Expanding upon the above code from @dreamlax
char *readFile(char *fileName) {
FILE *file = fopen(fileName, "r");
char *code;
size_t n = 0;
int c;
if (file == NULL) return NULL; //could not open file
fseek(file, 0, SEEK_END);
long f_size = ftell(file);
fseek(file, 0, SEEK_SET);
code = malloc(f_size);
while ((c = fgetc(file)) != EOF) {
code[n++] = (char)c;
}
code[n] = '\0';
return code;
}
This gives you the length of the file, then proceeds to read it character by character.