The best way to explain my problem is probably just to show you my code, because it's as simple as it gets.
#include <iostream>
#include <fstream>
int main (int argc, const char * argv[])
{
std::ifstream in;
std::string line;
in.open("test.txt");
if (in.fail()) std::cout << "failed. \n";
getline(in, line);
std::cout << line;
return 0;
}
So when I run this, console is returning "failed." instead of opening up the file called test.txt — which is in the same folder as my .xcodeproj file and is also displayed in my Xcode navigator.
I'm not sure what I'm misunderstanding about this process, but I suspect it will be something simple.
Thanks! :)
The file is in the same directory as your .xcodeproj file? Well, there's your problem right here.
By default, the working directory of a process launched from Xcode will be the output directory (that is, the directory where the program is). Depending on your Xcode version, it's probably going to be in <Project Directory>/build/Debug.
Try moving the file there.
Related
I've got a method to read a vector of bools from a file:
std::vector<bool> OPCConnector::getAlarmVector() {
std::vector<bool> data;
std::ifstream DataFile(filepath);
if (DataFile) {
bool value;
while (DataFile >> value) {
data.push_back(value);
std::cout << value;
}
}
return data;
}
The filepath variable is an object property that is assigned through the constructor:
OPCConnector::OPCConnector(std::string fpth) {
filepath = fpth;
}
And in the main() function, the constructor is called:
std::vector<bool> activations;
std::string filepath = "alarmes.txt";
OPCConnector opcc = OPCConnector(filepath);
activations = opcc.getAlarmVector();
Now, I've checked what the folder of the executable is via GetModuleFileNameA(), and I made sure that the file is in the same directory and has the same name (also, I made sure that the extension isn't part of the file name, like "alarmes.txt.txt").
I debugged the first method getAlarmVector() and it never gets past the if (DataFile) condition, as if it won't find file.
I run the code using Visual Studio 2019, and nothing happens. The vector remains empty. Error is No such file or directory.
Default working directory is $(ProjectDir) and it's exactly where my file is.
Edit: I've also tried using both relative and absolute paths, none work.
Edit 2: I've also checked the directory using GetCurrentDirectory() and copied the .txt file there too, and it isn't working.
SOLUTION: Strangely enough, I deleted the file and created it again with the same name, and it worked. Thanks for the answers.
My guess: your current working directory isn't what you think it is, especially if you're running from an IDE. I know of several IDEs where the current working directory is some build directory (it varies by IDE) unless you specifically change it.
I'm fairly sure Visual Studio is one such IDE.
Here's a tiny example program I wrote;
$ cat Foo.cpp
#include <iostream>
#include <fstream>
int main(int, char **) {
std::ifstream file { "Foo.cpp" };
if (file) {
std::cout << "File opened.\n";
}
else {
std::cout << "File not opened.\n";
}
}
Compile and run it:
$ g++ --std=c++17 Foo.cpp -o Foo && Foo
File opened.
Current folder and folder-of-exe-file are different things (sometimes). Try to specify full name of file (with disk, all folders, etc.).
You can check errors of file open operation by calling
if (!DataFile) { ... }
The std::filesystem library can help you resolve file and path related issues.
#include <filesystem>
// (in some function)
std::filesystem::path filepath = "alarmes.txt";
if ( !exists(filepath) )
{
std::cout << "File path " << filepath << " at absolute location "
<< absolute(filepath) << " does not exist\n";
}
See it on Compiler Explorer
You can get an error code (and get a description of error in internet) if you use C-function fopen. If open is failed, you get the nullptr as result of fopen and errno will contain code of error.
I've looked up similar posts here, but none seem to be doing the job for my question. I'm basically trying take a sequence of words in a .txt file and put each word in a vector, and printing each value afterwards. For example, we have I love racing cars in array.txt, and I want my vector to have "I" at position 0, "love" at 1 and so on. Unfortunately, the code does not access "array.txt", so it never executes the code in the if condition.
Now I've heard that by using the fstream library it should work just fine, but the file is never found. I suspect that it doesn't work because it cannot find the path, but I have never opened files in C++. Also, I have not put my file anywhere in my project folder.
Some changes I've already tried:
file.open("array.txt");
omitting file.close();
include "C:\array.txt"; (with the # in front)
file.open("C:\array.txt")
And I'm using Windows 10, if this matters.
