cin a char into an int variable to stop a loop - c++

Question

I would like to read numbers into a static array of fixed size 10, but the user can break the loop by entering character E.
Here's my code:
#include <iostream>
#include <cmath>
using namespace std;
int main()
{
int myArray[10];
int count = 0;
cout << "Enter upto 10 integers. Enter E to end" << endl;
for (int i = 0; i < 10; i++)
{
cout << "Enter num " << i + 1 << ":";
cin >> myArray[i];
if (myArray[i] != 'E')
{
cout << myArray[i] << endl;
count++;
}
else
{
break;
}
}
cout << count << endl;
system("PAUSE");
return 0;
}
However, I get the following results while entering E:
Enter upto 10 integers. Enter E to end
Enter num 1:5
5
Enter num 2:45
45
Enter num 3:25
25
Enter num 4:2
2
Enter num 5:E
-858993460
Enter num 6:-858993460
Enter num 7:-858993460
Enter num 8:-858993460
Enter num 9:-858993460
Enter num 10:-858993460
10
Press any key to continue . . .
How can I fix this code in the simplest way?

Answer 1

cin fails for parsing character 'E' to int. The solution would be to read string from user check if it is not "E" (it is a string not a single char so you need to use double quotes) and then try to convert string to int. However, this conversion can throw exception (see below).
Easiest solution:
#include <iostream>
#include <cmath>
#include <string> //for std::stoi function
using namespace std;
int main()
{
int myArray[10];
int count = 0;
cout << "Enter upto 10 integers. Enter E to end" << endl;
for (int i = 0; i < 10; i++)
{
cout << "Enter num " << i + 1 << ":";
std::string input;
cin >> input;
if (input != "E")
{
try
{
// convert string to int this can throw see link below
myArray[i] = std::stoi(input);
}
catch (const std::exception& e)
{
std::cout << "This is not int" << std::endl;
}
cout << myArray[i] << endl;
count++;
}
else
{
break;
}
}
cout << count << endl;
system("PAUSE");
return 0;
}
See documentation for std::stoi. It can throw exception so your program will end suddenly (by termination) that is why there is try and catch blocks around it. You will need to handle the case when user puts some garbage values in your string.

Answer 2

Just use:
char myArray[10];
because at the time of taking input console when get character then try to convert char to int which is not possible and store default value in std::cin i.e. 'E' to 0 (default value of int).
Use below code:
#include <iostream>
#include <cmath>
using namespace std;
int main()
{
char myArray[10];
int count = 0;
cout << "Enter upto 10 integers. Enter E to end" << endl;
for (int i = 0; i < 10; i++)
{
cout << "Enter num " << i + 1 << ":";
cin >> myArray[i];
if (myArray[i] == 'E')
{
break;
}
else
{
cout << myArray[i] << endl;
count++;
}
}
exitloop:
cout << count << endl;
system("PAUSE");
return 0;
}
Output:
Enter upto 10 integers. Enter E to end
Enter num 1:1
1
Enter num 2:E
1
sh: 1: PAUSE: not found

Answer 3

If you debug this, you will find all your myArray[i] are -858993460 (=0x CCCC CCCC), which is a value for the uninitialized variables in the stack.
When you put a E to an int variable myArray[i]. std::cin will set the state flag badbit to 1.
Then when you run cin >> myArray[i], it will skip it. In other words, do nothing.
Finally, you will get the result as above.

Answer 4

The problem is that attempting to read E as an int fails, and puts the stream in an error state where it stops reading (which you don't notice because it just doesn't do anything after that) and leaves your array elements uninitialized.
The simplest possible way is to break on any failure to read an integer:
for(int i = 0; i < 10; i++)
{
cout << "Enter num " << i + 1 << ":";
if (cin >> myArray[i])
{
cout << myArray[i] << endl;
count++;
}
else
{
break;
}
}
If you want to check for E specifically, you need to read a string first, and then convert that to an int if it's not E.
As a bonus, you need to handle everything that's neither int nor E, which complicates the code a bit.
Something like this:
int count = 0;
string input;
while (cin >> input && count < 10)
{
if (input == "E")
{
break;
}
istringstream is(input);
if (is >> myArray[count])
{
cout << myArray[count] << endl;
count++;
}
else
{
cout << "Please input an integer, or E to exit." << endl;
}
}