C++ Anagram Solver speed optimization - c++

I have decided to make an anagram solver for my dad. I am quite new to programming, but i figured I can still make it. My finished product works, but it is really slow, for instance it took about 15+ mins to find all combinations of 8 characters. I am looking for ways to optimize it / make it faster.
Working with MinGW c++ compier, on Clion 2019.3.4, cpu: i7 9700k, and RAM: 16GB/3200mhz.
#include <iostream>
#include <string>
#include <vector>
#include <fstream>
using namespace std;
//Menu for interacting with user, not really important
void menu() {
cout << "=========================" << endl;
cout << "======== !WOW! ==========" << endl;
cout << "=========================" << endl;
cout << "1 ... INSERT" << endl;
cout << "2 ... PRINT" << endl;
cout << "3 ... LIMIT WORD LENTGH" << endl;
cout << "4 ... NEW GAME" << endl;
cout << "0 ... EXIT" << endl;
cout << "=========================" << endl;
cout << "Select: ";
}
//Function to find all possible combinations from letters of a given string
void get(vector<string> &vec, string str, string res) {
vec.push_back(res);
for (int i = 0; i < str.length(); i++)
get(vec, string(str).erase(i, 1), res + str[i]);
}
//Only for testing purposes
void printVec(vector<string> vec) {
for (int i = 0; i < vec.size(); i++) {
cout << vec[i] << " ";
}
}
//Function to check if a given word exists in given .txt file
bool checkWord(vector<string> &vec2, string filename, string search) {
string line;
ifstream myFile;
myFile.open(filename);
if (myFile.is_open()) {
while (!myFile.eof()) {
getline(myFile, line);
if (line == search) {
vec2.push_back(line);
return true;
}
}
myFile.close();
} else
cout << "Unable to open this file." << endl;
return false;
}
int main() {
int selection;
bool running = true;
string stringOfChars;
vector<string> vec;
vector<string> vec2;
do {
menu();
cin >> selection;
switch (selection) {
case 1:
cout << "Insert letters one after another: ";
cin >> stringOfChars;
get(vec, stringOfChars, ""); //fill first vector(vec) with all possible combinations.
break;
case 2:
for (int i = 0; i < vec.size(); i++) {
if (checkWord(vec2, "C:/file.txt", vec[i])) { //For each word in vector(vec) check if exists in file.txt, if it does, send it in vector(vec2) and return true
//Reason for vec2's existence is that later I want to implement functions to manipulate with possible solutions (like remove words i have already guessed, or as shown in case 3, to limit the word length)
cout << vec[i] << endl; //If return value == true cout the word
}
}
break;
case 3:
int numOfLetters;
cout << "Word has a known number of letters: ";
cin >> numOfLetters;
for (int i = 0; i < vec2.size(); i++) { /*vec2 is now filled with all the answers, we can limit the output if we know the length of the word */
if (vec2[i].length() == numOfLetters) {
cout << vec2[i] << endl;
}
}
break;
case 4:
vec.clear();
vec2.clear();
break;
case 0:
running = false;
break;
default:
cout << "Wrong selection!" << endl;
break;
}
cout << endl;
} while (running);
return 0;
}
file.txt is filled with all words in my language, It's alphabetically ordered and it's 50mb in size.
aachecnska
aachenskega
aachenskem
aachenski
.
.
.
bab
baba
babah
.
.
.
Any recommendations or off topic tips would be helpful. One of my ideas is to maybe separate file.txt in smaller files, like for example putting lines that have same starting letter in their own file, so A.txt would only contain words that start with A etc... And than change the code accordingly.

this is where you need to use a profiler. on Linux, my favorite is kcachgrind
http://kcachegrind.sourceforge.net/html/Home.html
it gives you line-by-line timing information and tells you which part of the code you should optimize the most.
of course, there are many profilers available, including commercial ones.

Related

C++ FileIO to read and write into objects variables

I'm trying to make a small library system where the user can add new book details(name, author & price). When implementing the FileIO system to read from a file the details of every book using the getline functions it becomes harder to separate my variables when I try to store them in temporary variables.
