cin infinite loop when reading in a non-numeric value - c++

I had a strange behavior in a program and I spent long time trying to deduce why. it was an infinite loop with no sense. Testing these lines of code(under suspicion) i got the same result. Every time I type in a non-numeric value such a symbol, the program runs through an infinite loop printing zeros, which i guess is how cout represents the wrong value entered. I'd like to know why is that weird behavior from cin, printing all those zeros instead of stopping when it finds a wrong reading.
#include <iostream>
using namespace std;
int main()
{
int n = 0;
while(n >= 0) {
cin >> n;
cout << n << endl;
}
return 0;
}

the program runs through an infinite loop printing zeros, which i guess is how cout represents the wrong value entered.
That is not quite right: when you ask cin for an int, but there's no int, you get no value back, but the invalid input remains in the buffer. When you ask for int again in the next iteration of the loop, same thing happens again, and no progress is made: bad data remains in the buffer.
That's why you get an infinite loop. To fix this, you need to add some code to remove bad data from the input buffer. For example, you could read it into a string, and ignore the input:
int n = 0;
while(n <= 0) {
cin >> n;
if (!cin.good()) {
cin.clear();
string ignore;
cin >> ignore;
continue;
}
cout << n << endl;
}
Demo.

You need to "eat" the non-numerical input i.e.
#include <iostream>
using namespace std;
int main()
{
int n = 0;
while(n >= 0) {
cin >> n;
if (!cin) {
char c;
cin >> c;
} else {
cout << n << endl;
}
}
return 0;
}

Related

C++ code - Error message when floating point is entered [duplicate]

I've written a program that returns the median value of a user-defined array. While I've put a few checks in my code (array size can not be negative) I keep running into one issue I simply can not fix (for clarity sake, assume strings and alphabetical characters will not be used).
All of my input values are int however the user could just as easily enter in a float. When they do this (either for size of array or entering in the element) it breaks my code. I've tried multiple things to try and catch this, but it seems like the way my program is getting the value doesn't allow for the catch in time.
#include <iostream>
using namespace std;
void sort(int * a,int n)
{
for(int i=0;i<n;++i)
for(int j=i+1;j<n;++j)
{
if(a[i]>a[j])
{
int tmp = a[i];
a[i] = a[j];
a[j] = tmp;
}\
}
return;
}
int main()
{
int n;
int check;
int x;
cout<<"Enter length of array:";
cin>>n;
if (n < 0){
while (n < 0){
cout << "Please enter a length greater than 0" << endl;
cin >> n;
}
} else if (n % 1 != 0){
while (n % 1 != 0){
cout << "Whole numbers only! Try again" << endl;
cin >> n;
}
}
if (n == 0){
cout <<"You try to enter numbers, but there's no place to put them." << endl;
cout << ":(";
return 0;
}
int a[n];
cout<<"Enter values one by one:\n";
for(int i=0;i<n;++i){
cin >> x;
a[i] = int(x);
}
sort(a,n);
if (n % 2 == 1){
cout<<"Median is:"<<a[n/2]<<endl;
}
else{
float z = (float(a[n/2]) + float(a[(n/2)-1])) / 2;
cout << "Median is:" << z << endl;
}
return 0;
}
First thing I tried was catching the float like so
`if (n % 1 !=0){
while(n % 1 !=0){
cout << "Enter a whole number"
cin >> n
}
}`
This still broke my program. The odd thing was that I entered a float and then printed the value of n and it only showed the int value.
I tried using typeid.n() with #include <typeinfo>and comparing that to an int type to check it was the correct value, but that slipped through as well.
I tried doing an int cast, something like int(n) immediately after number was stored in n but before it went into a[n] and yet again, it still broke my code.
How can I check against float user-input and loop them until they give me an int?
You're reading into an int:
int x;
...
cin >> x;
So it will read what it can, then stop at e.g. a . and leave the rest on the stream (like if the user enters "123.4" you'll get 123 and then ".4" won't be consumed from the input stream).
Instead, you could read into a float:
float x;
...
cin >> x;
And do the appropriate math.
Alternatively you could read into a string and parse it into a float. That way you won't get stuck at letters and such either.
And the final option is to read into an int but handle any errors and skip the bad input, which is detailed at How to handle wrong data type input so I won't reproduce it here.
Which option you choose really just depends on what you want the behavior of your program to be and how strictly you want to validate input (e.g. round vs. fail if "2.5" is entered but an integer is expected, how do you want to handle "xyz" as input, etc.).

