my run-length encoding doesn't work with big numbers - c++

Question

I have a assingment were I need to code and decode txt files, for example: hello how are you? has to be coded as hel2o how are you? and aaaaaaaaaajkle as a10jkle.
while ( ! invoer.eof ( ) ) {
if (kar >= '0' && kar <= '9') {
counter = kar-48;
while (counter > 1){
uitvoer.put(vorigeKar);
counter--;
}
}else if (kar == '/'){
kar = invoer.get();
uitvoer.put(kar);
}else{
uitvoer.put(kar);
}
vorigeKar = kar;
kar = invoer.get ( );
}
but the problem I have is if need to decode a12bhr, the answer is aaaaaaaaaaaabhr but I can't seem to get the 12 as number without problems, I also can't use any strings or array's.
c++

Answer 1

I believe that you are making following mistake: imagine you give a32, then you read the character a and save it as vorigeKar (previous character, I am , Flemish so I understand Dutch :-) ).
Then you read 3, you understand that it is a number and you repeat vorigeKar three times, which leads to aaa. Then you read 2 and repeat vorigeKar two times, leading to aaaaa (five times, five equals 3 + 2).
You need to learn how to keep on reading numeric characters, and translate them into complete numbers (like 32, or 12 in your case).

Answer 2

Like #Dominique said in his answers, You're doing it wrong.
Let me tell you my logic, you can try it.
Pesudo Code + Logic:
Store word as a char array or string, so that it'll be easy to print at last
Loop{
Read - a //check if it's number by subtracting from '0'
Read - 1 //check if number = true. Store it in int res[] = res*10 + 1
//Also store the previous index in an index array(ie) index of char 'a' if you encounter a number first time.
Read - 2 //check if number = true. Store it in res = res*10 + 2
Read - b , h and so on till "space" character
If you encounter another number, then store it's previous character's index in index array and then store the number in a res[] array.
Now using index array you can get the index of your repeating character to be printed and print it for it's corresponding times which we have stored in the result array.
This goes for the second, third...etc:- numbers in your word till the end of the word
}

Answer 3

First, even though you say you can't use strings, you still need to know the basic principle behind how to turn a stream of digit characters into an integer.
Assuming the number is positive, here is a simple function that turns a series of digits into a number:
#include <iostream>
#include <cctype>
int runningTotal(char ch, int lastNum)
{
return lastNum * 10 + (ch -'0');
}
int main()
{
// As a test
char s[] = "a123b23cd1/";
int totalNumber = 0;
for (size_t i = 0; s[i] != '/'; ++i)
{
char digit = s[i]; // This is the character "read from the file"
if ( isdigit( digit) )
totalNumber = runningTotal(digit, totalNumber);
else
{
if ( totalNumber > 0 )
std::cout << totalNumber << "\n";
totalNumber = 0;
}
}
std::cout << totalNumber;
}
Output:
123
23
1
So what was done? The character array is the "file". I then loop for each character, building up the number. The runningTotal is a function that builds the integer from each digit character encountered. When a non-digit is found, we output that number and start the total from 0 again.
The code does not save the letter to "multiply" -- I leave that to you as homework. But the code above illustrates how to take digits and create the number from them. For using a file, you would simply replace the for loop with the reading of each character from the file.