---
title: "The C Column"
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slug: "the-c-column-5"
url: "http://localhost/article/the-c-column-5/"
markdown_url: "http://localhost/article/the-c-column-5.md"
published_at: "2026-01-21T12:38:44+00:00"
modified_at: "2026-01-21T12:38:44+00:00"
featured_image:
  url: "http://localhost/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/20230809-041332.jpg"
excerpt: "As promised talk about how C last month, I'll accesses files. The simplest way to discuss how C handles files is to take a look at a C program that uses it. Look at program number 5. This program asks the user for a file name. It then opens the file, reads in a character…"
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  - name: "C (programming language)"
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indiv:
  - name: "Tim Swenson"
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publication_r:
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  title: "CATS Newsletter"
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  - name: "Tim Swenson"
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volume: "8"
issue: "2"
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  - id: 38913
    title: "CATS v8 n2"
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    url: "http://localhost/issue/cats-v8-n2/"
pages: "4-5"
pubdate: "July 1990"
archive_link: false
---

# The C Column

As promised talk about how C last month, I’ll accesses files.

The simplest way to discuss how C handles files is to take a look at a C program that uses it. Look at program number 5. This program asks the user for a file name. It then opens the file, reads in a character and prints it out the Screen. This goes on for the entire file.

The program declares a character array of size 20 to be hold the file name. It then declares the integer fd to hold the file ID. When a file is opened, C assigns a number to it. This number is returned from the fopen command to the variable fd.