I was typing this and it asks the user to input two integers which will then become variables. From there it will carry out simple operations.
How do I get the computer to check if what is entered is an integer or not? And if not, ask the user to type an integer in. For example: if someone inputs "a" instead of 2, then it will tell them to reenter a number.
Thanks
#include <iostream>
using namespace std;
int main ()
{
int firstvariable;
int secondvariable;
float float1;
float float2;
cout << "Please enter two integers and then press Enter:" << endl;
cin >> firstvariable;
cin >> secondvariable;
cout << "Time for some simple mathematical operations:\n" << endl;
cout << "The sum:\n " << firstvariable << "+" << secondvariable
<<"="<< firstvariable + secondvariable << "\n " << endl;
}
You can check like this:
int x;
cin >> x;
if (cin.fail()) {
//Not an int.
}
Furthermore, you can continue to get input until you get an int via:
#include <iostream>
int main() {
int x;
std::cin >> x;
while(std::cin.fail()) {
std::cout << "Error" << std::endl;
std::cin.clear();
std::cin.ignore(256,'\n');
std::cin >> x;
}
std::cout << x << std::endl;
return 0;
}
EDIT: To address the comment below regarding input like 10abc, one could modify the loop to accept a string as an input. Then check the string for any character not a number and handle that situation accordingly. One needs not clear/ignore the input stream in that situation. Verifying the string is just numbers, convert the string back to an integer. I mean, this was just off the cuff. There might be a better way. This won't work if you're accepting floats/doubles (would have to add '.' in the search string).
#include <iostream>
#include <string>
int main() {
std::string theInput;
int inputAsInt;
std::getline(std::cin, theInput);
while(std::cin.fail() || std::cin.eof() || theInput.find_first_not_of("0123456789") != std::string::npos) {
std::cout << "Error" << std::endl;
if( theInput.find_first_not_of("0123456789") == std::string::npos) {
std::cin.clear();
std::cin.ignore(256,'\n');
}
std::getline(std::cin, theInput);
}
std::string::size_type st;
inputAsInt = std::stoi(theInput,&st);
std::cout << inputAsInt << std::endl;
return 0;
}
Heh, this is an old question that could use a better answer.
User input should be obtained as a string and then attempt-converted to the data type you desire. Conveniently, this also allows you to answer questions like “what type of data is my input?”
Here is a function I use a lot. Other options exist, such as in Boost, but the basic premise is the same: attempt to perform the string→type conversion and observe the success or failure:
template <typename T>
auto string_to( const std::string & s )
{
T value;
std::istringstream ss( s );
return ((ss >> value) and (ss >> std::ws).eof()) // attempt the conversion
? value // success
: std::optional<T> { }; // failure
}
Using the optional type is just one way. You could also throw an exception or return a default value on failure. Whatever works for your situation.
Here is an example of using it:
int n;
std::cout << "n? ";
{
std::string s;
getline( std::cin, s );
auto x = string_to <int> ( s );
if (!x) return complain();
n = *x;
}
std::cout << "Multiply that by seven to get " << (7 * n) << ".\n";
limitations and type identification
In order for this to work, of course, there must exist a method to unambiguously extract your data type from a stream. This is the natural order of things in C++ — that is, business as usual. So no surprises here.
The next caveat is that some types subsume others. For example, if you are trying to distinguish between int and double, check for int first, since anything that converts to an int is also a double.
There is a function in c called isdigit(). That will suit you just fine. Example:
int var1 = 'h';
int var2 = '2';
if( isdigit(var1) )
{
printf("var1 = |%c| is a digit\n", var1 );
}
else
{
printf("var1 = |%c| is not a digit\n", var1 );
}
if( isdigit(var2) )
{
printf("var2 = |%c| is a digit\n", var2 );
}
else
{
printf("var2 = |%c| is not a digit\n", var2 );
}
From here
If istream fails to insert, it will set the fail bit.
int i = 0;
std::cin >> i; // type a and press enter
if (std::cin.fail())
{
std::cout << "I failed, try again ..." << std::endl
std::cin.clear(); // reset the failed state
}
You can set this up in a do-while loop to get the correct type (int in this case) propertly inserted.