Ex:
"No Is a four letter word,Chris Jericho,17.67,"
"Harry Potter,JK Rowling,23.98,"
PS:Is there a better solution than adding the comma?
I tried to add a ',' character to separate every my strings but I need a better and more efficient solution that works with the getLine function.
int main(){
vector<Book> library;
//----Loading File Data_START
string line;
int nbArg=0;
string tempName, tempAuthor, tempPrice;
ifstream myfileL("List.txt");
if (myfileL.is_open())
{
while (getline(myfileL, line))
{
tempPrice=tempAuthor = tempName = "";
for (int j = 0; j < line.size(); j++){
if (line.at(j) == ','){
nbArg++;
}
else{
switch (nbArg){
case 0:
tempName += (line.at(j));
break;
case 1:
tempPrice += (line.at(j));
break;
case 2:
tempAuthor += (line.at(j));
break;
}
}
}
cout << tempName << endl << tempAuthor << endl << tempPrice << endl;
cout << "End of Line"<< endl;
nbArg = 0;
}
cout << "---------------------------" << endl;
myfileL.close();
}
else cout << "Unable to open file";
//----Loading File Data_END
char inputKey = 's';
cout << "-----------------WELCOME----------------" << endl;
while (inputKey != 'q')
{
cout << "---------------------------------------" << endl;
cout << "Click \"1\" to add a book to your library" << endl;
cout << "Click \"2\" to show how the number of books your possess" << endl;
cout << "Click \"3\" to show details about your books" << endl;
cout << "Click \"q\" to quit" << endl;
cin >> inputKey;
switch (inputKey)
{
case '1':
addElem(library);
break;
case '2':
cout << "You now own " << libSize(library) << " books !" << endl;
break;
case '3':
showDetails(library);
break;
case 'q':
cout << "GOODBYE!" << endl;
Sleep(2000);
break;
}
}
return 0;
}
Use specialized file format, which can contain structure (for example json, xml). This will prevent many, many problems.
If you can't, then add a separator character (just like you did), but pick one, that has least chances to occur in real strings. So for example end of line (every variable would go on it's own line) or \0 or \t.
Here is a solution on a smooth way to load the library. You can let the BookList.txt file be delimited by TABs \t between Name, Author and Price instead of a comma , and then use getline() to separate with a TAB as in my example below.
#include <iostream>
#include <string>
#include <fstream>
#include <sstream>
#include <vector>
using namespace std;
const char TAB = '\t';
struct StructBook {
string Name, Author;
double Price;
};
vector<StructBook> Library;
void GetBookDetails(string LineBookDetails, StructBook & Book) {
string string_Price;
stringstream StringStreamBookDetails(LineBookDetails);
getline(StringStreamBookDetails, Book.Name, TAB);
getline(StringStreamBookDetails, Book.Author, TAB);
getline(StringStreamBookDetails, string_Price, TAB);
stringstream(string_Price) >> Book.Price;
}
bool LoadLibrary() {
ifstream FileBookList("BookList.txt");
if(FileBookList.is_open()) {
string LineBookDetails;
StructBook Book;
while(getline(FileBookList, LineBookDetails)) {
GetBookDetails(LineBookDetails, Book);
Library.push_back(Book);
cout << Book.Name << ", " << Book.Author << ", " << Book.Price << endl;
}
FileBookList.close();
return true;
} else {
return false;
}
}
int main(){
if(!LoadLibrary())
cout << "Error: Unable to load library";
//Rest of your program goes here
return 0;
}
Your BookList.txt should look like this:
No Is a four letter word Chris Jericho 17.67
Harry Potter JK Rowling 23.98

Check letters against the word of an arbitrary size in a Hangman game

Currently I am working on a hangman game, I had previously coded it to only work for a 5 letter word, but now would like to make it handle any length of word, how could I change this code to make it work how I want it to?
