C programming, reading from a file and loading into an array

Question

I'm getting a few extra garbage characters after I print out the file I've read into an array.

Here is my code

fp = fopen("load.txt", "r");

if (fp == NULL)
{
    perror("Exiting, an error occured while opening\n");
    exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
}


while((ch = fgetc(fp)) != EOF)
{
    load[i++] = ch;

}

fclose(fp);

for(i = 0; i < 100; ++i)
{

    printf("%c", load[i]);
}

Sample output

The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog. ��0LãUˇ��∞4 ��@LãUˇ��

Notice all of the garbage after the sentence? I'm not sure what is causing this.

Thanks in advance for any help

Are you reading about 45 characters (the length of "The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog.") and printing 100? — Andrew Stein
– Andrew Stein, Commented Apr 29, 2014 at 17:34

barak manos · Accepted Answer · 2014-04-29 17:35:12Z

2

Well, what did you expect to happen when you print 100 characters in the for loop???

Add i = 0 before the while loop.
Add load[i] = 0 after the while loop.
Replace the entire for loop with printf("%s",load).

Also, assuming that the load array is statically allocated in the same function:

Extend the condition of the while loop with && i < sizeof(load)-1.

answered Apr 29, 2014 at 17:35

barak manos

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Comments

kviiri · Accepted Answer · 2014-04-29 17:34:47Z

1

You're printing load[i] for all values of i from 0 to 99, but never seem to assign to it beyond where the data read from the file ends. This means the rest of the array has garbage data, which is what you see when you print it.

To fix this, add a terminator symbol to the end of the data read from the file and break the for loop once it comes up.

answered Apr 29, 2014 at 17:34

kviiri

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Comments

Majid Laissi · Accepted Answer · 2014-04-29 17:37:50Z

0

If you insist on keeping your for loop:

for(int j = 0; j < i; ++j)  //stop at the EOF you got earlier
{
    printf("%c", load[i]);
}

answered Apr 29, 2014 at 17:37

Majid Laissi

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Comments

Bruno Ferreira · Accepted Answer · 2014-04-29 17:37:20Z

-1

In C, all strings have a null string terminator, the \0 character. Since you already have the last character loaded, i then you can:

if (i >= 100) i = 100; // bounding checks
load[i] = '\0';

And for printing, you must:

int pos;
while ( pos = 0; pos < i; ++pos)
  printf("%c", load[pos]);

Or...

printf("%s", load);

answered Apr 29, 2014 at 17:37

Bruno Ferreira

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