For more information: http://augustcouncil.com/~tgibson/tutorial/iotips.html#directly
You can use the variables name itself to check if a value is an integer.
for example:
#include <iostream>
using namespace std;
int main (){
int firstvariable;
int secondvariable;
float float1;
float float2;
cout << "Please enter two integers and then press Enter:" << endl;
cin >> firstvariable;
cin >> secondvariable;
if(firstvariable && secondvariable){
cout << "Time for some simple mathematical operations:\n" << endl;
cout << "The sum:\n " << firstvariable << "+" << secondvariable
<<"="<< firstvariable + secondvariable << "\n " << endl;
}else{
cout << "\n[ERROR\tINVALID INPUT]\n";
return 1;
}
return 0;
}
I prefer to use <limits> to check for an int until it is passed.
#include <iostream>
#include <limits> //std::numeric_limits
using std::cout, std::endl, std::cin;
int main() {
int num;
while(!(cin >> num)){ //check the Input format for integer the right way
cin.clear();
cin.ignore(std::numeric_limits<std::streamsize>::max(), '\n');
cout << "Invalid input. Reenter the number: ";
};
cout << "output= " << num << endl;
return 0;
}
Under C++11 and later, I have the found the std::stoi function very useful for this task. stoi throws an invalid_argument exception if conversion cannot be performed. This can be caught and handled as shown in the demo function 'getIntegerValue' below.
The stoi function has a second parameter 'idx' that indicates the position of the first character in the string after the number. We can use the value in idx to check against the string length and ascertain if there are any characters in the input other than the number. This helps eliminate input like 10abc or a decimal value.
The only case where this approach fails is when there is trailing white space after the number in the input, that is, the user enters a lot of spaces after inputting the number. To handle such a case, you could rtrim the input string as described in this post.
#include <iostream>
#include <string>
bool getIntegerValue(int &value);
int main(){
int value{};
bool valid{};
while(!valid){
std::cout << "Enter integer value: ";
valid = getIntegerValue(value);
if (!valid)
std::cout << "Invalid integer value! Please try again.\n" << std::endl;
}
std::cout << "You entered: " << value << std::endl;
return 0;
}
// Returns true if integer is read from standard input
bool getIntegerValue(int &value){
bool isInputValid{};
int valueFromString{};
size_t index{};
std::string userInput;
std::getline(std::cin, userInput);
try {
//stoi throws an invalid_argument exception if userInput cannot be
//converted to an integer.
valueFromString = std::stoi(userInput, &index);
//index being different than length of string implies additional
//characters in input that could not be converted to an integer.
//This is to handle inputs like 10str or decimal values like 10.12
if(index == userInput.length()) isInputValid = true;
}
catch (const std::invalid_argument &arg) {
; //you could show an invalid argument message here.
}
if (isInputValid) value = valueFromString;
return isInputValid;
}
You could use :
int a = 12;
if (a>0 || a<0){
cout << "Your text"<<endl;
}
I'm pretty sure it works.
Related
As I am very new to exceptions, I am having some trouble with the below memory exception code. Basically, I would need to calculate and show sum of 10 positive inputs. During the input, my program should use exception mechanism to display a message that it doesn't allow negative numbers / not-a-numbers (NaN) if so is the input and then exit the program. I am told to use std::cin.fail() to detect whether the value entered fits the variable type(but I am not sure how to implement it). Would appreciate your help thanks!