#include "stdafx.h"
#include <iostream>
#include <string>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <cstdlib>
using namespace std;
int main()
{
string word;
int tries;
string guess;
string wordguess;
string output;
cout << "Enter a word for player two to guess: ";
cin >> word;
system("CLS");
cout.flush();
cout << "Guess the word!" << endl;
for (int i = 0; i < word.length(); i++)
{
cout << "_ ";
}
cout << "Enter a letter: ";
cin >> guess;
for (int tries = 5; tries > 0; tries--)
{
if (guess[0] == word[0]) {
output[0] = word[0];
cout << "You guessed the first letter! Good job!" << endl;
}
if (guess[0] == word[1]) {
output[2] = word[1];
cout << "You guessed the second letter! Good job!" << endl;
}
if (guess[0] == word[2]) {
output[4] = word[2];
cout << "You guessed the third letter! Good job!" << endl;
}
if (guess[0] == word[3]) {
output[6] = word[3];
cout << "You guessed the fourth letter! Good job!" << endl;
}
if (guess[0] == word[4]) {
output[8] = word[4];
cout << "You guessed the fifth letter! Good job!" << endl;
}
cout << output << endl;
cout << "You have " << tries << " tries left. Take a guess at the word: " << endl;
cin >> wordguess;
if (wordguess == word)
{
cout << "Congratulations, you guessed the word correctly!" << endl;
break;
}
}
system("pause");
return 0;
}
As you can tell I was checking each position from 0 to 4 (first through fifth letter). I know there are plenty of ways that I could have coded this better but as you can guess, I am new to coding and this is the way I thought of it. Please note this is still a work in progress so it is not fully complete. Any help would be great!
When designing an algorithm, think of how you would do this by hand, without a computer. Then let the code do the same.
If you were checking your friend's guess against a word written on sand, you would probably go about it like this:
go through the written pattern character by character, pronouncing your word in memory
for each letter, check if it is equal to the guess
if it is
replace the placeholder with it
memorize that your friend guessed right.
Also note if there are any placeholders left
if there aren't, your friend wins
finally, if your friend didn't guess right, score them a penalty point and check if they lose
Now, all that leaves is to put this down in C++. The language provides all sorts of entities - let's check which ones fit ours needs the best:
the word and the current pattern - strings of a fixed size
bits to memorize:
whether the current guess is right - bool
placeholders left - int
penalty points (or, equivalently, attempts left) - int
parts of the algorithm:
looping over a string - for loop of one of a few kinds
we need to replace the character in the pattern at the same index as the guessed letter in the word. So, we need to have the index when looping. Thus the flavor with the index variable, for(std::string::size_type i = 0; i < str.size(); ++i) probably fits the best.
// Example program
#include <iostream>
#include <string>
using namespace std;
class my_game
{
private:
string congrats_array[15] = {"first", "second", "third", "fourth", "fifth", "sixth", "seventh", "eighth", "nineth", "tenth", "eleventh", "twelfth", "thirteenth", "fourteenth", "fifteenth"};
string word_to_guess;
int tries_left;
int word_length;
int letters_guessed_count;
string guessed_letters;
void check_letter(char letter);
void print_current_word_state();
public:
my_game();
void begin_the_game();
void play_the_game();
};
my_game::my_game()
{
}
void my_game::begin_the_game()
{
cout << "Enter a word for player to guess: " << endl;
cin >> word_to_guess;
system("CLS");
cout.flush();
cout << "Enter the tries amount!\n" << endl;
cin >> tries_left;
word_length = word_to_guess.size();
guessed_letters = "_";
letters_guessed_count = 0;
for(int i = 0; i < word_length - 1; i++){
guessed_letters += "_";
}
}
void my_game::play_the_game()
{
cout << "Guess the word!" << endl;
char letter;
for(int i = 0; i < tries_left; i++)
{
cout << guessed_letters << endl;
cout << "Enter a letter: " << endl;
cin >> letter;
check_letter(letter);
if(letters_guessed_count == word_length){