Infinite loop when using exceptions in c++11

I would like to create a c++11 program that takes in 10 positive integers and gives the user the total. In the event of a negative number or a char input, the exception should be thrown and the user must re enter their value.
The program below works with negative numbers. However, when I enter a character like "a", the program goes into an infinite loop and I cannot figure out why.
Any and all help will be appreciated
#include <iostream>
int main(){
int array[10] = {0};
int total = 0;
for(int i =0; i < 10; i++){
std::cout<<"Number "<< i+1 << ": " <<std::endl;
std::cin >> array[i];
try{
if(array[i] < 0 || std::cin.fail())
throw(array[i]);
}
catch(int a){
std::cout<< a <<" is not a positive number! "<<std::endl;
i-=1; // to go back to the previous position in array
}
}
for(int k = 0; k < 10; k++)
total+=array[k];
std::cout<<"Total: " <<total<<std::endl;
}
If you get invalid input there are two things to thing you need to do:
Clear the stream status. This is done using the clear function.
Remove the invalid input from the buffer. This is usually done using the ignore function.
As for your program, you don't need exceptions here, just using unsigned integers and checking the status is enough:
unsigned int array[10] = { 0 };
...
if (!(std::cin >> array[i])
{
std::cout << "Please input only non-negative integers.\n";
// First clear the stream status
std::cin.clear();
// Then skip the bad input
std::cin.ignore(std::numeric_limits<std::streamsize>::max(), '\n');
// Make sure the index isn't increased
--i;
}
To use exceptions similar to what you do now, the solution is almost exactly the same as above:
unsigned int array[10] = { 0 };
...
if (!(std::cin >> array[i])
{
throw i;
}
catch (int current_index)
{
std::cout << "The input for number " << current_index + 1 << " was incorrect.\n";
std::cout << "Please input only non-negative integers.\n";
// First clear the stream status
std::cin.clear();
// Then skip the bad input
std::cin.ignore(std::numeric_limits<std::streamsize>::max(), '\n');
// Make sure the index isn't increased
--i;
}
Do not forget to include limits header file while using following line in your code :
std::cin.ignore(std::numeric_limits::max(), '\n');
because numeric_limits template is defined in this header file !

C++: "Expected '(' for function-style cast or type construction" Error

Does anyone know what's wrong with my code? I'm trying to create a program that outputs the alternating sum of a vector of integers. For example, if the input is 1 2 3 4, then the result would be 1-2+3-4 = -2. The program will also continue to run if the user enters "y" and stops when the user enters "n".
I understand that there are syntax errors in my code: when inputting the integers as a vector and when calling the alternating_sum function. Still, I don't know how to fix it.
This is what I have so far:
#include <iostream>
#include <vector>
using namespace std;
double alternating_sum(vector<int> numbers)
{
double sum = numbers[0];
for (int i = 1; i < numbers.size(); i++) // i = position in vector
{
if (i % 2 == 0) // if i is even
{
sum += numbers[i];
}
else // if i is odd
{
sum -= numbers[i];
}
}
return sum;
}
int main()
{
char response;
while (true)
{
cout << "Enter a list of integers: ";
cin >> vector<int> input;
double result = alternating_sum(vector<int> input);
cout << "Continue (y/n)? ";
cin >> response;
if (response == 'n')
{
break;
}
}
return 0;
}
As others have mentioned, there's a lot to fix. To name the first that comes to mind, cin >> vector<int> input; you're declaring a variable in an input statement, but also you can't cin >> to a vector, it doesn't work syntactically.
You have to loop to get every number input the user has provided, and put it into the array that way. For that you would write something like:
vector<int> v;
int input;
while (cin >> input)
v.push_back(input);
The reason for this is cin >> really only eats the first input value until it sees whitespace or EOF, so if you entered something like 1 2 3 4 5 the line cin >> input would only grab the value 1 on the first call.
double result = alternating_sum(vector<int> input);
you need to also write this as
double result = alternating_sum(input);
Since input is already defined no need to do it again :)
Also #samualnj gave you the other answer!
all the best and keep coding :D

