ifstream creates file if it doesn't exist - c++

Question

I'm having some trouble writing a Linux console app which reads apache logs.
I need to handle bash script arguments, the last one being a path to the log file.
My problem is that if the file doesn't exist, I would like to throw an exception.
But when I try to open the file in read-only mode, instead of failing it creates the file !
Here's the code :
// logreader.h
#include <string>
#include <sstream>
#include <iostream>
#include <fstream>
#include <stdexcept>
class LogReader
{
public:
LogReader(int, const char **);
virtual ~LogReader();
// ...
private:
std::ifstream log_;
};
// logreader.cpp
#include <logreader.h>
LogReader::LogReader(int argc, const char ** argv):
log_()
{
log_.exceptions(std::ifstream::failbit | std::ifstream::badbit);
for (int i = 1; i < argc; ++i)
{
std::string arg(argv[i]);
if (i == argc - 1)
{
try
{
log_.open(arg.c_str(), std::ifstream::in);
}
catch (std::ifstream::failure)
{
throw std::runtime_error("The file " + arg + " wasn't opened");
}
}
}
}
LogReader::~LogReader()
{
}
// main.cpp
#include <logreader.h>
int main(int argc, const char ** argv)
{
LogReader(argc, argv);
return 0;
}
Script call:
jmcomets $ ./test -g -l
jmcomets $ ls -l
-rw-rw-r-- 1 jmcomets jmcomets 0 Nov 14 22:41 -l

Answer 1

Since you are opening an std::ifstream it is necessary to add std::ios_base::in (or any other spelling of the std::ios_base::openmode) according to 27.9.1.9 [ifstream.members] paragraph 4: The flag is automatically added by the call to open(). Note that an std::ofstream or an std::fstream would automatically add std::ios_base::out (27.9.1.13 [ofstream.members] paragrpah 3) or std::ios_base::in | std::ios_base::out (27.9.1.17 [fstream.members] paragraph 3), both of which resulting in a new file being created if it doesn't exist (and there are write permissions, etc.).
If the code you posted creates a new file, the implementation of the standard C++ library is wrong: when only the flag std::ios_base::in is specified, the file is open "as if" using the open mode "r" with fopen() (27.9.1.4 [filebuf.members] paragraph 5). fopen() in turn doesn't create a new file when it gets an open mode of "r" (7.21.5.3 paragraph 3).

Answer 2

You can set the failbit in the exceptions flag for the ifstream:
std::ifstream log;
log.exceptions ( std::ifstream::failbit );
try {
log.open ("test.txt");
}
catch (std::ifstream::failure e) {
std::cout << "Exception opening/reading file\n";
}
Source
I've tested, and ifstream will throw a failure exception if the file cannot be opened, e.g. file not found, no read permissions. It will open read-only.

Answer 3

You need to specify ifstream::in as a second parameter as:
log.open(arg.c_str(), ifstream::in)
You can also do:
std::ifstream log(arg.c_str(), ifstream::in);
and skip the call to open()

Answer 4

Edit with something Linux compatible;
Try opening with fopen before writing. If the file DNE the FILE pointer will be null.
FILE * file;
file = fopen ("myfile.txt","r");
if (file == NULL)
//throw if fopen didn't already.
else
//do stuff with my file