cout << "Congrats! You won!" << endl;
return;
}
}
cout << "You lose" << endl;
}
void my_game::check_letter(char letter)
{
for(int i = 0; i < word_length; i++)
{
if(word_to_guess[i] == letter && guessed_letters[i] != letter)
{
guessed_letters[i] = letter;
letters_guessed_count++;
cout << "You guessed the" << congrats_array[i] <<"letter! Good job!" << endl;
}
}
}
int main()
{
my_game game;
game.begin_the_game();
game.play_the_game();
}
So, in short what you need to do this with words of any arbitrary length is to use string's .substr() function and the stringstream library's .str() and << and >> operators. This version of your code uses a function that inserts a correctly guessed character at the appropriate indexed location. This will gradually replace the "_________" with letters at the correct places. This is much easier to do in Java, but stringstream is a good library I would highly recommend getting familiar with it. I'll leave the problem of how to handle multiple instances of a guessed character up to you (ie 'i' in "bibliography")
#include <string>
using std::string;
#include <sstream>
using std::stringstream;
#include <iostream>
using std::cout;
using std::cin;
using std::endl;
string newString(string, int, string);
int main()
{
string word;
string guess;
int tries;
string output;
string input;
cout << "Enter word for player 2 to guess: ";
cin >> word;
stringstream ss;
//---------- fills the stream with "_"s matching the length of word
for(int i = 0; i < word.length(); i++)
ss << "_";
//----------- assigns the initial value of "___..." to output
ss >> output;
//----------- sets up the loop
tries = 5;
bool found = false;
for(int i = 0; i < 5; i++)
{
cout << "\nTry " << i << " of 5: Enter a letter or guess the word: ";
cin >> input;
if(input == word)
{
cout << "Congratulations, you guessed the word correctly!" << endl;
break;
}
//------------------ else, proceed with replacing letters
if(word.find(input) != std::string::npos)
{
size_t position = word.find(input); // finds index of first instance of the guessed letter
cout << "You guessed the " << position+1 << " letter! Good job!" << endl; // since strings start at index 0, position+1
//------- replaces appropriate "_" with the guessed letter
output = newString(input, position, output);
cout << "\n" << output;
// Around here you'll want to set up a way to deal with multiple instances
// of the same letter
}
else
cout << "Incorrect guess" << endl;
}
return 0;
}
//---------------------------------------------------
string newString(string guess, int index, string word)
{
string NewString;
stringstream temp;
//---------- hack up the string into sections before and after the index
string before = word.substr(0, index);
string after = word.substr(index+1, word.length() - index+1);
//---------------- populates the new stringstream and assigns it to the result
temp << before << guess << after;
NewString = temp.str();
return NewString;
}

How do I permenantly delete a row of arrays and shift a row of arrays upwards?

I've been assigned by school to create an application that contains a book list with 20 different books in it and build a menu with following options:
(a) List – Display the list in tabular format. Each display should contain an appropriate heading and column captions;
(b) Search – Search for a book record in the list using the ISBN and print the full record for the book;
(c) Delete – Delete an existing book record from the list;
(d) Exit – Stop the program.
Here is the sample of my program:
#include <iostream>
#include <iomanip>
#include <fstream>
#include <cstring>
#include <cctype>
using namespace std;
typedef struct
{
char code[50];
char author[50];
char name[50];
char edition[50];
char publish[50];
char price[50];
} BOOK_LIST;
void list (BOOK_LIST book[], int rows);
void showBook (BOOK_LIST book[], int rows);
void updateRecord (BOOK_LIST book[], int rows);
void advancedSearch (BOOK_LIST book[], int rows);
int deleteBook (BOOK_LIST book[], int rows);
int searchBook(BOOK_LIST book[], int rows);
int main()
{
ifstream inFile("list.txt");
if(!inFile)
cout << "Error opening input file\n";
else
{
BOOK_LIST books[50];
