[c++] How to check if a file exists before creating a new file

I want to input some contents to a file, but I'd like to check first if a file with the name I wish to create exists. If so, I don't want to create any file, even if the file is empty.

My attempt

bool CreateFile(char name[], char content[]){
     std::ofstream file(name);
     if(file){
         std::cout << "This account already exists" << std::endl;
        return false;
     }
     file << content;
     file.close();
     return true;
}

Is there any way to do what I want?

C++17, cross-platform: Using std::filesystem::exists and std::filesystem::is_regular_file.

#include <filesystem> // C++17
#include <fstream>
#include <iostream>
namespace fs = std::filesystem;

bool CreateFile(const fs::path& filePath, const std::string& content)
{
    try
    {
        if (fs::exists(filePath))
        {
            std::cout << filePath << " already exists.";
            return false;
        }
        if (!fs::is_regular_file(filePath))
        {
            std::cout << filePath << " is not a regular file.";
            return false;
        }
    }
    catch (std::exception& e)
    {
        std::cerr << __func__ << ": An error occurred: " << e.what();
        return false;
    }
    std::ofstream file(filePath);
    file << content;
    return true;
}
int main()
{
    if (CreateFile("path/to/the/file.ext", "Content of the file"))
    {
        // Your business logic.
    }
}

The easiest way to do this is using ios :: noreplace.

you can also use Boost.

 boost::filesystem::exists( filename );

it works for files and folders.

And you will have an implementation close to something ready for C++14 in which filesystem should be part of the STL (see here).

I just saw this test:

bool getFileExists(const TCHAR *file)
{ 
  return (GetFileAttributes(file) != 0xFFFFFFFF);
}

As of C++17 there is:

if (std::filesystem::exists(pathname)) {
   ...

Try this (copied-ish from Erik Garrison: https://stackoverflow.com/a/3071528/575530)

#include <sys/stat.h>

bool FileExists(char* filename) 
{
    struct stat fileInfo;
    return stat(filename, &fileInfo) == 0;
}

stat returns 0 if the file exists and -1 if not.

Looked around a bit, and the only thing I find is using the open system call. It is the only function I found that allows you to create a file in a way that will fail if it already exists

#include <fcntl.h>
#include <errno.h>

int fd=open(filename, O_WRONLY | O_CREAT | O_EXCL, S_IRUSR | S_IWUSR);
if (fd < 0) {
  /* file exists or otherwise uncreatable
     you might want to check errno*/
}else {
  /* File is open to writing */
}

Note that you have to give permissions since you are creating a file.

This also removes any race conditions there might be

Try

ifstream my_file("test.txt");
if (my_file)
{
 // do stuff
}

From: How to check if a file exists and is readable in C++?

or you could use boost functions.