Handle a missing file without treating it as an empty file.

C: Inspect errno after a failed fopen to distinguish the documented missing-path condition.

#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <string.h>
#include <ctype.h>
#include <stdint.h>
#include <stdbool.h>
#include <errno.h>
#include <limits.h>
#include <math.h>
#include <time.h>

int main(void) {
    errno=0;
    FILE *file=fopen("missing.txt","r");
    if (file==NULL) {
        if (errno==ENOENT) puts("File missing");
        else return 1;
    } else { fclose(file); return 1; }
    return 0;
}

Expected output EXAMPLE

File missing

Details

Save as snippet.c; compile with gcc -std=c17 -Wall -Wextra snippet.c -lm -o snippet, then run ./snippet. Inspect errno after a failed fopen to distinguish the documented missing-path condition.

✓ Verified

Tested on Ubuntu 24.04.5 LTS · 2026-11-02 18:02:37 UTC · gcc (Ubuntu 13.3.0-6ubuntu2~24.04.1) 13.3.0 · gcc 4:13.2.0-7ubuntu1

Test inputs, results and environment

The exact published code ran in a dedicated Linux test container with prepared inputs. Unprivileged snippet process, external networking disabled, read-only root filesystem, and a fresh temporary working directory. Fixtures and output records are isolated from the application database. Testing covers this example and its stated checks, not every input, operating system, or runtime version. The Linux container shares its host's kernel; this is not a native Windows test.

Architecture / host kernel: x86_64 / 6.18.54.1-microsoft-standard-WSL2
Snippet identity / locale: uid=65534, gid=65534 (unprivileged) / C.UTF-8
Interpreter invocation: gcc -std=c17 -Wall -Wextra -Werror snippet.c -lm -o snippet && ./snippet
Container image ID: sha256:32dc2d998158b6554c99b73b533f423696a0f3e31e8cbea9db10b5eee9a2fadd
Code SHA-256: bc11b89f56007ff2457a2b5eff5299d738ec29b427a6d4eff71f679978244c5c
Dependencies: gcc 4:13.2.0-7ubuntu1

Test input setup

These are the prepared inputs used by the test harness. See Details above for the prerequisites and how to run this example.

# No input files required.

Observed standard output

File missing

Exit code: 0. Standard error: empty. Validation: Exact stdout comparison. System-dependent values above are one recorded run.