int index = -1, choice;
inFile.getline(books[++index].code, 50);
while(inFile)
{
if(inFile.peek() == '\n')
inFile.ignore(256, '\n');
inFile.getline(books[index].author, 50);
inFile.getline(books[index].name, 50);
inFile.getline(books[index].edition, 50);
inFile.getline(books[index].publish, 50);
inFile >> books[index].price;
// read next number
inFile >> books[++index].code;
}
inFile.close();
// menu starts
do
{
cout << "Do you want to:\n";
cout << "1. List all books\n";
cout << "2. Get details about a book\n";
cout << "3. Delete a book from the list\n";
cout << "4. Exit\n";
cout << "5. Advanced Search\n";
cout << "Enter choice: ";
cin >> choice;
switch (choice)
{
case 1 : list(books, index);
break;
case 2 : showBook(books, index);
break;
case 3 : updateRecord(books, index);
break;
case 5 : advancedSearch(books, index);
case 4 : break;
default: cout << "Invalid choice\n";
}
} while (choice != 4);
ofstream outFile("list.txt");
if(!outFile)
cout << "Error opening output file, records are not updated.\n";
else
{
for (int i = 0; i < index; i++)
{
outFile << books[i].code << endl;
outFile << books[i].author << endl;
outFile << books[i].name << endl;
outFile << books[i].edition << endl;
outFile << books[i].publish << endl;
outFile << books[i].price << endl;
}
outFile.close();
}
}
return 0;
}
void list(BOOK_LIST book[], int rows)
{
cout << fixed << setprecision(2);
cout << "ISBN\t Author BookName Edition\tPublisher\t Price\n";
for (int i = 0; i < rows; i++)
cout << book[i].code << "\t" << book[i].author << "\t"
<< book[i].name << "\t" << book[i].edition << "\t"
<< book[i].publish << "\t"
<< " " << book[i].price << endl;
return;
}
int searchBook(BOOK_LIST book[], int rows)
{
int i = 0;
bool found = false;
char code[50];
cout << "Enter an ISBN code of a book to search: ";
fflush(stdin);
cin.getline(code, 50);
while (i < rows && !found)
{
if (strcmp(code, book[i].code) == 0)
found = true;
else
i++;
}
if (found)
return i;
else
return -1;
}
void showBook(BOOK_LIST book[], int rows)
{
int pos = searchBook(book, rows);
if (pos != -1)
{
cout << "Author is " << book[pos].author << endl;
cout << "Book name is "<< book[pos].name << endl;
cout << book[pos].edition << " Edition" << endl;
cout << "The publisher of this book is " << book[pos].publish << endl;
cout << "Current price is " << book[pos].price << endl;
}
else
cout << "Product not found\n";
return;
}
void updateRecord(BOOK_LIST book[], int rows)
{
int pos = deleteBook(book, rows);
char code [50];
int i,j = 0;
for(i = 0; i < rows ; i++)
{
if(strcmp(code, book[i].code))
{
strcpy(book[j].code , book[i].code);
strcpy(book[j].author, book[i].author);
strcpy(book[j].name, book[i].name);
strcpy(book[j].edition, book[i].edition);
strcpy(book[j].publish, book[i].publish);
strcpy(book[j].price, book[i].price);
j++;
}//if
else
{
i++;
strcpy(book[j].code, book[i].code);
strcpy(book[j].author, book[i].author);
strcpy(book[j].name, book[i].name);
strcpy(book[j].edition, book[i].edition);
strcpy(book[j].publish, book[i].publish);
strcpy(book[j].price, book[i].price);
j++;
}//else
}//for
return;
}
int deleteBook (BOOK_LIST book[], int rows)
{
int i = 0;
bool found = false;
char code[50];
cout << "Enter an ISBN code of a book to delete: ";
fflush(stdin);
cin.getline(code, 50);
while (i < rows && !found)
{
if (strcmp(code, book[i].code) == 0)
found = true;
else
i++;
}
if (found)
return i;
else
return -1;
}
void advancedSearch (BOOK_LIST book[], int rows)
{
char advanced[50];
cout << "Please enter either the author's name or the book name to search: ";
fflush(stdin);
cin.getline(advanced, 50);
for(int i = 0; i < rows; i++)
{
if(strstr(book[i].author, advanced) || strstr(book[i].name, advanced))
{
cout << "ISBN is " << book[i].code << endl;
cout << "Author is " << book[i].author << endl;
cout << "Book name is " << book[i].name << endl;
cout << book[i].edition << " Edition" << endl;
cout << "Publisher is " << book[i].publish << endl;
cout << "Current price is " << book[i].price << endl;
}
}
return ;
}
The problem starts here:
When I want to permanently delete a whole row of book record. But the book record is still there after deleting.