#include <iostream>
int main() {
int number;
int a=-2;
try {
for(int i=0; i<10;i++) {
std::cin>>number;
}
}
catch (...) {
number==-number?
std::cout << "Its negative"<<std::endl;
number==a?
std::cout << "Its NaN"<<std::endl;
}
}
You say "10 positive inputs", but you have int number;. If your number is going to be an integer, then it can't take fractions like 33.44 for instance, and it also can't be NaN (so you wouldn't need to check for that). If you want to allow fractions, do double number instead. That aside, the check could look like this:
for (int i = 0; i < 10; i++) {
std::cin >> number;
if (std::cin.fail()) {
std::cin.clear();
std::string input;
std::cin >> input;
std::cout << "input failed! Invalid input: " << input << std::endl;
return -1;
}
After every inputted number, you do the std::cin.fail() check. If it failed, you can just return. In this example, I also made it print the invalid input. For that you need to call std::cin.clear(); to reset that error flag, and then you can put that invalid input into an std::string (which should work, unlike with the number). You need to include <string> for that. If you don't need to print anything, you can just return and forget about the clearing, the string and the output. Also, in this example, since the mess made by the invalid input is neatly cleaned up, you could take more (valid) inputs again if you don't return instead.
Next, checking for negative numbers:
if (number < 0) {
std::cout << "Error: Negative number!" << std::endl;
return -1;
}
Finally, the NaN check (for double):
if (isnan(number)) {
std::cout << "Error: number is NaN!" << std::endl;
return -1;
}
You need to include <math.h> for the isnan.
Putting it all together, it could look like this:
#include <iostream>
#include <string> // std::istream >> std::string
#include <math.h> // isnan
int main() {
double number;
for (int i = 0; i < 10; i++) {
std::cin >> number;
if (std::cin.fail()) {
std::cin.clear();
std::string input;
std::cin >> input;
std::cout << "input failed! Invalid input: " << input << std::endl;
return -1;
}
if (number < 0) {
std::cout << "Error: Negative number!" << std::endl;
return -1;
}
if (isnan(number)) {
std::cout << "Error: number is NaN!" << std::endl;
return -1;
}
}
return 0;
}
I want to create a program that when a user inputs something that I didn't define, the program prompts him again.
I did it with if statements but it only loops for 1 time and doesn't do it again. I tried loops but whenever the input is false it just breaks the condition and refuses all inputs alike. In c++.
Any help is much appreciated.
#include <iostream>
#include <string>
using namespace std;
void xD(){string x;
do{cout << "Retry\n";
cin >> x;}while(true);}
//declaring a function to make the shop
void shop(){
string x;
float coins = 500;
float bow_cost = 200;
cout << "welcome to the shop\n";
cout << "Bow(bow)costs 150 coins.\n";
cin >> x;
// if u chose bow you get this and get to choose again
if (x == "bow"){
cout << "you bought the bow.\n you now have " <<coins - bow_cost << " coins." << endl; cin >> x;}
/*now the problem that whenever I excute the code and type something other than bow it gives me the cin only once more and then fails even if I type bow in the 2nd attempt*/
//in my desperate 5k attempt, I tried creating a function for it.. no use.
//i want it o keep prompting me for input till i type "bow" and the other block excutes. but it never happens.
else{xD();}
}
int main(){
string name;
string i;
cout << "if you wish to visit the shop type \"shop\"\n";
cin >> i;
if(i == "shop"){shop();}
else{cin >> i;}
return 0;
}
The problem lies on the condition in this loop block
void xD(){
string x;
do{
cout << "Retry\n";
cin >> x;
}while(true);
}
The while(true) condition makes it loops forever regardless of the input. To fix this, you can change the condition:
void xD(){
string x;
do{
cout << "Retry\n";
cin >> x;
}while(x!="bow");
cout << "you bought the bow. and some other messages"<<endl;
}
That should work. However, it is still too complicated for me. This can be simplified into the snippet below:
void shop(){
string x;
float coins = 500;
float bow_cost = 200;
cout << "welcome to the shop\n";
cout << "Bow(bow)costs 150 coins.\n";
cin >> x;
while (x!="bow"){
cout << "Retry\n";
cin>>x;
}
cout << "you bought the bow.\n you now have " <<coins - bow_cost << " coins." << endl; cin >> x;
}
Instead of doing this approach (which is checking the condition only once):
if (x == "bow"){
cout << "you bought the bow.\n you now have " <<coins - bow_cost << "
coins." << endl; cin >> x;
} else{
xD();
}
which is actually a RECURSIVE invocation to the method xD()
you should do a do-while loop,
example:
while (x.compare("bow") != 0)
{
cout << "sorry, wrong input, try again...";
cin >> x;
}
note the use of the compare method instead of the == operator
here more about it in the documentation
You can use return value of cin >> [your input object] here to check status or istream's method fail(). As soon as input stream fails to parse whole or part of streams it fails and stay in state of failure until you clear it. Unparsed input is preserved (so you can try to parse it differently?)m so if you try to >> again to object of same type, you'll get same failure. To ignore N chars of imput, there is method
istream::ignore(streamsize amount, int delim = EOF)
Example:
int getInt()
{
while (1) // Loop until user enters a valid input
{
std::cout << "Enter an int value: ";
long long x; // if we'll use char, cin would assume it is character
// other integral types are fine
std::cin >> x;
// if (! (std::cin >> x))
if (std::cin.fail()) // has a previous extraction failed?
