<p>The iPhone SDK docs claim fopen() is a supported method of file access but I am unable to get it to return a FILE handle.  I am accessing a directory which is included in my project.  I have tried fopen "filename","dir/filename","./filename","./dir/filename","/dir/filename" all returning with a null pointer.  Some people report using it with no issue so I am sure it is something simple!</p>

if you're trying to access a file within your application bundle, you need to get the full path to it:
```
[[NSBundle mainBundle] pathForResource: FILENAME ofType: FILEEXTENSION]
```
This returns an NSString, which you can pull a UTF8String out of and pass to fopen.