First, this is my menu, then I press 1 to check the list for the IBSN. Then, I press 3 to proceed to the deleting part. At that time, I choose TheHost to delete. After the deleting, to ensure that I have deleted the chosen book, so I press 1 to check the list again, but unfortunately the book is still there:
If I am able to delete a book record, and how do I delete a record permanently? And after deleting a record, how do I move the remaining records upwards, so that it won't leave any empty row there?
The function for the deleting:
void updateRecord(BOOK_LIST book[], int rows)
{
int pos = deleteBook(book, rows);
char code [50];
int i,j = 0;
for(i = 0; i < rows ; i++)
{
if(strcmp(code, book[i].code))
{
strcpy(book[j].code , book[i].code);
strcpy(book[j].author, book[i].author);
strcpy(book[j].name, book[i].name);
strcpy(book[j].edition, book[i].edition);
strcpy(book[j].publish, book[i].publish);
strcpy(book[j].price, book[i].price);
j++;
}//if
else
{
i++;
strcpy(book[j].code, book[i].code);
strcpy(book[j].author, book[i].author);
strcpy(book[j].name, book[i].name);
strcpy(book[j].edition, book[i].edition);
strcpy(book[j].publish, book[i].publish);
strcpy(book[j].price, book[i].price);
j++;
}//else
}//for
return;
}
The Text file that I used in this program a.k.a the BOOK_LIST
I see (at least) two problems with your code around deleting a book.
in update_record you're using a char code[50] which is being used to compare with strcmp later on but is not initialized.
when you delete a book you should update your index which becomes rows in the update_record method. However index is passed to rows by value which means that even if you try running --rows; in update_record it won't decrement index. You'll need to pass it by reference for it to update index.
On a side note, I agree with comments regarding fixing your code to use vectors/maps & strings instead of simple arrays and char*.
But since you mentioned it was a school task I would guess you haven't reached that sort of material yet.
Good Luck.
The assignment most probably expects you to use std::list template rather than the classical C array. Insertion and deletion is natural for lists.
An alternative would be to use std:map using the ISBN as a key. ISBN is supposed to be globally unique.
Just to expand on my comment, here is one way to remove an element from an array.
Suppose we have an array of char called X, containing {'a', 'b', 'c', 'd', 'e', 'f'}, and we want to get rid of 'c'.
If we want to maintain the order of the remaining elements, then what we're aiming for is {'a', 'b', 'd', 'e', 'f'}. So we copy the 'd' into the 'c' place, the 'e' into the old 'd' place, and so on:
a b c d e f
a b d d e f
a b d e e f
a b d e f f
We can do this with code like
for(int k=2; k<5; ++k)
X[k] = X[k+1];
And what happens to that extra 'f' at the end? We could write some placeholder into that unwanted space, and then watch out for that placeholder for the rest of the run. Or, we could just stop using that space, and say that from now on we're considering an array of length 5. That extra 'f' will still be there, but for now we don't care about what exists past the end of our array.
(If we don't care about the order of the remaining elements, then we can make this a lot simpler.)
Remember, it's always easier to develop new functionality in isolation.
Once you have this working, you can apply it in your code and get a passing grade, but if you really want to learn something useful you should write a Book class.

Jumping into c++ chapter 5 prob 7

as recommended I've been working through the book 'Jumping into c++'. I'm currently on problem 7 of chapter 5 and although I have produced the code that appears to do what is asked of me I was hoping someone might be able to take a look and tell me if I've implemented any 'bad' practice (Ideally I don't want to be picking up bad habits already).
Secondly, it also says 'try making a bar graph that shows the results properly scaled to fit on your screen no matter how many results were entered'. Again, the code below produces a horizontal bar graph but I'm not convinced that if I had say 10000 entries (I guess I could verify this by adding an additional for loop) that it would scale according. How would one go about applying this? (such that it always properly scales regardless of how many entries).
I should probably point out at this point that I have not covered topics such as arrays, pointers and classes as of yet in case anyone was curious as to why I didn't just create a class called 'vote' or something.
One final thing... I don't have a 'return 0' in my code, is this a problem? I find it slightly confusing as to what exactly the point of having return 0 is. I know that it's to do with making sure your code is running properly but it seems sort of redundant?
