Cannot get outfile to work in C++ in Windows - c++

Question

For some reason outfile is not outputting a txt file in Windows. It has worked fine on the Mac (the line that's commented out in the code below), but in Windows I can't get it to output. Any guidance would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
#include <iostream>
#include <fstream>
using namespace std;
int iNumberOfEmployees(); // this function prompts the user for the number of employees.
int iMissedDays(int employees); // this function prompts the user for the number of days each employee missed and returns the total.
double dAverageMissedDays(int employees, double missedDays); // this function calculates the average missed days per employee.
int main() {
int iGetEmployees = iNumberOfEmployees();
int iGetMissedDays = iMissedDays(iGetEmployees);
cout << "Average missed days: "<< dAverageMissedDays(iGetEmployees,iGetMissedDays) << endl;
// outputs results to a text file
ofstream outfile;
// outfile.open ("/Users/chrisrukan/Documents/CS140/Project 3/output.txt");
outfile.open ("C:\CS140\Project 3\output.txt");
if (outfile.is_open()) {
outfile << "Average missed days: "<< dAverageMissedDays(iGetEmployees,iGetMissedDays);
outfile.close();
}
else {
cout << "Error opening file" << endl;
}
}
int iNumberOfEmployees () {
int iTotalEmployees = 0;
// loop checks that the user doesn't enter a negative number of employees
while (iTotalEmployees <= 0) {
cout << "Enter the number of employees: ";
cin >> iTotalEmployees;
}
return iTotalEmployees;
}
int iMissedDays (int iEmployees) {
int iTotalMissedDays = 0;
int iIndividualMissedDays;
// loop asks the user the missed days for each individual employee
for (int i = 1; i <= iEmployees; i++) {
iIndividualMissedDays = -1;
// loop checks that user doesn't enter a negative number
while (iIndividualMissedDays < 0) {
cout << "Enter employee " << i << "'s number of missed days: ";
cin >> iIndividualMissedDays;
}
iTotalMissedDays += iIndividualMissedDays;
}
return iTotalMissedDays;
}
double dAverageMissedDays (int iEmployees, double dMissedDays) {
return dMissedDays / iEmployees;
}

Answer 1

In windows, file path are separated by \, you also need an extra \ if you need to pass file path as parameter to a function.
EDIT: according to #Benjamin Lindley, forward slashes will work on Windows too provided that the path is right.
There is also no root directory / as in Linux.
outfile.open ("/Users/chrisrukan/Documents/CS140/Project 3/output.txt");
Try to replace the string "/Users/chrisrukan/Documents/CS140/Project 3/output.txt" with windows file path format, absolute path starting from Disk name. e.g.,
"C:\\Users\\chrisrukan\\Documents\\CS140\\Project 3\\output.txt".
Or
`"C:/Users/chrisrukan/Documents/CS140/Project 3/output.txt"`
make sure those directories do exist.

Answer 2

A backslash in C++ is actually language syntax, for example \n means: new line, \t means: tab, in order to actually have a "\" in a string (as it stands right now you have a \C, \P, and \o which by the way all are considered one character each) you must type two \'s, for example
#include <iostream>
int main() {
std::cout << "\\";
}
outputs:
\
Also just a tip, files will automatically (by default if no other path is specified) be outputted/written to wherever the executable is stored.