String phrase ends at space? - c++

Question

I am wringing a simple code to learn more about string. When I ran my code it would not print my last name. Can someone explain why? I used string phrase to store it and it only appears to have stored my first name. Here is the code.
#include <iostream>
#include <string>
#include <cstring>
using namespace std;
int main()
{
cout << "Exercise 3B" << endl;
cout << "Kaitlin Stevers" << endl;
cout << "String arrays" << endl;
cout << endl;
cout << endl;
char greeting[26];
cout << "Please enter a greeting: " << endl;
cin >> greeting;
cout << "The greeting you entered was: " << greeting << endl;
string phrase;
cout << "Enter your full name " << endl;
cin >> phrase;
cout << greeting << ", how are you today " << phrase << "?" << endl;
return 0;
}

Answer 1

I used string phrase to store it and it only appears to have stored my first name.
That makes sense.
cin >> phrase;
will stop reading when it encounters a whitespace character in the input.
To read the full name you can use one of the following approaches.
Use two calls to cin >>.
std::string first_name;
std::string last_name;
cin >> first_name >> last_name;
Use getline to read the entire line. getline will read everything in a a line, including whitespace characters.
getline(cin, phrase);

Answer 2

When you call cin >> phrase;, it only reads the string up to the first non-space character. If you want to include spaces in your name, best goes with getline(cin,phrase);.
IMPORTANT: getline() will reads whatever it is in the stream buffer up to the first \n. It means that when you enter cin >> greeting;, if you hit ENTER, getline() will read everything before that \n that is not already read, which is NOTHING into your phrase variable, making it an empty string. An easy way out is to call getline() twice. E.g.
#include <iostream>
#include <string>
#include <cstring>
using namespace std;
int main()
{
cout << "Exercise 3B" << endl;
cout << "Kaitlin Stevers" << endl;
cout << "String arrays" << endl;
cout << endl;
cout << endl;
char greeting[26];
cout << "Please enter a greeting: " << endl;
cin >> greeting; //IMPORTANT: THIS ASSUME THAT GREETING IS A SINGLE WORD (NO SPACES)
cout << "The greeting you entered was: " << greeting << endl;
string phrase;
cout << "Enter your full name " << endl;
string rubbish_to_be_ignored;
getline(cin,rubbish_to_be_ignored); //this is going to read nothing
getline(cin, phrase); // read the actual name (first name and all)
cout << greeting << ", how are you today " << phrase << "?" << endl;
return 0;
}
Assuming you store that code in the file stackoverflow.cpp. Sample run:
Chip Chip#04:26:00:~ >>> g++ stackoverflow.cpp -o a.out
Chip Chip#04:26:33:~ >>> ./a.out
Exercise 3B
Kaitlin Stevers
String arrays
Please enter a greeting:
Hello
The greeting you entered was: Hello
Enter your full name
Kaitlin Stevers
Hello, how are you today Kaitlin Stevers?
Tested on ubuntu 14.04