close file with fopen() but file still in use

Posted by Marco on Stack Overflow See other posts from Stack Overflow or by Marco
Published on 2011-01-12T08:51:12Z Indexed on 2011/01/12 8:53 UTC
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Hi all,

I've got a problem with deleting/overwriting a file using my program which is also being used(read) by my program. The problem seems to be that because of the fact my program is reading data from the file (output.txt) it puts the file in a 'in use' state which makes it impossible to delete or overwrite the file.

I don't understand why the file stays 'in use' because I close the file after use with fclose();

this is my code:

bool bBool = true

while(bBool){
  //Run myprogram.exe tot generate (a new) output.txt

  //Create file pointer and open file
  FILE* pInputFile = NULL;
  pInputFile = fopen("output.txt", "r");
  //
  //then I do some reading using fscanf()
  //
  //And when I'm done reading I close the file using fclose()
  fclose(pInputFile);

  //The next step is deleting the output.txt
  if( remove( "output.txt" ) == -1 ){
    //ERROR
  }else{
    //Succesfull
  }
}

I use fclose() to close the file but the file remains in use by my program until my program is totally shut down.

What is the solution to free the file so it can be deleted/overwrited?

In reality my code isn't a loop without an end ; )

Thanks in advance!

Marco

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