Floats breaking my code

I've written a program that returns the median value of a user-defined array. While I've put a few checks in my code (array size can not be negative) I keep running into one issue I simply can not fix (for clarity sake, assume strings and alphabetical characters will not be used).
All of my input values are int however the user could just as easily enter in a float. When they do this (either for size of array or entering in the element) it breaks my code. I've tried multiple things to try and catch this, but it seems like the way my program is getting the value doesn't allow for the catch in time.
#include <iostream>
using namespace std;
void sort(int * a,int n)
{
for(int i=0;i<n;++i)
for(int j=i+1;j<n;++j)
{
if(a[i]>a[j])
{
int tmp = a[i];
a[i] = a[j];
a[j] = tmp;
}\
}
return;
}
int main()
{
int n;
int check;
int x;
cout<<"Enter length of array:";
cin>>n;
if (n < 0){
while (n < 0){
cout << "Please enter a length greater than 0" << endl;
cin >> n;
}
} else if (n % 1 != 0){
while (n % 1 != 0){
cout << "Whole numbers only! Try again" << endl;
cin >> n;
}
}
if (n == 0){
cout <<"You try to enter numbers, but there's no place to put them." << endl;
cout << ":(";
return 0;
}
int a[n];
cout<<"Enter values one by one:\n";
for(int i=0;i<n;++i){
cin >> x;
a[i] = int(x);
}
sort(a,n);
if (n % 2 == 1){
cout<<"Median is:"<<a[n/2]<<endl;
}
else{
float z = (float(a[n/2]) + float(a[(n/2)-1])) / 2;
cout << "Median is:" << z << endl;
}
return 0;
}
First thing I tried was catching the float like so
`if (n % 1 !=0){
while(n % 1 !=0){
cout << "Enter a whole number"
cin >> n
}
}`
This still broke my program. The odd thing was that I entered a float and then printed the value of n and it only showed the int value.
I tried using typeid.n() with #include <typeinfo>and comparing that to an int type to check it was the correct value, but that slipped through as well.
I tried doing an int cast, something like int(n) immediately after number was stored in n but before it went into a[n] and yet again, it still broke my code.
How can I check against float user-input and loop them until they give me an int?
You're reading into an int:
int x;
...
cin >> x;
So it will read what it can, then stop at e.g. a . and leave the rest on the stream (like if the user enters "123.4" you'll get 123 and then ".4" won't be consumed from the input stream).
Instead, you could read into a float:
float x;
...
cin >> x;
And do the appropriate math.
Alternatively you could read into a string and parse it into a float. That way you won't get stuck at letters and such either.
And the final option is to read into an int but handle any errors and skip the bad input, which is detailed at How to handle wrong data type input so I won't reproduce it here.
Which option you choose really just depends on what you want the behavior of your program to be and how strictly you want to validate input (e.g. round vs. fail if "2.5" is entered but an integer is expected, how do you want to handle "xyz" as input, etc.).

Super basic code: Why is my loop not breaking?

for(int i=0;i<50;i++,size++)
{
cin >> inputnum[i];
cout << size;
if(inputnum[i] == '.')
{
break;
}
}
The break breaks the input stream but the size keeps outputting.
The output of size is 012345678910111213...474849.
I tried putting size++ inside the loop but it made no difference. And size afterwards will be equal to 50, which means it went through the full loop.
I forgot to explain that I added the cout << size within the loop to debug/check why it outputted to 50 after the loop even if I only inputted 3 numbers.
I suspect that inputnum is an array of int (or some other numeric type). When you try to input '.', nothing actually goes into inputnum[i] - the cin >> inputnum[i] expression actually fails and puts cin into a failed state.
So, inputnum[i] is not changed when inputting a '.' character, and the break never gets executed.
Here's an slightly modified version of your code in a small, complete program that demonstrates using !cin.good() to break out of the input loop:
#include <iostream>
#include <ostream>
using namespace std;
int main()
{
int inputnum[50];
int size = 0;
for(int i=0;i<50;i++,size++)
{
cin >> inputnum[i];
if (!cin.good()) {
break;
}
}
cout << "size is " << size << endl;
cout << "And the results are:" << endl;
for (int i = 0; i < size; ++i) {
cout << "inputnum[" << i << "] == " << inputnum[i] << endl;
}
return 0;
}
This program will collect input into the inputnum[] array until it hits EOF or an invalid input.
What is inputnum ? Make sure t's a char[]!! with clang++ this compiles and works perfectly:
#include <iostream>
int main() {
int size = 0;
char inputnum[60];
for(int i=0;i<50;i++,size++) {
std::cin >> inputnum[i];
std::cout << size;
if(inputnum[i] == '.') {
break;
}
}
return 0;
}
(in my case with the following output:)
a
0a
1s
2d
3f
4g
5.
6Argento:Desktop marinos$
Your code seams OK as long as you're testing char against char in your loop and not something else.. Could it be that inputnum is some integral value ? if so, then your test clause will always evaluate to false unless inputnum matches the numerical value '.' is implicitly casted to..
EDIT
Apparently you are indeed trying to put char in a int[]. Try the following:
#include <iostream>
int main() {
using namespace std;
int size = 0;
int inputnum[50];
char inputchar[50];
for(int i=0;i<50;i++,size++) {
cin >> inputchar[i];
inputnum[i] = static_cast<int>(inputchar[i]); // or inputnum[i] = (int)inputchar[i];
cout << size << endl; // add a new line in the end
if(inputchar[i] == '.') break;
}
return 0;
}
Then again this is probably a lab assignment, in a real program I'd never code like this. Tat would depend on the requirements but I'd rather prefer using STL containers and algorithms or stringstreams. And if forced to work at a lower-level C-style, I'd try to figure out to what number '.' translates to (simply by int a = '.'; cout << a;`) and put that number directly in the test clause. Such code however might be simple but is also BAD in my opinion, it's unsafe, implementation specific and not really C++.