std::freopen

Defined in header `<cstdio>`
std::FILE* freopen( const char* filename, const char* mode, std::FILE* stream );

First, attempts to close the file associated with stream, ignoring any errors. Then, if filename is not null, attempts to open the file specified by filename using mode as if by fopen, and associates that file with the file stream pointed to by stream. If filename is a null pointer, then the function attempts to reopen the file that is already associated with stream (it is implementation defined which mode changes are allowed in this case).

Parameters

filename - file name to associate the file stream to

mode

null-terminated character string determining new file access mode

File access mode string	Meaning	Explanation	Action if file already exists	Action if file does not exist
`"r"`	read	Open a file for reading	read from start	failure to open
`"w"`	write	Create a file for writing	destroy contents	create new
`"a"`	append	Append to a file	write to end	create new
`"r+"`	read extended	Open a file for read/write	read from start	error
`"w+"`	write extended	Create a file for read/write	destroy contents	create new
`"a+"`	append extended	Open a file for read/write	write to end	create new
File access mode flag `"b"` can optionally be specified to open a file in binary mode. This flag has no effect on POSIX systems, but on Windows, for example, it disables special handling of `'\n'` and `'\x1A'`. On the append file access modes, data is written to the end of the file regardless of the current position of the file position indicator.

stream - the file stream to modify

Return value

stream on success, NULL on failure.

Notes

freopen is the only way to change the narrow/wide orientation of a stream once it has been established by an I/O operation or by std::fwide.

Example

The following code redirects stdout to a file.

#include <cstdio>
 
int main()
{
    std::printf("stdout is printed to console\n");
    if(std::freopen("redir.txt", "w", stdout)) {
        std::printf("stdout is redirected to a file\n"); // this is written to redir.txt
        std::fclose(stdout);
    }
}

Output:

stdout is printed to console

fopen	opens a file (function)
fclose	closes a file (function)
C documentation for `freopen`

std::freopen

Parameters

Return value

Notes

Example

See also