What's the best way to check if a file exists in C?

Question

Is there a better way than simply trying to open the file? int exists(const char *fname) { FILE *file; if ((file = fopen(fname, "r"))) { fclose(file); return 1; } return 0; }

Answer 1

in unistd.h there is an function called access().

the prototype is access ( char * pathToFile, int accessCode)

you pass the filename and one of the following:

F_OK : the file exists

R_OK : the file can be read

W_OK: the file can be written

X_OK: the file can be executed

you can use the bitwise OR operator to test any or all of them

The return value is zero if the file can be accessed or -1 if it cannot