access - Determine Access Mode

Syntax

#include <io.h>
int access(char *pathname, int mode);

access determines whether the specified file exists and whether you can get access to it in the given mode. Possible values for the mode and their meaning in the access call are:

Value

Meaning

Check for permission to read from and write to the file.

Check for permission to read from the file.

Check for permission to write to the file.

Check only for the existence of the file.

access returns 0 if you can get access to the file in the specified mode. A return value of -1 shows that the file does not exist or is inaccessible in the given mode, and the system sets errno to one of the following values:

Value

Meaning

Access is denied; the permission setting of the file does not allow you to get access to the file in the specified mode.

The system cannot find the file or the path that you specified, or the file name was incorrect.

The mode specified was not valid.

The call to the operating system was not successful.

This example checks for the existence of the file SAMPLE.DAT. If the file does not exist, it is created.

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

int main(void)
{
   if (-1 == access("sample.dat", 00)) {
      printf("File sample.dat does not exist.\n");
      printf("Creating sample.dat.\n");
      system("echo Sample Program > sample.dat");
      if (0 == access("sample.dat", 00))
         printf("File sample.dat created.\n");
   }
   else
      printf("File sample.dat exists.\n");
   return 0;

   /****************************************************************************
      The output should be:

      File sample.dat does not exist.
      Creating sample.dat.
      File sample.dat created.
   ****************************************************************************/
}

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