Check if a file exists

[Lop]

Is there a function to check if a file exists?

[icepack]

Not so much a function, but a way
Say you are trying to open a file to write to
you'd need to #include <fstream>

then to open the file use:

ofstream myFile("local location of file");

but you always have to check if that file actually exists, or else it's be useless. so

if (! myFile)
{
cout << "Error\n";
return -1;
}

is that what you wanted? i imagine you could just use that even if you didn't want to write to the file.

[BuildPromoteWin]

You could also use the WIN API call "_stat()" to check on file status. it returns a -1 on error / file not found

int _stat( const char *path, struct _stat *buffer );

[Frantic]

Never heard of the WIN API. How do I add that to my code?

[TkTech]

Frantic, if youve never heard of it, then just stick to standard c++

#include <fstream>

void main( void )
{
  ifstream fin("myfile.ini" , ios::in );
  ofstream fout;
  if( fin.fail() ) //File error
 {
    //So create the file
     fout.open("myfile.ini" , ios::out | ios::trunc );
     //File it with the default text/binary
     fout << "Whateveryouwantasdefault";
    //Close and clear the file write buffer
     fout.close();
     fout.clear();
    //And reopen the file
     fin.open("myfile.ini" , ios::in );
  }
   //Now do your normal operations as if nothing ever happend
   fin.read((char *)&bla , sizeof(blastruct));
   fin.close();
}