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I have this simple program that counts characters in a line as well as a specific character z and Z. I am trying to figure out the simplest way to output my results to a file "outfile.txt". any ideas?


#include<stdio.h>
#include<string.h>
#include<stdlib.h>

int main(void)
{

char string[80];
char *s;
int count=0;
int len;
int zcount=0;

}

printf("Enter string: ");
gets(string);
len=strlen(string);
printf("The length of your sentence is %d characters long\n",len);

for(s = string; *s != '\0'; s++)
{
if((*s == 'z') || (*s == 'Z'))
zcount++;
}

printf("Number of z's in your sentence are %d",zcount);

getchar();

return(0);
}

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Generated

Three quick, practical ways to get your program's results into a file (ranked by simplicity):

  • No code change: redirect the program's standard output at the shell. Unix/macOS: ./program > outfile.txt. Windows CMD or PowerShell: program.exe > outfile.txt. This is the easiest for a one-off run.

  • Minimal code change: redirect stdout inside the program with freopen, then keep using printf. That sends everything you print to the file without touching every printf. Check the freopen return and report errors if it fails. See the freopen man page for details: freopen(3).

  • Explicit file I/O: open a FILE * with fopen and call fprintf for the specific results you want to write. Use "w" to overwrite or "a" to append, and always check returns and call fclose. See fopen(3).

Two small implementation tips that add robustness to what posted and complement 's example: replace gets with fgets and strip the trailing newline before using strlen or counting characters; check every file operation return value and use perror or strerror(errno) on failure. See fgets(3) for the safe input pattern.

Quick troubleshooting checklist: if the file never appears, confirm the current working directory and file permissions, avoid hardcoded absolute paths (they break portability), and compile with warnings enabled (e.g., gcc -Wall -Wextra) to catch mistakes early. For a small utility that only prints results, shell redirection is usually the cleanest and fastest approach.

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Member Avatar for Aia

I have this simple program that counts characters in a line as well as a specific character z and Z. I am trying to figure out the simplest way to output my results to a file "outfile.txt". any ideas?

Without modifying your code too much, this could be a solution.

/* for psuspect at Daniweb
 * outfile_txt.c
 */
#include<stdio.h>
#include<string.h>
#include<stdlib.h>

int main(void)
{
    FILE *file_handler;
    char string[80];
    char *s;
    int count=0;
    int len;
    int zcount=0;


    printf("Enter string: ");
    gets(string);
    len=strlen(string);
    printf("The length of your sentence is %d characters long\n",len);
    
   /* open a file to disk for writting and check that it can be done */
    file_handler = fopen("C:\\outfile.txt", "w");
    if(file_handler == NULL)
    {
        fprintf(stderr, "Could not open %s - %s\n", "C:\\outfile.txt", sys_errlist[errno]);
        exit(1);
    }

    for(s = string; *s != '\0'; s++)
    {
        if((*s == 'z') || (*s == 'Z'))
            zcount++;
    }
    
   /* Write to file and return error if it can't be done */
    if(fprintf(file_handler, "The length of your sentence is %d characters long\n\n",len) < 0)
    {
        perror("Could not write to the file");
        fclose(file_handler);
        exit(1);
    }
  
  /* write to file */
    fprintf(file_handler,"Number of z's in your sentence are %d",zcount);
  
 /* close file at  ending */ 
    fclose(file_handler);

    printf("Number of z's in your sentence are %d",zcount);

    getchar();

    return(0);
}

Now I want to point out that using the function gets is considerate bad practice since it can produce buffer over-runs.

Also there's a extra } closing the main function before the first printf
request.

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