Unix C programming for finding file

[dawn]

Hi all,
I am now working on a C program under Unix.
The requirement for the program is that:
A file name is passed to program as a parameter. The program will
Find files under a specified directory. The matched file must have the
same content with the given file. It does not matter whether the
filenames are the same.

It is easy to find file that has the same name with given file, but
may be hard to find the files that with the same content. In my
knowledge, i give two solutions:

1) Go throught the directory and its sub direcotry tree, and when
meeting a file, Use the stand C library function to open that file and
the given file, and then compare those contents in buffers to see if
they are the same.

2) Go through the directory and its sub deirectroy tree, and when
meeting a file, execute the system shell command "diff" to compare the
two files to see if they are the same in content.
The two solutions seems not very smart and they are very running
slowly. I wonder if there is any library function that can compare two
file contents just like "strcmp" to compare two string.
Or maybe there are some other smart ways to achieve it.

Thank you for suggestions.

[dandelion]

"dawn" <mi**@lian.co m> wrote in message
news:30******** *****@uni-berlin.de...

Hi all,
I am now working on a C program under Unix.
The requirement for the program is that:
A file name is passed to program as a parameter. The program will
Find files under a specified directory. The matched file must have the
same content with the given file. It does not matter whether the
filenames are the same.

It is easy to find file that has the same name with given file, but
may be hard to find the files that with the same content. In my
knowledge, i give two solutions:

1) Go throught the directory and its sub direcotry tree, and when
meeting a file, Use the stand C library function to open that file and
the given file, and then compare those contents in buffers to see if
they are the same.

2) Go through the directory and its sub deirectroy tree, and when
meeting a file, execute the system shell command "diff" to compare the
two files to see if they are the same in content.
The two solutions seems not very smart and they are very running
slowly. I wonder if there is any library function that can compare two
file contents just like "strcmp" to compare two string.
Or maybe there are some other smart ways to achieve it.

Thank you for suggestions.

I'm pretty sure there isn't one.

<OT>
A few things spring to mind, though.

A) if you are going to use a shell cmd, try 'cmp' instead of diff. It
handles binary files, too *and* it's
faster.

B) if speed is important, try to improve it by doing a 'stat()' and compare
files-size. If the size is
different, the two files cannot be the same.

C) if you *must* compare actual files, use fread to read entire blocks and
do the comparison in
memory. Allocate relative large blocks and end on the first actual
difference.

</OT>

[Charlie Gordon]

"dawn" <mi**@lian.co m> wrote in message news:30******** *****@uni-berlin.de...

Hi all,
I am now working on a C program under Unix. [...]

There is no support for enumerating directory contents in standard C, you should
seek help on a unix newsgroup or pull the man pages for opendir(), readdir(),
closedir() and related APIs.

--
Chqrlie.

[Dan Pop]

In <30************ *@uni-berlin.de> dawn <mi**@lian.co m> writes:

I am now working on a C program under Unix.
And you're too stupid to realise that comp.unix.progr ammer is the right
place for your question.
The requirement for the program is that:
A file name is passed to program as a parameter. The program will
Find files under a specified directory. The matched file must have the
same content with the given file. It does not matter whether the
filenames are the same.
Standard C provides no support for directories, which is why posting to
comp.lang.c was such a silly thing.
It is easy to find file that has the same name with given file, but
may be hard to find the files that with the same content. In my
knowledge, i give two solutions:

1) Go throught the directory and its sub direcotry tree, and when
meeting a file, Use the stand C library function to open that file and
the given file, and then compare those contents in buffers to see if
they are the same.

The Unix function ftw() does most of the job for you. You only have to
provide a function for comparing the contents of the two files and such
a function is damn fast if you do it right: compare the contents only
if the files have the same size, use fread() and memcmp() to perform the
comparison on BUFSIZ sized chunks. Note that ftw is giving you the stat
info about each directory entry, so you don't have to do anything special
in order to obtain the file size.

For extra points, lock *at least* the reference file, to be sure that its
contents is stable during the program execution. But don't ask here how!

