C++ will not create a file to output text to? - c++

Question

So, what I have here is a simple snippet of C++ code that merely askes for a filepath, checks if the filepath exists, and if it does, the program closes. If it doesn't, it creates a file and writes text to it. The path I enter is C:\temp.txt, but no matter which path I use the result is the same: No file is created. I am using Visual Studio 2010.
string outFile = "";
cout << "Enter a file path for an output file that does not exist already: ";
cin >> outFile;
ofstream file_writer;
file_writer.open(outFile, ios::out);
if (file_writer.good()) {
cout << "This file exists already!" << endl;
system("PAUSE");
return 255;
}
else
file_writer << "Hello";
file_writer.close();

Answer 1

You could try:
string outFile = "";
cout << "Enter a file path for an output file that does not exist already: ";
cin >> outFile;
ofstream file_writer;
file_writer.open(outFile, ios::in);
if (file_writer.good()) { //This now just checks if the file exists already
cout << "This file exists already!" << endl;
system("PAUSE");
return 255;
}
file_writer.open(outFile, ios::out); //Now since we know the file doesn't exist, we can create it safely
if (!file_writer.good()) {
cout << "Failed to create file!" << endl;
return 254;
}
file_writer << "Hello";
file_writer.close();

Answer 2

Check your fail() error message:
if (outfile.fail())
cout << strerror(errno) << endl;

Answer 3

You cannot write to "C:".
Try with a different path, and it should work.

Answer 4

Nice! ofstream::good() returns true if no error occurs. Use a negation in the if-condition.
if (!file_writer.good()) {
...
}

Answer 5

This response may be a little late, but I just spend two days figuring out why Visual Studio C++ was not creating any text files.
I'm going through Wrox Professional C++ Fourth Edition. In chapter 13 on the section for file streams, I could not get any examples to work. I spent many hours downloading sample code with the same results.
I then looked at my anti-virus software. There are two settings in there that caught my eye: Folder Access, and Exclusions. I'm running Windows Security on Widows 10. I changed Exclusions to prevent the security software from monitoring my vs2019 folder and subfolders. No improvement.
I then looked at the parent folder c:\files. This had folder access enabled. I removed this and everything worked fine. Instead of putting folder access on the entire files folder, I enabled it on the specific subfolders omitting the vs2019 folder. I hope this save somebody many frustrating hours.