I am having trouble opening a .txt file in my C++ program - c++

I have put it under the Source Files folder. I have set my working directory to $(SolutionDir)$(Configuration)\ (im not sure if that is right, i saw it somewhere) could someone help me troubleshoot.
int main()
{
cout << "program running" <<endl;
pair<int, unsigned int> mypair;
ifstream myfile;
myfile.open("numbers.txt", ios::in);
if (!myfile.is_open()){
cerr << "can't open input file" << endl;
}
else
{
cout << "file opened" << endl;
}
getchar();
myfile.close();
}
...output is: can't open input file

To figure out what directory you're pointing to, try to create a new file instead of opening one:
std::ofstream("out_test.txt");
Then you can find that file searching with File Explorer into the solution dir.

There is such thing as current directory for an application. When you run an app from VS working directory would be current one.
If you specify file name with relative path (or no path at all) OS will try to find that file relative to that directory. Where executable file and especially source file(s) are located completely irrelevant. So solution could be either set working directory to where numbers.txt is located (or move nubers.txt there), or use relative path something like foobar/numbers.txt or even ../foobar/numbers.txt etc or use absolute path.

okay I managed to figure it out..with help :) I did what Paulo M said :
To figure out what directory you're pointing to, try to create a new file instead of opening one:
std::ofstream("out_test.txt");
Then you can find that file searching with File Explorer into the solution dir.
After I figured out where the file got sent I added a new file w/ some integers to that dir and made sure the working directory was the same.I'm not sure if i had to change it? (can files be sent elsewhere?).
I had tried to do this before but I was not able to move my txt file into this directory by copy paste..so gave up. But anyhow I just right clicked/new text document/ and edited the doc with some numbers. then changed my program to open this new document.
saving file directly to the directory also worked. :) :) :)
but i am curious why I couldn't just paste it there?

Related

ifstream will not open

The file exists in the directory, and I've tried running Visual Studios in Administrator Mode. However, ifstream can not find the file I give to it.
Here is the code I am using:
std::ifstream instream;
instream.open("appdata.txt");
if (!instream)
{
std::cout << "Could not find appdata.txt!";
}
But I am always greeted with Could not find appdata.txt! when I run the program.
Here is a picture of my directory, for proof that I have it spelled correctly and it exists.
So, my question is, am I missing something so glaringly obvious that I am glazing over it each time I look? I can not figure out for the life of me why instream can not open appdata.txt.
This is a problem with current directory being set to something else than a dir where your file is (usually your home folder if executing from explorer).
Try executing the program from command line from directory where your file is.
EDIT
If you want to set the working directory to some specific location, check this: https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa363806.aspx
Add the file by right clicking on project name on visual studio interface.
This will keep your file in the right directory.
If you want to add in the directory by yourself, first add a file using the method I said above and the find which is the folder you should keep so that you can use that file by mentioning just the file-name. And then you can add your files in that folder.

File path to present dir. C++

I am opening a ofstream in a small C++ program. The file is in the same directory as the program. It works fine when i open it with full file path.
But open it with only "file.dat" doesn't work.
So my question is: How do i declare the path to a file (or just the file) without including its path? Given that it is the same directory.
if(!readTheFile("/Users/mydirect/Desktop/DV1S5U4/DV1S5U4/timelog.dat")){
cout << "Cant read timelog.dat" << endl;
}
Your code should work. The problem you're having is that you need to set your working directory since I dunno where the default is.
Product > Edit Scheme > Info > Working Directory
There you can set it. Once you've set it and placed the .dat in the same folder it'll work.
If the file really is in the current working directory you can use "timelog.dat" or, at least on POSIX systems, "./timelog.dat". From the sounds of it, the current working directory seems different from what you think it is.
BTW, note that opening a file for reading with std::ofstream won't work too well: you might want to try std::ifstream. If the file was writable when you tried to open it with an std::ofstream it will now be empty unless you passed the argument std::ios_base::app when opening the file. ... and if the file is not writable, opening it with an std::ofstream will fail.
You write that your file is in "the same directory as the program" - it sounds like what you are after is not the current directory but the directory the executable came from. You can find that out on OS X using the function _NSGetExecutablePath() - this just takes a buffer and buffer size and returns the path.

Why can't I read a file with Code::Blocks C++?

I've created a file in Code::Blocks called datos.csv, and I have this code:
std::ifstream file("datos.csv");
if (file) {
cout << "Managed to read file successfully.";
}else{
cout << "Unable to read file.";
}
But it is unable to read the file.
I tested the same code with TextMate, which can run C++ files, and it was indeed able to read the file, so I suppose there's something up with Code::Blocks. What am I missing?
My file appears listed in "Others" in Code::Blocks' navigator.
you need to modify the Target Properties, go to Project -> Properties -> Build targets and change the "Executing Working Dir" for the debug/release folder of your proyect, I hope this help.
Greetings.
Saludos.
It can't find the file to open it. Since you are not using absolute paths to open the file it must be relative to the current working directory. If you are launching from the debugger you can set the working directory used when the application is launched. Make sure that directory is the same as where the csv file is located.

Opening a file in C++ outside of the working directory

I've got a program that is going to have several resource files that the user can put somewhere on the computer that isn't in the same folder as the executable. How do I get open those files?
I've found lots of answers saying that the reason things aren't working is that the file isn't in the working directory. I've tried providing fully qualified paths:
ifstream str;
str.open("/home/millere/foo.txt")
but that was unsuccessful. I know the path was correct (copy and paste). I can't find any documentation on it, but I assume it has to be possible. (vim ~/foo.txt from anywhere other than ~ works, for example).
Assuming you meant to use ifstream instead of iostream, your code is correct. ifstream can use a path to a file as well as the name of a file in the working directory.
No exceptions are thrown if the file does not exist, but the fail bit is set. You should check for this before trying to do anything with the stream.
std::ifstream input("/home/bob/stuff.txt");
if (!input) std::cerr << "Could not open the file!" << std::endl;
else
{
// ...
}
If you still cannot extract data from the file, the problem is somewhere else in your code.
I had the same issue and quickly noticed that, open when trying to get from a difference folder, had a different source directory (if using Cmake, the one that was specified by the cmake). You can find out, what the ouput/input source directory is by doing
system("ls")
or
system("dir")
on windows to show the content of the current ouput/input directory.

Can't read file from a C++ program on a Mac

First of all, this is part of my code:
....
string input;
getline(cin, input);
ifstream openFile;
openFile.open(input.c_str(), ios::in);
if(openFile.is_open()){
cout << "File opened" << endl;
}
else {
cout << "Cant open the file " << endl;
}
The result always "Cant open the file". I am very, very sure that the files are exists. I have data1.txt, data2.txt ... data10.txt in the same directory (I used XCode to add new empty file, add the data inside and save it).
I do another test, I create a new directory, copy paste the cpp and data files. I run in terminal, and it works, it can read the data file. Why does xcode cant read my data files? Any idea?
You need to give the full path to the files. Xcode will run the application from the build directory which is not where the code is.
If the files are copied as part of building an OSX or iOS application you should look at the bundle structure to find the directory.
You can tell Xcode to run the executable from the directory containing the data files.
Bring up the info dialog for the target executable, and change the value for 'Set the working directory to:' to either the Project directory or a custom directory'