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\")))
    {
               


        

Answer 1

I think that access() function, which is found in unistd.h is a good choice for Linux (you can use stat too).

You can Use it like this:

#include 
#include 
#include

void fileCheck(const char *fileName);

int main (void) {
    char *fileName = "/etc/sudoers";

    fileCheck(fileName);
    return 0;
}

void fileCheck(const char *fileName){

    if(!access(fileName, F_OK )){
        printf("The File %s\t was Found\n",fileName);
    }else{
        printf("The File %s\t not Found\n",fileName);
    }

    if(!access(fileName, R_OK )){
        printf("The File %s\t can be read\n",fileName);
    }else{
        printf("The File %s\t cannot be read\n",fileName);
    }

    if(!access( fileName, W_OK )){
        printf("The File %s\t it can be Edited\n",fileName);
    }else{
        printf("The File %s\t it cannot be Edited\n",fileName);
    }

    if(!access( fileName, X_OK )){
        printf("The File %s\t is an Executable\n",fileName);
    }else{
        printf("The File %s\t is not an Executable\n",fileName);
    }
}

And you get the following Output:

The File /etc/sudoers    was Found
The File /etc/sudoers    cannot be read
The File /etc/sudoers    it cannot be Edited
The File /etc/sudoers    is not an Executable