Reset ofstream but preserve previous data - c++

Is there a way to reset an ofstream back to the beginning of the stream but not write over the data? I know how to reset the stream to the beginning but then it writes over all of the old data. I realize I could just save the initial data until I'm ready to write it but it is a very large amount that I'm not sure will store very well. Another option I suppose is to create a temp file with my initial large data, write my new data in the actual file then copy the temp file over and erase it. I suppose I'm just looking for something a little more convenient then those two if possible. Changing the way I get the data isn't an option unfortunately. With this code:
#include <iostream>
#include <fstream>
using namespace std;
int main(int argc, const char * argv[])
{
ofstream out_stream("~/Desktop/test_out.txt");
out_stream <<
"This is some test file\n" <<
"I want to reset stream\n" <<
"Start working......now\n";
out_stream.seekp(0, ios_base::beg);//this sets to beginning but erases old data
out_stream <<
"I hope this workssssss\n";
out_stream.close();
return 0;
}
I would want this output:
I hope this workssssss
This is some test file
I want to reset stream
Start working......now

You seem to want to "prepend" text to the file. That's just not possible. The new text will overwrite what is already there.
You'll have to write the new text to a new file and then write the text from the original file to the new file afterwards.

Related

unable to read and write using same fstream object in c++

I'm trying to use same fstream object for first write the file and after that read the file.
when I'm using below code then the codes of writing the file is working but I'm getting junk output instead of texts which written in the file.
#include<iostream>
#include<fstream>
#include<string>
using namespace std;
int main() {
fstream file;
file.open("test.txt",ios::in|ios::out| ios::trunc);
if (!file) {
cout << "Error";
}
else {
cout << "success";
file <<"\n\n1st Line\n 2nd line \n 3rd line\n";
string filecontent;
while (file.good()) {
getline(file, filecontent);
cout << filecontent << endl;
}
}
return 0;
}
Output
This code has two separate problems. The first (which others have already pointed out to at least some degree) is that your loop isn't detecting the end of the file correctly. In fact, almost any time you use while (!file.eof()) or while (file.good()), it's going to be a mistake--it won't detect end of file at the right time, so (for example) when you reach the end of the file, you won't detect it at the right time, and you'll see the last item in the file appear to be read twice before the loop exits.
In addition to that, however, you have a problem in that you're writing to the file, then immediately trying to read. That's simply not allowed--you want to do a seek any time you switch between reading and writing.
In this case, you have a bit of a further problem. Since you've just written data into the file, your file's current position is at the end of the file. So even if you could just start reading without seeking, you'd start reading from the end of the file. That, of course, would immediately fail.
So you also really need to seek back to the beginning of the file to be able to read it back in.
So, the big changes here are adding a line like: file.seekg(0); after you finish writing, but before you start to try to read that data back in, and then changing your reading loop to something like:
while (getline(file, filecontent)) {
cout << filecontent << endl;
}
One last point: although it's not going to make a big difference in this case, I'd advise using "\n" instead of std::endl. std::endl writes a new-line and flushes the file buffer. When you're writing to the screen it won't make any real difference, but when writing to a normal file flushing the buffer unnecessarily can and will slow your code substantially (10x slower is pretty common).

ofstream does not create file when running with CLion using CMake

I have this code to create a file, when I run it with CLion it prints out to the console but does not create file, how can I fix this? thanks
#include <iostream>
#include <fstream>
using namespace std;
int main() {
ofstream log_file;
log_file.open("sample23.txt");
if (log_file.is_open())
std::cout << "Open";
log_file << "stuff" << endl;
log_file.close();
return 0;
}
The file may be created into another directory (the working directory).
You can find that location (and change it if needed) as indicated here:
How do I change the working directory for my program
make sure to flush before closing because file is empty
try this out
ofstream f;
f.open( "sample.txt", ios::out );
f << flush;
f.close();
3 things here:
1.) In order to output to another file, you must make another variable like this:
ifstream someoutputfile;
someoutputfile.open("filename");
2.) you actually must make another variable to be "placeholder" of sorts that will automatically assign the first thing your file finds and assigns that to. This may depend on what datatype (int, double, string etc) your input file consists of. Instead of:
log_file << "stuff" << endl;
you can do something like this...
// if my input file is integers for instance..
int data = 0;
log_file >> data;
This can also work for if your file contains multiple data types.
ex:
// if I have two different data types...
string somebody;
int data = 0;
log_file >> data >> somebody;
3.) to output your file data to the screen, just follow a similar way as the example in #1.
someoutputfile << data << somebody << endl;
in addition, dont forget to close the data of BOTH your input and output files:
someoutputfile.close()
Hope that helps in some way :)

How to save .txt file in C++? [duplicate]

