c - When reading from a file I get special characters, that are not in my text file -

for starters, don't know if has os on osx. when running program , printing out read text file following:

a b c d e f g h j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z  b c d e f g h j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z\353`\232\377 

i reading new text document created using text wrangler, turned on invisibles make sure there wasn't @ end of file. code using read text file here:

// parses text file, passes parsed text writeandencode writing          , encryption.  int encode(char *fileread, char *filewrite) {      // file     file *filetoread = fopen(fileread, "r+"); // open file reading     char *textwithinfile;      // check if file can read     if (fileread != null) {         // file can read.          // length of file         fseek(filetoread, 0l, seek_end);         size_t size = (size_t)ftell(filetoread);         rewind(filetoread);         // make sure no error in finding size of file.         if (size != -1) {             long charsize = sizeof(char);             textwithinfile = malloc(sizeof(char) + size);             // add text filetoread char array             fread(textwithinfile, charsize, size, filetoread);             // add null @ end make file string             textwithinfile[size] = '\0';             printf("%s\n", &textwithinfile[0]);             fclose(filetoread); // debugging find out being read              writeandencode(size, textwithinfile, filewrite);             free(textwithinfile);         } else {             //file can't read             printf("***error_file_to_read_size_can_not_be_found***\n");         }     } else {         printf("***error_file_to_read_can_not_be_read***\n");     }      return 0; } 

would have same problem if on windows?

anyhow thank help!

i've fixed code little , added debugging statements. it'll save contents of input file malloc'ed buffer of size=(charsize*filesize+1), +1 bit hold null terminating character. works on machine reasonably sized binary files

you can uncomment printf(buffer_copy) statement doing before. otherwise, it'll loop through each byte in buffer , output hexadecimal equivalent. if you're still getting 'junk' it's part of input file , not bug.

//get file file *infp=fopen(infile,"r"); if(infp!=null){     //get length of file     fseek(infp,0l,seek_end);     size_t filesize=(size_t)ftell(infp);     printf("file length = %d\n",(int)filesize); //debug statement     rewind(infp);     if(filesize>0){          char * buffer;         buffer=(char*)malloc((sizeof(char)*filesize)+1); // +1 null char @ end         size_t chars_read=fread(buffer,sizeof(char),filesize,infp);         printf("chars read = %d\n",(int)chars_read); // debug statement (chars_read should equal filesize)         buffer[filesize]='\0'; // terminate char array         fclose(infp);         //output read (method 1, print string)         //char *buffer_copy=buffer;          //printf("the file=\"%s\"",buffer_copy); //uncomment these 2 statement did before */         //output read (method 2, byte-by-byte)         if(chars_read>0){             int i;             for(i=0;i<chars_read;i++){                 char the_char = *buffer;                 printf("char%d=%02x\n",i,the_char); //output each byte hexadecimal equivalent                 buffer++;             }         } else { printf "problem fread"; }     } else { printf("problem filesize"); } else { printf("problem opening file"); } 

the while loop stop reading @ first null terminating char. for loop read every single byte inside file (in case you're trying peek inside isn't .txt, .jpg)

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have tried checking file command line make sure has characters expect?

for example, running command od -c view each byte ascii equivalent (or octal, if non-printable).