Create a file if one doesn't exist - C

Question

I want my program to open a file if it exists, or else create the file. I'm trying the following code but I'm getting a debug assertion at freopen.c. Would I be better off using fclose and then fopen immediately afterward?

FILE *fptr;
    fptr = fopen("scores.dat", "rb+");
    if(fptr == NULL) //if file does not exist, create it
    {
        freopen("scores.dat", "wb", fptr);
    } 

Answer 1

You typically have to do this in a single syscall, or else you will get a race condition.

This will open for reading and writing, creating the file if necessary.

FILE *fp = fopen("scores.dat", "ab+");

If you want to read it and then write a new version from scratch, then do it as two steps.

FILE *fp = fopen("scores.dat", "rb");
if (fp) {
    read_scores(fp);
}

// Later...

// truncates the file
FILE *fp = fopen("scores.dat", "wb");
if (!fp)
    error();
write_scores(fp);

Answer 2

If fptr is NULL, then you don't have an open file. Therefore, you can't freopen it, you should just fopen it.

FILE *fptr;
fptr = fopen("scores.dat", "rb+");
if(fptr == NULL) //if file does not exist, create it
{
    fptr = fopen("scores.dat", "wb");
}

note: Since the behavior of your program varies depending on whether the file is opened in read or write modes, you most probably also need to keep a variable indicating which is the case.

A complete example

int main()
{
    FILE *fptr;
    char there_was_error = 0;
    char opened_in_read  = 1;
    fptr = fopen("scores.dat", "rb+");
    if(fptr == NULL) //if file does not exist, create it
    {
        opened_in_read = 0;
        fptr = fopen("scores.dat", "wb");
        if (fptr == NULL)
            there_was_error = 1;
    }
    if (there_was_error)
    {
        printf("Disc full or no permission\n");
        return EXIT_FAILURE;
    }
    if (opened_in_read)
        printf("The file is opened in read mode."
               " Let's read some cached data\n");
    else
        printf("The file is opened in write mode."
               " Let's do some processing and cache the results\n");
    return EXIT_SUCCESS;
}