# PetscViewerASCIIGetPointer
Extracts the file pointer from an ASCII `PetscViewer`. 
## Synopsis
```
#include "petscviewer.h" 
PetscErrorCode PetscViewerASCIIGetPointer(PetscViewer viewer, FILE **fd)
```
Not Collective, depending on the viewer the value may be meaningless except for process 0 of the viewer; No Fortran Support


## Input Parameter

- ***viewer -*** PetscViewer context, obtained from `PetscViewerASCIIOpen()`



## Output Parameter

- ***fd -*** file pointer





## Note
For the standard `PETSCVIEWERASCII` the value is valid only on process 0 of the viewer


## See Also
 [](sec_viewers), `PETSCVIEWERASCII`, `PetscViewerASCIIOpen()`, `PetscViewerDestroy()`, `PetscViewerSetType()`, `PetscViewerCreate()`, `PetscViewerASCIIPrintf()`,
`PetscViewerASCIISynchronizedPrintf()`, `PetscViewerFlush()`

## Level
intermediate

## Location
<A HREF="PETSC_DOC_OUT_ROOT_PLACEHOLDER/src/sys/classes/viewer/impls/ascii/filev.c.html#PetscViewerASCIIGetPointer">src/sys/classes/viewer/impls/ascii/filev.c</A>


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[Edit on GitLab](https://gitlab.com/petsc/petsc/-/edit/release/src/sys/classes/viewer/impls/ascii/filev.c)


[Index of all Viewer routines](index.md)  
[Table of Contents for all manual pages](/docs/manualpages/index.md)  
[Index of all manual pages](/docs/manualpages/singleindex.md)  
