C Exercises: Read the file and count the number of lines

Last update on August 08 2025 12:52:51 (UTC/GMT +8 hours)

5. Count Lines in File

Write a program in C to find the number of lines in a text file.

Sample Solution:

C Code:

#include <stdio.h>

#define FSIZE 100
 
int main()
{
    FILE *fptr;
    int ctr = 0;  
    char fname[FSIZE];
    char c; 
    printf("\n\n Read the file and count the number of lines :\n");
	printf("--------------------------------------------------\n"); 
	printf(" Input the file name to be opened : ");
	scanf("%s",fname);

    fptr = fopen(fname, "r");
    if (fptr == NULL)
    {
        printf("Could not open file %s", fname);
        return 0;
    }
    // Extract characters from file and store in character c
    for (c = getc(fptr); c != EOF; c = getc(fptr))
        if (c == '\n') // Increment count if this character is newline
            ctr = ctr + 1;
    fclose(fptr);
    printf(" The lines in the file %s are : %d \n \n", fname, ctr-1);
    return 0;
}

Sample Output:

 Read the file and count the number of lines :                                                                
--------------------------------------------------                                                            
 Input the file name to be opened : test.txt                                                                  
 The lines in the file test.txt are : 4

Flowchart:

For more Practice: Solve these Related Problems:

Write a C program to count the number of non-empty lines in a text file.
Write a C program to count the number of lines in a file and also calculate the average line length.
Write a C program to count the total number of lines in a file and then output the line count in a formatted report.
Write a C program to count lines in a file while ignoring lines that start with a comment symbol (e.g., '#').

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