Question

Right, I’ve got this code:

if(argc>1){
           FILE * pFile = fopen(argv[1],"rb");
           perror("");
}else{
      FILE * pFile = fopen("hardcoded","rb");
}
if(pFile==NULL){
                puts("Unable to open source file");
                return -1;
}

However, I get this weird output:

Success
Unable to open source file

Weirdlier, if I do this:

if(argc>1){
           FILE * pFile = fopen(argv[1],"rb");
           perror("");
}else{
      FILE * pFile = fopen("hardcoded","rb");
}
FILE * pFile = fopen("hardcoded","rb");
if(pFile==NULL){
                puts("Unable to open source file");
                return -1;
}

Where hardcoded exists, it all works fine!

What the blazes does that mean?

Compiling with GCC4 on Ubuntu

Answer 1

I’m surprised your code compiles, since the you are declaring FILE *pFile scoped to the if and the else blocks. If you’ve declare it prior to that, then remove the FILE* text in front of the assignments in the if/else blocks.