C++ Displaying a Text File...("Echo" a Text File) - c++

Question

So I'm really stuck trying to figured this bug on the program that is preventing me from displaying the text of my program..
#include <iostream>
#include <iomanip>
#include <fstream>
#include <sstream>
#include <string>
#include <stdio.h>
using namespace std;
int main ()
{
ifstream infile;
ofstream offile;
char text[1024];
cout <<"Please enter the name of the file: \n";
cin >> text;
infile.open(text);
string scores; // this lines...
getline(infile, scores, '\0'); // is what I'm using...
cout << scores << endl; // to display the file...
string name1;
int name2;
string name3;
int name4;
infile >> name1;
infile >> name2;
infile >> name3;
infile >> name4;
cout << "these two individual with their age add are" << name2 + name4 <<endl;
// 23 + 27
//the result I get is a bunch of numbers...
return 0;
}
Is there any way cleaner or simple method i can used to display the file ?
All the method in the internet are difficult to understand or keep track due to
the file is open in loop..
I want a program that you type the name of the file and displays the file
the file will contain the following...
jack 23
smith 27
Also I need to obtain data from the file now I'm using the above code to obtain that information from the file...

Answer 1

loop is probably the best thing you can do.
so if you know the format you could simply do it like this
#include <iostream>
#include <fstream>
using namespace std;
int printParsedFile(string fileName) { // declaration of a function that reads from file passed as argument
fstream f; // file stream
f.open(fileName.c_str(), ios_base::in); // open file for reading
if (f.good()) { // check if the file can be read
string tmp; // temp variable we will use for getting chunked data
while(!f.eof()) { // read data until the end of file is reached
f >> tmp; // get first chunk of data
cout << tmp << "\t"; // and print it to the console
f >> tmp; // get another chunk
cout << tmp << endl; // and print it as well
} else {
return -1; // failed to open the file
}
return 0; // file opened and read successfully
}
you can call then this function for example in your main() function to read and display file passed as argument
int main(int argc, char** argv) {
string file;
cout << "enter name of the file to read from: "
cin >> file;
printParsedFile(file);
return 0;
}

Answer 2

I personally use stringstreams for reading one line at a time and parsing it:
For example:
#include <fstream>
#include <stringstream>
#include <string>
std::string filename;
// Get name of your file
std::cout << "Enter the name of your file ";
std::cin >> filename;
// Open it
std::ifstream infs( filename );
std::string line;
getline( infs, line );
while( infs.good() ) {
std::istringstream lineStream( line );
std::string name;
int age;
lineStream >> name >> age;
std::cout << "Name = " << name << " age = " << age << std::endl;
getline( infs, line );
}