{
// yep, so let's handle the failure, or next >> will try parse same input
std::cout << "Invalid input from user.\n";
std::cin.clear(); // put us back in 'normal' operation mode
std::cin.ignore(std::numeric_limits<std::streamsize>::max(),'\n'); // and remove the bad input
}
// Thechnically you may do only the above part, but then you can't distingusih invalid format from out of range
else if(( x > std::numeric_limits<int>::max()) ||
( x < std::numeric_limits<int>::min()))
{
std::cout << "Invalid value.\n";
}
else // nope, so return our good x
return x;
}
}
For strings parsing is almost always successful but you'll need some mechanism of comparison of string you have and one that is allowed. Try look for use of std::find() and some container that would contain allowed options, e.g. in form of pair<int,string>, and use int index in switch() statement (or use find_if and switch() within the function you give to it).
Consider that if() statement is a one_direction road, it checks the condition and if the condition was satisfied it goes to its bracket and do blah blah blah , if there is any problem with condition compiler passes ifand jump to compile other codes.
Every time that you begin to compile the codes it begins from int main() function. You did the wrong thing in the if and else statements again
Here is the correct code .I did the necessary changes.
#include "stdafx.h"
#include <iostream>
#include <string>
using std::string;
using std::cin;
using std::cout;
#define coins 500 ;
#define bow_cost 200 ;
int shop(string x)
{
//There is no need to allocate extra memory for 500 and 200 while they are constant.``
cout << "welcome to the shop\n";
cout << "Bow(bow)costs 150 coins.\n";
do
{
cout << "Input another :\n";
cin >> x;
if (x == "bow")
{
return (coins - bow_cost); //return to function as integer
}
} while (true);
}
int main()
{
string name, i;
cout << "if you wish to visit the shop type \"shop\"\n";
cin >> i;
if (i == "shop")
{
cout << "Input :\n";
cin >> name;
cout << shop(name) << "you bought the bow.\n you now have " << " coins." << "\n";
}
//argument passed to shop funnction parameters.
system("pause");
return 0;
}
What is the best way in C++11 (ie. using C++11 techniques) to validate cin input? I've read lots of other answers (all involving cin.ignore, cin.clear, etc.), but those methods seem clumsy and result in lots of duplicated code.
Edit: By 'validation', I mean that both well-formed input was provided, and that it satisfies some context-specific predicate.
I'm posting my attempt at a solution as an answer in the hopes that it is useful to somebody else. It is not necessary to specify a predicate, in which case the function will check only for well-formed input. I am, of course, open to suggestions.
//Could use boost's lexical_cast, but that throws an exception on error,
//rather than taking a reference and returning false.
template<class T>
bool lexical_cast(T& result, const std::string &str) {
std::stringstream s(str);
return (s >> result && s.rdbuf()->in_avail() == 0);
}
template<class T, class U>
T promptValidated(const std::string &message, std::function<bool(U)> condition = [](...) { return true; })
{
T input;
std::string buf;
while (!(std::cout << message, std::getline(std::cin, buf) && lexical_cast<T>(input, buf) && condition(input))) {
if(std::cin.eof())
throw std::runtime_error("End of file reached!");
}
return input;
}
Here's an example of its usage:
int main(int argc, char *argv[])
{
double num = promptValidated<double, double>("Enter any number: ");
cout << "The number is " << num << endl << endl;
int odd = promptValidated<int, int>("Enter an odd number: ", [](int i) { return i % 2 == 1; });
cout << "The odd number is " << odd << endl << endl;
return 0;
}
If there's a better approach, I'm open to suggestions!
