🔶 Text vs Binary Files in C

🧵 Reading and Writing Text & Binary Files in C

🔶 Text vs Binary Files

Type	Description
Text File	Stores data in human-readable form
Binary File	Stores data in machine-readable form

🔹 Writing to a Text File

#include <stdio.h>
int main() {
    FILE *fp = fopen("textfile.txt", "w");
    fprintf(fp, "Hello World!\n");
    fprintf(fp, "This is a text file.\n");
    fclose(fp);
    return 0;
}

🔹 Reading from a Text File

#include <stdio.h>
int main() {
    FILE *fp = fopen("textfile.txt", "r");
    char buffer[100];
    while (fgets(buffer, sizeof(buffer), fp)) {
        printf("%s", buffer);
    }
    fclose(fp);
    return 0;
}

🔹 Writing to a Binary File

#include <stdio.h>
struct Student {
    int id;
    float marks;
};
int main() {
    struct Student s1 = {101, 88.5};
    FILE *fp = fopen("student.dat", "wb");
    fwrite(&s1, sizeof(struct Student), 1, fp);
    fclose(fp);
    return 0;
}

🔹 Reading from a Binary File

#include <stdio.h>
struct Student {
    int id;
    float marks;
};
int main() {
    struct Student s2;
    FILE *fp = fopen("student.dat", "rb");
    fread(&s2, sizeof(struct Student), 1, fp);
    printf("ID: %d\nMarks: %.2f\n", s2.id, s2.marks);
    fclose(fp);
    return 0;
}

🔚 Summary

• Text File: Readable, editable but slow
• Binary File: Compact, fast, ideal for structures

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