Read a file into a C character array. Keep in mind the file may very well contain `nul` bytes in it.

gistfile1.c

#include <stdlib.h>
#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>
#include <errno.h>

int main(int argc, char *argv[])
{
	FILE *fp;
	long size;
	char *buf;

	fp = fopen("testread.c", "r");
	if (fp == NULL)
	{
		perror("opening file");
		exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
	}

	if (fseek(fp, 0, SEEK_END) != 0)
	{
		perror("seeking to end of file");
		exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
	}

	size = ftell(fp);
	if (size < 0)
	{
		perror("telling end of file offset");
		exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
	}
	rewind(fp);

	buf = malloc(size + 1);
	if (buf == NULL)
	{
		perror("allocating buffer");
		exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
	}

	if (fread(buf, sizeof(char), (size_t) size, fp) != (size_t) size)
	{
		fputs("didn't read as much as expected, buffer "
			"may contain garbage\n", stderr);
	}

	buf[size] = '\0';

	if (fclose(fp) != 0)
		perror("closing file");

	printf("Read Contents:\n%s\n", buf);

	free(buf);

	return 0;
}