If by validation you mean that when you want an int you want to know if an int was really entered, then just put the input in an if condition:
int num;
while (!(std::cin >> num))
{
std::cout << "Whatever you entered, it wasn't an integer\n";
}
std::cout << "You entered the integer " << num << '\n';
I have the following simple code:
#include <iostream>
int main()
{
int a;
std::cout << "enter integer a" << std::endl;
std::cin >> a ;
if (std::cin.fail())
{
std::cin.clear();
std::cout << "input is not integer, re-enter please" <<std::endl;
std::cin >>a;
std::cout << "a inside if is: " << a <<std::endl;
}
std::cout << "a is " << a <<std::endl;
std::cin.get();
return 0;
}
When I run the above code and input: 1.5, it outputs: a is 1. FYI: I compile and run the code with gcc 4.5.3.
This means that if cin expects an integer but sees a float, it will do the conversion implicitly. So does this mean that when cin sees a float number, it is not in fail() state? Why this is the case? Is it because C++ does implicit conversion on >> operator?
I also tried the following code to decide whether a given input number is integer following idea from this post: testing if given number is integer:
#include <iostream>
bool integer(float k)
{
if( k == (int) k) return true;
return false;
}
int main()
{
int a;
std::cout << "enter integer a"<< std::endl;
std::cin >> a ;
if (!integer(a))
{
std::cout << "input is not integer, re-enter please" ;
std::cin.clear();
std::cin >> a;
std::cout << "a inside if is: " << a <<std::endl;
}
std::cout << "a is " << a <<std::endl;
std::cin.get();
return 0;
}
This block of code was also not able to test whether a is integer since it simply skip the if block when I run it with float input.
So why this is the case when getting user input with cin? What if sometimes I want the input to be 189, but typed 18.9 by accident, it will result in 18 in this case, which is bad. So does this mean using cin to get user input integers is not a good idea?
thank you.
When you read an integer and you give it an input of 1.5, what it sees is the integer 1, and it stops at the period since that isn't part of the integer. The ".5" is still in the input. This is the reason that you only get the integer part and it is also the reason why it doesn't seem to wait for input the second time.
To get around this, you could read a float instead of an integer so it reads the whole value, or you could check to see if there is anything else remaining on the line after reading the integer.
When reading user input I prefer not to use operator>> as user input is usally line based and prone to errors. I find it best to read a line at a time and validate:
std::string line;
std::getline(std::cin, line);
This also makes it easy to check for different types of numbers.
std::stirngstream linestream(line);
int val;
char c;
if ((linestream >> val) && !(linestream >> c))
{
// Get in here if an integer was read.
// And there is no following (non white space) characters.
// i.e. If the user only types in an integer.
//
// If the user typed any other character after the integer (like .5)
// then this will fail.
}
Of course boost already supports this:
val = boost::lexical_cast<int>(linestream); // Will throw if linestream does
// not contain an integer or
// contains anything in addition
// to the integer.
Boost of course will convert floats as well.
I have some snippet which is kind a poor coding, but it works.
This method is pretty simple, but doesn't handle case when input value is invalid.
See more: https://en.cppreference.com/w/cpp/string/byte/atof
static float InputFloat(std::string label)
{
std::string input;
std::cout << label;
std::cin >> input;
return atof(input.c_str());
}
int main()
{
float value = InputFloat("Enter some float value: ");
std::cout << "value = " << value;
return 0;
}
I've written this piece of code that allows the user to choose input either the value 1 or 2. This is working perfectly fine aside from one minor issue:
If the user inputs something like "1asdaosd" the input is recognized only as 1.
