C++ - Replacing "_" with a character - c++

Question

Using C++, I'm trying to make a hangman game to become better at using C++ and programming in general. Anyways, the issue I'm facing is that I'm not sure how to replace the dashes within a string with the letter the user has guessed.
I think my problem is with the fact the word chosen is randomly chosen from an array and I'm not sure how to go about finding the positions within the randomly chosen string which consists of the guessed character.
I have commented out the area that's causing the issue.
#include <iostream>
#include <array>
#include <string>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <time.h>
#include <cstddef>
#include <algorithm>
using namespace std;
int main()
{
string words[3] = {"stack", "visual", "windows"};
string guess;
cout << "Welcome to hangman.\n";
cout << "\n";
srand(time(NULL));
int RandIndex = rand() % 3;
string selected = words[RandIndex];
for (int i = 1; i <= selected.size(); i++) {
cout << "_ ";
}
cout << "\n";
cout << "\nType in a letter: ";
cin >> guess;
cout << "\n";
if (selected.find(guess) != string::npos) {
/*for (int i = 1; i <= selected.size(); i++) {
if (selected.find(guess) != string::npos) {
cout << "_ ";
} else {
cout << guess << " ";
}
}*/
} else {
cout << "\nNay!\n";
cout << "\n";
}
cout << "\n";
cout << "\n";
system("PAUSE");
return 0;
}
I was thinking about using the replace() function but the problem I face here is that I'm not replacing the string within selected variable but sort of iterating through the word itself, if that made any sense whatsoever?

Answer 1

Use a second string, that is initialized with the underscores. If the find function doesn't return string::npos it returns the position in the string, and this is the same position you should change in the string with the underscores as well.

Answer 2

You actually need to use a second string to store the "guessed" string; this is because you need to keep track of all the guessed letters and display them.
something like :
string s ="test";
string t=""; //empty string
for(int i=0;i<s.size();i++)
t.append("_"); //initialize the guess string
cout<<t<<'\n';
char c;
cin >> c;
int pos = s.find(c); //get the first occurrence of the entered char
while(pos!=-1) //look for all occurrences and replaced them in the guess string
{
t.replace(pos,1,1,c);
pos = s.find(c, pos+1);
}

Answer 3

I think you need to maintain some extra state while looping - to keep track of which letters have / haven't been guessed.
You could add a new string current_state which is initially set to the same length as the word but all underscores. Then, when the player guesses a letter, you find all instances of that letter in the original word, and replace the underscore with the letter guessed, at all the positions found but in current_state.

Answer 4

First i would initialize a new string to show the hidden word:
string stringToDisplay = string( selected.length(), '_');
Then For each letter given by the user i would loop like this:
(assuming guess is letter)
size_t searchInitPos = 0;
size_t found = selected.find(guess, searchInitPos));
if (found == string::npos)
{
cout << "\nNay!\n";
cout << "\n";
}
while( found != string::npos)
{
stringToDisplay[found] = guess;
searchInitPos = found+1;
found = selected.find(guess, searchInitPos));
}
cout << stringToDisplay;
Hope this will help

Answer 5

I think it should be that:
string words[3] = {"stack", "visual", "windows"};
char guess;
string display;
cout << "Welcome to hangman.\n";
cout << "\n";
srand(time(NULL));
int RandIndex = rand() % 3;
string selected = words[RandIndex];
for (int i = 0; i < selected.size(); i++) {
display.insert(0, "_ ");
}
cout << display;
while(display.find("_ ") != string::npos) {
cout << "\n";
cout << "\nType in a letter: ";
cin >> guess;
cout << "\n";
bool flag = false;
for (int i = 0; i < selected.size(); i++) {
if (selected[i] == guess) {
display.replace(i*2, 1, 1, guess);
flag = true;
}
}
if (!flag) {
cout << "\nNay!\n";
cout << "\n";
} else {
cout << display;
}
}