C++ equivalent of C fgets - c++

Question

I am looking to find a C++ fstream equivalent function of C fgets. I tried with get function of fstream but did not get what I wanted. The get function does not extract the delim character whereas the fgets function used to extract it. So, I wrote a code to insert this delim character from my code itself. But it is giving strange behaviour. Please see my sample code below;
#include <stdio.h>
#include <fstream>
#include <iostream>
int main(int argc, char **argv)
{
char str[256];
int len = 10;
std::cout << "Using C fgets function" << std::endl;
FILE * file = fopen("C:\\cpp\\write.txt", "r");
if(file == NULL){
std::cout << " Error opening file" << std::endl;
}
int count = 0;
while(!feof(file)){
char *result = fgets(str, len, file);
std::cout << result << std::endl ;
count++;
}
std::cout << "\nCount = " << count << std::endl;
fclose(file);
std::fstream fp("C:\\cpp\\write.txt", std::ios_base::in);
int iter_count = 0;
while(!fp.eof() && iter_count < 10){
fp.get(str, len,'\n');
int count = fp.gcount();
std::cout << "\nCurrent Count = " << count << std::endl;
if(count == 0){
//only new line character encountered
//adding newline character
str[1] = '\0';
str[0] = '\n';
fp.ignore(1, '\n');
//std::cout << fp.get(); //ignore new line character from stream
}
else if(count != (len -1) ){
//adding newline character
str[count + 1] = '\0';
str[count ] = '\n';
//std::cout << fp.get(); //ignore new line character from stream
fp.ignore(1, '\n');
//std::cout << "Adding new line \n";
}
std::cout << str << std::endl;
std::cout << " Stream State : Good: " << fp.good() << " Fail: " << fp.fail() << std::endl;
iter_count++;
}
std::cout << "\nCount = " << iter_count << std::endl;
fp.close();
return 0;
}
The txt file that I am using is write.txt with following content:
This is a new lines.
Now writing second
line
DONE
If you observe my program, I am using fgets function first and then using the get function on same file. In case of get function, the stream state goes bad.
Can anyone please point me out what is going wrong here?
UPDATED: I am now posting a simplest code which does not work at my end. If I dont care about the delim character for now and just read the entire file 10 characters at a time using getline:
void read_file_getline_no_insert(){
char str[256];
int len =10;
std::cout << "\nREAD_GETLINE_NO_INSERT FUNCITON\n" << std::endl;
std::fstream fp("C:\\cpp\\write.txt", std::ios_base::in);
int iter_count = 0;
while(!fp.eof() && iter_count < 10){
fp.getline(str, len,'\n');
int count = fp.gcount();
std::cout << "\nCurrent Count = " << count << std::endl;
std::cout << str << std::endl;
std::cout << " Stream State : Good: " << fp.good() << " Fail: " << fp.fail() << std::endl;
iter_count++;
}
std::cout << "\nCount = " << iter_count << std::endl;
fp.close();
}
int main(int argc, char **argv)
{
read_file_getline_no_insert();
return 0;
}
If wee see the output of above code:
READ_GETLINE_NO_INSERT FUNCITON
Current Count = 9
This is a
Stream State : Good: 0 Fail: 1
Current Count = 0
Stream State : Good: 0 Fail: 1
You would see that the state of stream goes Bad and the fail bit is set. I am unable to understand this behavior.
Rgds
Sapan

Answer 1

std::getline() will read a string from a stream, until it encounters a delimiter (newline by default).
Unlike fgets(), std::getline() discards the delimiter. But, also unlike fgets(), it will read the whole line (available memory permitting) since it works with a std::string rather than a char *. That makes it somewhat easier to use in practice.
All types derived from std::istream (which is the base class for all input streams) also have a member function called getline() which works a little more like fgets() - accepting a char * and a buffer size. It still discards the delimiter though.
The C++-specific options are overloaded functions (i.e. available in more than one version) so you need to read documentation to decide which one is appropriate to your needs.