Ending a function while continuing from that point reading a file - c++

Question

I've wrote a program which reads a textfile character for character and counts the amount of vowels that pass. However if a symbol, say "*" appears, I want the program to stop counting the vowels and start counting the non-vowels, obviously continuing from that point forward. I've written a different function and entered the following:
if (kar == '*'){
reversecounting(i);
return 0;
}
Where reversecounting is the int-function counting non-vowels.
The problem I'm having right now is that whenever it does this, the function counting the non-vowels starts at the beginning of the file. Is there a way to make it continu on from the point where the other function stopped?
I'm using the "get"-function to read from the file. Thanks in advance.
Edit: sorry for not including relevant code, I've added it now and some commentary to make it understandable
#include <iostream>
#include <fstream>
#include <cstdlib>
using namespace std;
int countnonvowels( int &k ); //prototype
int countvowels( int k ){ //start function to count vowels
ifstream input; //to open textfile
char kar; // this is the character that will be read
int countvowels = 0; //local counter of vowels
input.open ("input.txt",ios::in); //opening the textfile
kar = input.get ( ); //first obtain a character from the textfile
while ( ! input.eof ( ) ) { //reads the file untile end of file
kar = input.get ( ); //the next character in the file gets "read"
if( kar == 'e' or kar == 'a' or kar == 'i' or kar == 'o' or kar == 'u' ){ //checks whether the character is a vowel
countvowels++; //local counter goes up by one
kar = input.get(); //take the next letter and print it
cout << kar << " " << countvowels << endl;
countvowels = 0; //value becomes zero again
}//if
if (kar == '*'){ //if the character is a "*", I want the non-vowels to be counted and the k-th non-vowel to be printed
countnonvowels(k);
return 0; //this function has to stop running
}//if
} // while
input.close ( );
}//countvowels
int countnonvowels(int &k){//counts the non-vowels
ifstream input;
char kar;
int countnonvowels = 0;
input.open ("input.txt",ios::in); //open the file
kar = input.get ( );
while ( ! input.eof ( ) ) { //same while loop
kar = input.get ( );
if( kar != 'e' or kar != 'a' or kar != 'i' or kar != 'o' or kar != 'u' ){ //now i want the counter to roll if it is NOT a vowel
countnonvowels++;
cout << kar << endl;
}
if (kar == '*'){ //if a "*" appears, I want the vowels to be counted again
countvowels(k);
return 0;
}//if
} // while
input.close ( );
}//countnonvowels
int main ( ) {
countvowels(2);
return 0;
} // main
The problem here is that I get an endless loop: The file gets checked for vowels, it see's a [star sign], starts counting the non-vowels from the start of the text, see's the [star sign] again and starts counting the vowels from the start of the textfile etc...
The star-sign (shift+8) makes everything cursive apparently, I hope it's clear which one I mean.

Answer 1

Here is a short example given that you know how to check if the letter is a vowel or not. I'm leaving modifying it to work for a whole file to you since I suspect this is a homework question.
void countLetters(const string& line)
{
int vowels, nonVowels;
vowels = nonVowels = 0;
bool countingVowels = true;
for (int position = 0; position < line.length(); position++)
{
if (countingVowels && isVowel(line[position])
{
vowels++;
}
else if (!countingVowels && !isVowel(line[position]))
{
nonVowels++;
}
else if (line[position] == '*')
{
countingVowels = !countingVowels;
}
}
cout << vowels << " "<< nonVowels<<endl;
}