Thanks in advance!
#include <iostream>
using namespace std;
int main()
{
int option;
int option_1 = 0;
int option_2 = 0;
int option_3 = 0;
cout << "Which is your favourite sport?" << endl;
cout << "Tennis.. 1" << endl;
cout << "Football.. 2" << endl;
cout << "Cricket.. 3" << endl;
cin >> option;
while(option != 0)
{
if(option == 1)
{
option_1++;
}
else if(option ==2)
{
option_2++;
}
else if(option ==3)
{
option_3++;
}
else if(option > 3 || option < 0)
{
cout << "Not a valid entry, please enter again" << endl;
}
else if(option ==0)
{
break;
}
cout << "Which is your favourite sport?" << endl;
cout << "Tennis.. 1" << endl;
cout << "Football.. 2" << endl;
cout << "Cricket.. 3" << endl;
cin >> option;
}
cout << "Option 1 (" << option_1 << "): ";
for(int i = 0; i < option_1; i++)
{
cout << "*";
}
cout << "" << endl;
cout << "Option 2 (" << option_2 << "): ";
for(int i = 0; i < option_2; i++)
{
cout << "*";
}
cout << "" << endl;
cout << "Option 3 (" << option_3 << "): ";
for(int i = 0; i < option_3; i++)
{
cout << "*";
}
}
About the return 0 in main : it's optional in C++.
About your code:
You have a ton of if / else if blocks, you should replace them with a switch. A switch statement is more compact, readable, and may be a little bit faster at runtime. It's not important at this point, but it's pretty good practice to know where to put a switch and where to use regular if.
You have one big function, it's really bad. You should break your code into small, reusable pieces. That's something called DRY (Don't repeat Yourself): if you are copy-pasting code, you're doing something wrong. For example, your sport list appears 2 times in your code, you should move it in a separate function.
You wrote cout << "" << endl;, I think you don't really understand how std::cout work. std::cout is an object representing the standard output of your program. You can use operator<< to pass values to this standard output. std::endl is one of these values you can pass, strings are, too. So you can just write cout << endl;, no need for an empty string.
Please learn how to use arrays, either raw ones or std::array. This is a pretty good example of a program which can be refactored using arrays.
Here is a more readable, cleaner version of your code:
#include <iostream>
int prompt_option()
{
int option;
while (true)
{
std::cout << "Which is your favourite sport?" << std::endl;
std::cout << "Tennis.. 1" << std::endl;
std::cout << "Football.. 2" << std::endl;
std::cout << "Cricket.. 3" << std::endl;
std::cin >> option;
if (option >= 0 && option <= 3)
return option;
else
std::cout << "Not a valid entry, please enter again" << std::endl;
}
}
void display_option(int number, int value)
{
std::cout << "Option " << number << " (" << value << "): ";
while (value--)
std::cout << '*';
std::cout << std::endl;
}
int main()
{
int option;
int values[3] = {0};
while (true)
{
option = prompt_option();
if (option)
values[option - 1]++;
else
break;
}
for (int i = 0; i < 3; i++)
display_option(i + 1, values[i]);
}
You have too much if else, it messy.
check out the code bellow, muc shorter, cleaner and efficent.
I hope it helps.
#include <iostream>
using namespace std;
int main()
{
int choice;
int soccer=0, NFL=0 ,formula1=0;
while(choice != 0){
cout<<"Please choose one of the following for the poll"<<endl;
cout<<"press 1 for soccer, press 2 for NFL, press 3 for formula 1"<<endl;
cout<<"Press 0 to exit"<<endl;
cin>>choice;
if(choice==1){
soccer++;
}
else if(choice==2){
NFL++;
}
else if(choice == 3){
formula1++;
}
else{
cout<<"Invalid entry, try again"<<endl;
}
cout<<"soccer chosen "<<soccer<<" times.";
for(int i=0; i<soccer; i++){
cout<<"*";
}
cout<<endl;
cout<<"NFL chosen "<<NFL<<" times.";
for(int j=0; j<NFL; j++){
cout<<"*";
}
cout<<endl;
cout<<"formula1 chosen "<<formula1<<" times.";
for(int c=0; c<formula1; c++){
cout<<"*";
}
cout<<endl;
}
return 0;
}

C++: Will Not Accept New C-String Input

First off, thanks in advance for your help. This issue is driving me nuts.
