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fseek - Move to specified position in file

Syntax

fseek(fileID, offset, origin) status = fseek(fileID, offset, origin)

Description

fseek(fileID, offset, origin) sets the file position indicator offset bytes from origin in the specified file.

status = fseek(fileID, offset, origin) returns 0 when the operation is successful. Otherwise, it returns -1.

Inputs

fileID

Integer file identifier obtained from fopen.

offset

Number of bytes to move from origin. Can be positive, negative, or zero. The n bytes of a given file are in positions 0 through n-1.

origin

Starting location in the file:

`'bof'` or `-1`	Beginning of file
`'cof'` or `0`	Current position in file
`'eof'` or `1`	End of file

Examples

Copy 5 bytes from the file test1.dat, starting at the tenth byte, and append to the end of test2.dat:

% Create files test1.dat and test2.dat
% Each character uses 8 bits (1 byte)

fid1 = fopen('test1.dat', 'w+');
fwrite(fid1, 'ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ');

fid2 = fopen('test2.dat', 'w+');
fwrite(fid2, 'Second File');

% Seek to the 10th btye ('J'), read 5
fseek(fid1, 9, 'bof');
A = fread(fid1, 5, 'uint8=>char');
fclose(fid1);

% Append to test2.dat
fseek(fid2, 0, 'eof');
fwrite(fid2, A);
fclose(fid2);