Hey all. I just got a question about binary files. I never really read exactly what a binary file is. I know you would want to write to one to keep data a secret so the user can''t go in and change his stats or something important. But how is a variable stored in it. I know you use the ios::bin but what happens to a variable. How does it convert? And then how does it come out of binary when reading in the file? Thanks, I just always wondered about this cause I plan on using binary files to save games. Thanks guys. Please point me to any articles/tutorials on this. Neo_Matrix

Binary files are stored using structures.
For example:

struct FILE
{
char name[50];
int something;
char whatever;

} SaveGame;

Then you would write and read it to a file.
There''s no point in explaining more about this since there''s an article right here.



The road to success is always under construction

You don''t have to use structures. Binary files are just a series of binary digits (bits). On most PC''s, 8 bits becomes a byte, 16 bits is a word (short in C), 32 bits is a double word (long/int in C).

All files are binary!!!
If you open a file in binary mode, and you write variables to it, they''re stored as they are in memory.
There''s also the posibility to open a file in text mode. Then e.g. numbers are not stored binary but as their ASCII digits.

GA

I think that the binary/text options in most file managing functions refer to the translation of linefeeds (and maybe something else) the idea is that in a text file in a windows system, if you write a new line character, it gets translated to the return/new line combination; (two char).

You know, I never wanted to be a programmer...

Alexandre Moura

You're right ga, all files on computers are binary, but some OSs (Windows for example) make a small distinction between textfiles and binary files.

>> Then e.g. numbers are not stored binary but as their ASCII digits. <<

In text-mode files, all the data is still binary. It's how it's interpreted that's matter. ASCII digits are (binary) numbers too.

Edited by - Muzzafarath on August 2, 2000 5:16:53 PM