prototype

size_t fread(void *ptr, size_t size, size_t nelem, FILE *stream);

The function reads characters from the input stream stream and stores them in successive elements of the array whose first element has the address (char *)ptr until the function stores size*nelem characters or sets the end-of-file or error indicator. It returns n/size, where n is the number of characters it read. If n is not a multiple of size, the value stored in the last element is indeterminate. If the function sets the error indicator, the file-position indicator is indeterminate.