I have a program that accepts a c-string, and then can count the number of vowels and consonants. This works without issue. However, I also need to include a function that allows the user to create a new string. The problem is, though, when the user selects "new string" from the menu, it just loops through the newString() method, without waiting for the user's input. It then creates a new, blank screen.
Here is the entire program. The newString() method is at the end.
#include <iostream>
using namespace std;
// function prototype
void printmenu(void);
int vowelCount(char *);
int consCount(char *);
int cons_and_vowelCount(char *);
void newString(char *, const int);
int main() {
const int LENGTH = 101;
char input_string[LENGTH]; //user defined string
char choice; //user menu choice
bool not_done = true; //loop control flag
// create the input_string object
cout << "Enter a string of no more than " << LENGTH-1 << " characters:\n";
cin.getline(input_string, LENGTH);
do {
printmenu();
cin >> choice;
switch(choice)
{
case 'a':
case 'A':
vowelCount(input_string);
break;
case 'b':
case 'B':
consCount(input_string);
break;
case 'c':
case 'C':
cons_and_vowelCount(input_string);
break;
case 'd':
case 'D':
newString(input_string, LENGTH);
break;
case 'e':
case 'E':
exit(0);
default:
cout << endl << "Error: '" << choice << "' is an invalid selection" << endl;
break;
} //close switch
} //close do
while (not_done);
return 0;
} // close main
/* Function printmenu()
* Input:
* none
* Process:
* Prints the menu of query choices
* Output:
* Prints the menu of query choices
*/
void printmenu(void)
{
cout << endl << endl;
cout << "A) Count the number of vowels in the string" << endl;
cout << "B) Count the number of consonants in the string" << endl;
cout << "C) Count both the vowels and consonants in the string" << endl;
cout << "D) Enter another string" << endl;
cout << "E) Exit the program" << endl;
cout << endl << "Enter your selection: ";
return;
}
int vowelCount(char *str) {
char vowels[11] = "aeiouAEIOU";
int vowel_count = 0;
for (int i = 0; i < strlen(str); i++) {
for (int j = 0; j < strlen(vowels); j++) {
if (str[i] == vowels[j]) {
vowel_count++;
}
}
}
cout << "String contains " << vowel_count << " vowels" << endl;
return vowel_count;
} // close vowelCount
int consCount(char *str) {
char cons[43] = "bcdfghjklmnpqrstvwxyzBCDFGHJKLMNPQRSTVWXYZ";
int cons_count = 0;
for (int i = 0; i < strlen(str); i ++) {
for (int j = 0; j < strlen(cons); j++) {
if (str[i] == cons[j]) {
cons_count++;
}
}
}
cout << "String contains " << cons_count << " consonants" << endl;
return cons_count;
} // close consCount
int cons_and_vowelCount(char *str) {
int cons = consCount(str);
int vowels = vowelCount(str);
int total = cons + vowels;
cout << "The string contains a total of " << total << " vowels and "
"consonants" << endl;
return total;
}
void newString(char *str, int len) {
cout << "Enter a string of no more than " << len-1 << " characters:\n";
cin.getline(str, len);
return;
}
The statement cin >> choice only consumes the character they type, not the carriage return that follows. Thus, the subsequent getline() call reads an empty line. One simple solution is to call getline() instead of cin >> choice and then use the first character as the choice.
BTW, the while (not done) should immediately follow the do { … }, and the return 0 is redundant. Also, you should call newString at the start of the program instead of repeating its contents.
cin >> choice leaves a newline in the input stream.. which cause the next getline() to consume it and return. There are many ways.. one way is to use cin.ignore() right after cin >> choice.
The cin >> choice only consumes one character from the stream (as already mentioned). You should add
cin.ignore(std::numeric_limits<std::streamsize>::max(),'\n');
right after cin>>choice to ignore all the characters that come into the stream after reading the choice.
p.s. #include <limits>