This question already has answers here:
How to append text to a text file in C++?
(5 answers)
Closed 7 years ago.
I have created a code writing stuff in a .txt file and read from it. But if I close the program and start to write again, it deletes the old text and overwrites it with the new one.
Is there a way to not overwrite existed data?
#include "stdafx.h"
#include <iostream>
#include <fstream>
#include <string>
using namespace std;
void check() {
string text;
ifstream file;
file.open("test.txt");
getline(file, text);
if (text == "") {
cout << "There's no data in file" << endl;
} else {
cout << "File contains:" << endl;
cout << text << endl;
}
}
int main() {
check();
string text;
ofstream file;
file.open("test.txt");
cout << "Type some text" << endl;
getline(cin, text);
file << text;
return 0;
}
You need to open the file in 'append' mode like in the following example
#include <fstream>
int main() {
std::ofstream outfile;
outfile.open("yourfile.txt", std::ios_base::app);//std::ios_base::app
outfile << "your data";
return 0;
}
You can read here about fstream flagshttp://www.cplusplus.com/reference/fstream/fstream/open/
Keep in mind that in c++ there are several ways to open, save, and read text data to and from a file. It sounds like you opened with with a function (and its options) to always create a new file. One thing you could do is run your program and then close the program and use a text editor to open the file to verify whether the text you wrote to the file is actually there. Also take a look at the code that was provided by Evyatar. That example uses ofstream which allows options for read, write, and append. The "app" parameter tells the program to keep what is already in the file and append any new data that you add in the next run. When testing files where you are appending, be careful you don't end up with a huge file you did not intend to have so large.
In the code that you posted in your revised question, be sure to close the file in your check function and at the end of the program. It is possible to get things hung up if you don't. As a precaution, I usually close a file prior to opening it, just to be sure it is closed with no problems. This practice comes form my days programming in BASIC where it was an essential. If the program crashed, you couldn't open it again until you got it closed. Also, of course, close the file after you're done with it and before the end of the program. Then, when you open it in main, open with the append option.
Please, insert code for next time. If you open file in write mode, than is normal that every time you write to file, the content of file is changed. You need to use append mode.

using ios::ate over-write data

My task is to write in a precise position into file.txt with C++
And because my file is static ( it will not be changed) I decided to count the position of curseur where I have to write. ( I know it isn't the best idea to di this)
This is my file and I have to write after '=' :
It is clear that I want to over-write "null;"
But I don't understand why "int main" in the otehr line is also over-writed! Have a look to the following please to undersatnd my problem:
My questions are the following:
How Can I avoid this?
Have you other idea to achieve the goal as described above ?
The is my attempt :
#include <iostream>
#include <fstream>
using namespace std;
int main()
{
ofstream monFlux("client.txt",ios::in | ios::ate);
if(monFlux)
{
monFlux.seekp(61, ios::beg);
int position = monFlux.tellp();
monFlux<< "DECryptBlockWithPCRYPT(d);";
}
else
{
cout << "ERROR" << endl;
}
system("pause");
return 0;
}
First, it looks like you're opening an output stream for reading (ios::in) is that correct?
I don't think you can insert characters the way you describe.
Your approach is more like a human would do it in a text editor. The stream object on the other side just gives you access to the bytes on the disk. It has no "select and replace" text function.
I think this approach could work:
Open an input stream for reading the file and an output stream for writing one.
Stream the first N characters directly to the output stream.
Skip the "null" and insert your replacement string.
Stream the rest of the input file into the output stream.
On success, replace the original file with the new one.

C++ edit a binary file with another

Solved! thanks all of you very much. My day has been made!(well morning, its 4am)
I'm trying to write a program in C++ that opens a .dat file in binary and replaces the first 1840 hex characters with that of another .dat file, while leaving the remaining hex values of the first .dat file the same. I have spent about 12 hours on this today and have had little success. I am a beginner programmer, I have taken one semester worth of c++ courses and we did not get to streams.
(it opens a file and everything, but deletes every thing after the new values have been added)
#include <iostream>
#include <iomanip>
#include <fstream>
#include <string>
#include <cmath>
#include <cstring>
using namespace std;
int main (){
string filename;
long size;
char* memblock;
cout << " Enter a file to be modded by Mod.dat ";
cin >> filename;
ofstream infile ( filename ,std::ofstream::binary);
//filename: the file that will be opened and changed)
ifstream modFile ("Mod.dat", ifstream::binary);
// (mod.dat is the file that i get the first 1840 hex values from)
modFile.seekg (0,modFile.end);
size = modFile.tellg();
memblock = new char [size];
modFile.seekg (0, ios::beg);
modFile.read (memblock, size);
infile.write(memblock, 1840);
modFile.close();
infile.close();
cout << endl;
return 0;
}
Any help would be greatly appreciated, I hope there is some simple way to do this.
Solved! thanks all of you very much. My day has been made!(well morning, its 4am)
Edit:
You can modidy your file in place with something like :
std::fstream s(my_file_path, std::ios_base::binary);
s.seekp(position_of_data_to_overwrite, std::ios_base::beg);
s.write(my_data, size_of_data_to_overwrite);
std::fstream will not truncate your input file as std::ofstream does.
The other solution is to not use the same file for reading and writing. Use three files :
One for the output file.
One for the First input file.
One for the second input file.
fstream infile ( filename ,std::ofstream::binary); does not keeps the contents of the original file. Everything you write will erase the contents of the file.
Thus, you should:
open the output file
open the "Mod" file, read the first 1840 bytes from the first file, write them into the output file.
open the "main input file" file, move the cursor to 1840, read the remaining data and write it to the output file.
Depending on the "main input file" size, you may want to buffer you read/write operation.
My preferred fix, although Matthieu Rouget's fix does indeed work, is to just add ofstreeam::in to the opening of the input file:
ofstream infile ( filename.c_str(), std::ofstream::binary | ofstream::in);
(I had to use c_str() in my build, as glibc in my version doesn't take std::string as input).
I tested this on my local system (it took a while to realize that mod.dat is actually "Mod.dat"!)
It is probably a good idea to also check that the files actually opened, so something like this after ofstream infile line:
if (!infile)
{
cout << "Couldn't open " << filename << endl;
}
and similar for the modfile line.
And since you go through the effort of figuring out what the first part of the modfile size is, I would suggest that you also USE that for the writing of the file.