How to resolve the algorithm Truncate a file step by step in the C++ programming language

Published on 7 June 2024 03:52 AM

How to resolve the algorithm Truncate a file step by step in the C++ programming language

Table of Contents

Problem Statement

Truncate a file to a specific length.   This should be implemented as a routine that takes two parameters: the filename and the required file length (in bytes).

Truncation can be achieved using system or library calls intended for such a task, if such methods exist, or by creating a temporary file of a reduced size and renaming it, after first deleting the original file, if no other method is available.   The file may contain non human readable binary data in an unspecified format, so the routine should be "binary safe", leaving the contents of the untruncated part of the file unchanged. If the specified filename does not exist, or the provided length is not less than the current file length, then the routine should raise an appropriate error condition. On some systems, the provided file truncation facilities might not change the file or may extend the file, if the specified length is greater than the current length of the file. This task permits the use of such facilities.   However, such behaviour should be noted, or optionally a warning message relating to an non change or increase in file size may be implemented.

Let's start with the solution:

Step by Step solution about How to resolve the algorithm Truncate a file step by step in the C++ programming language

The provided C++ code is a function called truncateFile that takes a filename and a maximum size as input and truncates the file to the specified size.

Explanation of the Code:

  1. Header Inclusions:

    • The code includes necessary header files:
      • <string> for string handling
      • <fstream> for file handling
  2. Function Definition (truncateFile):

    • The truncateFile function takes two parameters:
      • filename: The name of the file to truncate
      • max_size: The maximum size to which the file should be truncated
  3. Input File Handling:

    • An input file stream (input) is created to read the contents of the original file (filename).
    • The input stream is opened in binary mode using std::ios::binary.
  4. Output File Handling:

    • A new filename is generated by appending ".trunc" to the original filename (outfile).
    • An output file stream (appendFile) is created to write the truncated contents to the new file.
    • The output file is opened in append mode using ios_base::out.
  5. Truncating the File:

    • A loop runs for a maximum of max_size iterations to control the truncation.
    • In each iteration:
      • A single character is read from the input file into the buffer variable.
      • The character is written to the output file using appendFile.
  6. Closing File Streams:

    • After truncation, both input and output file streams are closed to release system resources.
  7. Main Function:

    • The main function calls the truncateFile function with "test.txt" as the filename and 5 as the maximum size. This truncates the test.txt file to contain only the first 5 characters from the original file.

Source code in the cpp programming language

#include <string>
#include <fstream>

using namespace std;

void truncateFile(string filename, int max_size) {
  std::ifstream input( filename, std::ios::binary );
  char buffer;
  string outfile = filename + ".trunc";
  ofstream appendFile(outfile, ios_base::out);
  for(int i=0; i<max_size; i++) {
    input.read( &buffer, sizeof(buffer) );
    appendFile.write(&buffer,1);
  }
  appendFile.close();                                                                                                                                                                }

int main () {
  truncateFile("test.txt", 5);
  return 0;
}


  

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