Dan
--
Dan Pop
DESY Zeuthen, RZ group
Email: Da*****@ifh.de
Currently looking for a job in the European Union

[fallujahdestrotedbyusbastards]

On 24 Nov 2004 17:00:35 GMT, Da*****@cern.ch (Dan Pop) wrote:

In <30************ *@uni-berlin.de> dawn <mi**@lian.co m> writes:

I am now working on a C program under Unix.

And you're too stupid to realise that comp.unix.progr ammer is the right
place for your question.

You unbelieveably ignorant arsehole. He is writing a C program
therefore this is exactly the right place to ask his question.
Are you a yank ?

[Mark McIntyre]

On Thu, 25 Nov 2004 21:20:55 +0000, in comp.lang.c ,
fa************* **************@ peace.com wrote:

On 24 Nov 2004 17:00:35 GMT, Da*****@cern.ch (Dan Pop) wrote:

In <30************ *@uni-berlin.de> dawn <mi**@lian.co m> writes:

I am now working on a C program under Unix.
And you're too stupid to realise that comp.unix.progr ammer is the right
place for your question.

You unbelieveably ignorant arsehole. He is writing a C program
therefore this is exactly the right place to ask his question.

Not if the question relates to unix features. C is not unix. Since between
you adn Dan you snipped the entire original posting, its not possible to
say now.
Are you a yank ?

Dan is swiss or german, and one of the serious experts round here, if
lacking in much social grace.

But don't let that stop you ranting mindlessly.

--
Mark McIntyre
CLC FAQ <http://www.eskimo.com/~scs/C-faq/top.html>
CLC readme: <http://www.ungerhu.com/jxh/clc.welcome.txt >

[Jens.Toerring]

fa************* **************@ peace.com wrote:

On 24 Nov 2004 17:00:35 GMT, Da*****@cern.ch (Dan Pop) wrote:

In <30************ *@uni-berlin.de> dawn <mi**@lian.co m> writes:

I am now working on a C program under Unix.

And you're too stupid to realise that comp.unix.progr ammer is the right
place for your question.

You unbelieveably ignorant arsehole.

And what are you just proving to be? Let's see...
He is writing a C program
therefore this is exactly the right place to ask his question.
No, he isn't right here. Would you do the absolute minimum of reading
a few posts in the group before jumping in you would know very well
that discussions about platform specific extensions to C is off-topic
here. So far about your claim about Dan's "ignorance" . Looks a lot
more like it's the other way round. And Dan even went so far to
provide lots of useful information for the OP, which you didn't.
Are you a yank ?

Well, that kind of thing obviously shows that rather you are the
'asshole' here. Or a dimwit. Pick what you prefer. Case closed.
--
\ Jens Thoms Toerring ___ Je***********@p hysik.fu-berlin.de
\______________ ____________ http://www.toerring.de

[Richard Bos]

Mark McIntyre <ma**********@s pamcop.net> wrote:

On Thu, 25 Nov 2004 21:20:55 +0000, in comp.lang.c ,
fa************* **************@ peace.com wrote:

Are you a yank ?

Dan is swiss or german,

Rumanian, surely?

Richard

[Michael Mair]

Richard Bos wrote:

Mark McIntyre <ma**********@s pamcop.net> wrote:

On Thu, 25 Nov 2004 21:20:55 +0000, in comp.lang.c ,
fa*********** *************** *@peace.com wrote:

Are you a yank ?

Dan is swiss or german,

Rumanian, surely?

Awgh, are you guys regulars? Do I know you?
Apart from the uselessness of this information: Have a
look at threads with Dan sniping at Joona I Palaste... ;-)
Cheers
Michael
--
E-Mail: Mine is an /at/ gmx /dot/ de address.

[Dan Pop]

In <41************ ****@news.indiv idual.net> rl*@hoekstra-uitgeverij.nl (Richard Bos) writes:

Mark McIntyre <ma**********@s pamcop.net> wrote:

On Thu, 25 Nov 2004 21:20:55 +0000, in comp.lang.c ,
fa************* **************@ peace.com wrote:

>Are you a yank ?

Dan is swiss or german,

Rumanian, surely?

According to Mark's logic, I must be Swiss or German because I am known
to have a Swiss email address and a German email address. Now, where does
this Romanian nonsense come from? ;-)

Dan
--
Dan Pop
DESY Zeuthen, RZ group
Email: Da*****@ifh.de
Currently looking for a job in the European Union