I've tried using the isdigit function but I still didn't manage to make this work.
bool validInput;
do
{
cout << "Choose the game type: ";
cin >> gametype;
validInput = true;
if (cin.fail())
{
validInput = false;
cin.clear();
cin.ignore(std::numeric_limits<int>::max(), '\n');
}
if (gametype<1 || gametype>2) {
validInput = false;
}
} while (!validInput);
The expected behaviour should be:
Anything other than "1" or "2" shouldn't be considered a validInput and therefore repeating the cycle. What happens is that "1asdasd" or "2aods" is considered a validInput but I want it to fail.
Below is a method based on stuff I read in one of the early chapters of Stroustrup's Programming: Principles and Practice Using C++ and an answer provided by Duoas at cplusplus.com. It defines a function, get_int_between(), that allows you to do something like this:
int my_variable;
get_int_between(my_variable, min, max, prompt, error_msg);
Which would prompt, validate, and store into my_variable.
Just for fun, I've also included a function, get_int(my_variable, prompt, error_msg), that does the same thing but allows an integer of any value.
#include <iostream>
#include <sstream> // stringstream
void get_int(int& d, std::string prompt, std::string fail);
void get_int_between(int& d, int min, int max, std::string prompt, std::string fail);
int main()
{
int my_number = 1; // initialize my_number
get_int(my_number, "Please enter an integer: ", "Sorry, that's not an integer.\n");
//Do something, e.g.
std::cout << "You entered: " << my_number << "\n";
get_int_between(my_number, 1, 2, "Choose the game type (1 or 2): ", "Sorry, that's not an integer.\n");
//Do something, e.g.:
std::cout << "Let's play Game " << my_number << "!\n";
return 0;
}
void get_int(int& d, std::string prompt, std::string fail)
{
while(1) {
std::cout << prompt;
std::string str;
std::cin >> str;
std::istringstream ss(str);
int val1;
ss >> val1;
if(!ss.eof()) {
std::cout << fail;
continue;
} else {
d = val1;
break;
}
}
}
void get_int_between(int& d, int min, int max, std::string prompt, std::string fail)
{
while(1) {
get_int(d, prompt, fail);
if(d > max || d < min) {
std::cout << "Sorry, your choice is out of range.\n";
continue;
}
break;
}
}
If you want to use strings use getline.
#include <iostream> // std::cin, std::cout
int main ()
{
char name[256], title[256];
std::cout << "Please, enter your name: ";
std::cin.getline (name,256);
std::cout << "Please, enter your favourite movie: ";
std::cin.getline (title,256);
std::cout << name << "'s favourite movie is " << title;
return 0;
}
if you make gametype as an int it will only accept 1 or 2 (of course you have to prevent other numbers to be accepted).
It's because gametype is an integer, so it's trying to read as much as would be valid for an integer. 1asdaosd is not a valid integer so it stops at the 1. If you want to read that thing in completely you'll have to make gametype a string for example, but then you won't be able to compare it to integers as you already do.
You can read it as a string if you want, and if you want to handle the case of strings and ints both, then you can use something like stoi to attempt to convert the string to an integer. Then catch the std::invalid_argument exception so you can know if the string can be converted to an integer. If it can't, then you know to keep it as a string.
It reads an int as far the input can be construed as such. Then stops. If you read into a string variable it will get it all.
Read data into a string variable.
Check that data is a valid integer.
Convert string to integer.
Tedious but it's the only way to do it
I'm guessing you want one input value on each line. You need to read this as string and then check if you got more than you asked for. If you need it as an integer you can convert the read string later.
I'm also assuming you only need to read single digit integers. More digits need the string to integer conversion in the loop and some more checks.
string gametype;
do
{
cout << "Choose the game type: ";
// read one word as string, no conversion, so will not fail (may hit eof though)
cin >> gametype;
// ignore rest of line (assuming you want next valid input on next line)
cin.ignore(std::numeric_limits<int>::max(), '\n');
}
while ( gametype.size() != 1 || gametype.at(0) < '1' || gametype.at(0) > '2') );
// char to int conversion (single digit only)
int gametypeint = gametype.at(0) - '0';
// other way to convert string to int
istringstream iss(gametype);
iss >> gametypeint;
// yet another way (C++11)
gametypeint = stio(gametype);