to read structures enables reading and writing complex data types.

26. Explain the concept of temporary files in C file handling. - Temporary files are created during program execution and are deleted when the program exits.

27. What is the fgetpos function used for in C file handling? - fgetpos stores the current file position indicator in a fpos_t object.

28. How do you restore the file position indicator using fsetpos? - fsetpos sets the file position indicator to the value stored in a fpos_t object.

29. Discuss the purpose of the clearerr function in C file handling. - clearerr clears the end-of-file and error indicators for a file.

30. How can you check if an error occurred during a file operation using ferror? - ferror returns a non-zero value if an error occurred during the last file operation.

31. Explain the role of the perror function in C file handling. - perror prints a description for the last file-related error.

32. What is the significance of the tmpfile function in C file handling? - tmpfile creates a temporary file that is automatically deleted when the program terminates.

33. Discuss the use of binary file read and write operations in C. - Binary file read and write operations deal with raw data, making them suitable for non-text files.

34. How do you perform random access file operations in C? - fseek is used to move the file position indicator to a specific location for random access.

35. What is the ungetc function used for in C file handling? - ungetc pushes a character back into the input stream.

36. Explain the purpose of the setvbuf function in C file handling. - setvbuf sets the buffer type for a file stream.

37. How do you check if a file exists in C before opening it? - Using the access function with the F_OK mode checks for the existence of a file.

38. Discuss the role of the ferror function in C file handling. - ferror checks if an error occurred during the last file operation.

39. How can you lock and unlock a file in C using file handling? - flockfile and funlockfile are used to lock and unlock a file for multithreaded programs.

40. What is the purpose of the fflush function in C file handling? - fflush flushes the output buffer of a stream.

41. Discuss the significance of the fileno function in C file handling. - fileno returns the file descriptor associated with a file stream.

42. How do you set the file position indicator to the beginning of a file using rewind? - rewind sets the file position indicator to the beginning of the file.

43. Explain the concept of a binary search in a file in C. - A binary search involves moving the file position indicator to the middle of the file for efficient searching.

44. What is the role of the getline function in C file handling? - getline reads an entire line from a file, dynamically allocating memory as needed.

45. Discuss the use of popen and pclose functions in C file handling. - popen opens a process, and pclose closes it, allowing communication between processes.

46. How do you handle errors during file operations in C? - Check the return values of file functions and use functions like perror to display error messages.

47. What is the ftello function used for in C file handling? - ftello returns the current file position indicator as a long long value.

48. Discuss the role of the fdopen function in C file handling. - fdopen associates a file stream with a file descriptor.

49. How can you determine the size of a file in C file handling? - Use fseek and ftell to move to the end of the file and get the current file position indicator, representing the file size.

50. What is the getw function used for in C file handling? - getw reads a binary word from a file.