How to read in file size

[Haseen I. Alam]

 I am using BSD Unix 4.2 on Sun 3's, a Sparc, and on a Encore multimax. I 
 do not think this is a machine dependent question, but this info is for
 anyone who might flame me later for not specifing it.

 I am aware of the wc (word count) program in unix.  I can use something
 like this in my C program.....
       system ("wc -c filename") ;

 This will execute the wc command and print out the info out to the terminal.
 But I need to read that into my program.  How can I make this work?  This
 method has a certain drawback.  I had to hard code the filename.  I would
 need to be able to use different filenames from the command line and get
 similar info for further processing.  Is there any variations to the system
 command that I am not aware of?  Is there a built in C function that will
 do this.

 Now speed is a concern in what I am doing.  I can not open each file at a
 time and count up the characters.  Files are big and I use 2 to 5 of them at
 once.

 I do not mean to waste bandwidth with questions that have recently been
 answered.  I read this group regularly.  There was some postings about a
 compilation of frequently asked questions.  Where can I access that info?

 Any helpful gesture will be highly appreciated.  Thanks.

 Haseen.
-- 
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 |  Haseen Ibne Alam                       Tel: (218)-728-2139        |
 |  email : halam1 at ub.d.umn.edu      or    halam at cola.d.umn.edu       |
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