#include <iostream>;
#include <string>;
#include <vector>;
#include <fstream>;
//#include <"C:\Users\Samer El-Hage\Documents">;
using namespace std;
void main(){
vector<string> v (10);
ifstream file;
file.open("C:\array.txt", ios::in);
if (file.is_open())
{
for (int i = 0; i < 3; i++)
{
file >> v[i];
}
file.close();
}
else cout << "Could not access file.";
for (int i = 0; i < 3; i++)
{
cout << v[i] << " ";
}
}
This code prints "Could not access file."
The file cannot be opened because the file system can't find the file named "[Bell]rray.txt". the character sequence '\a' is the "Make my computer Beep" character.
Use either forward slashes: "C:/array.txt", an escaped backslash: "C:\\array.txt" or a raw string literal: R"(C:\array.txt)"
The file must also exist at the specified location. If you do not provide a drive and just say "array.txt" the location defaults to wherever the executable is (or in an IDE, the Working Directory).
Also, you have unnecessary semi-colons after your includes. (In fact, in a Treat Warnings as Errors setup, this won't compile!)
I got it! I had not put the .txt file in my folder with the source code, which, strangely enough, was not mentioned in my previous search results... I got to search better!
\a simply turns the computer beep on. Try writing "C:\\array.txt" instead in the open call.
Try not calling open explicitly:
ifstream file ("array.txt");
Look at the examples here:1
I know this seems like a simple question, but I tried everything I can think of to no avail to something that shouldn't have been a problem in the first place.
This is a small C++ program that opens a file. When I open it with its absolute filepath, it works fine. With a relative path, however, it stops working.
Here's the file path of the program and the files I'm trying to read:
C++ program: "/Users/Baggio/C++/Lab0/Lab0/Lab0/main.cpp"
Files: /Users/Baggio/C++/Lab0/Lab0/Lab0/result.txt, /Users/Baggio/C++/Lab0/Lab0/Lab0/dict.txt
Here's the code snippet:
#include <iostream>
#include <fstream>
#include <iomanip>
#include <string>
#include <cstdlib>
using namespace std;
int main(int argc, const char * argv[]) {
// string dict_filename = "/Users/Baggio/C++/Lab0/Lab0/Lab0/dict.txt";
// string result_filename = "/Users/Baggio/C++/Lab0/Lab0/Lab0/result.txt";
string dict_filename_string = "dict.txt";
string result_filename_string = "result.txt";
const char* dict_filename = dict_filename_string.c_str();
const char* result_filename = result_filename_string.c_str();
// open files
ifstream dict_file(dict_filename, ifstream::in);
ifstream result_file(result_filename, ifstream::in);
if (!dict_file || !result_file) {
cerr << "File could not be opened." << endl;
exit(1);
}
}
Result of execution
File could not be opened.
I'm sure I've done all the includes right, and the data types right for the ifstream constructor arguments. The only thing I can think of worth mentioning is the system I'm on: I'm on a Mac and I'm using XCode6 as my IDE.
Also, I've tried to move the files' location (results.txt and dict.txt) to these locations to no avail:
/Users/Baggio/C++/Lab0/Lab0/Lab0/
/Users/Baggio/C++/Lab0/Lab0/
/Users/Baggio/C++/Lab0/
/Users/Baggio/C++/
Thanks for your help guys!! Any suggestions or thoughts appreciated.
Print out your current working directory when you run the program:
char buffer[256];
char *val = getcwd(buffer, sizeof(buffer));
if (val) {
std::cout << buffer << std::endl;
}
This will tell you where you are running your program from and thus why the path doesn't match for relative paths. A relative path is relative to the current working directory, not to where your binary is located.
If you want to make the path relative to the location of the binary then you will have to do that yourself. Many programming languages offer this as an option, but it is not built-in to C++. You can do this by finding the executable using the argv[0] from main. Then you need to drop the file component of the executable path and replace it with the file name that you are interested in.
Since C++17, you can use std::filesystem::current_path() instead of getcwd.
std::cout << std::filesystem::current_path() << std::endl;
I have the following code to read a character from a file:
#include <iostream>
#include <fstream>
using namespace std;
int main(int argc, const char * argv[])
{
ifstream f("text.txt");
char c;
f.get(c);
cout << c << endl;
return 0;
}
and my text.txt file contains:
hello world!
However, when I run this on Xcode, I get an inverted question mark as the output.
It works fine on terminal, but not on Xcode. Does anyone know why this happens?
I'm using Xcode to debug some code, but I cant do that anymore because this problem is causing a lot of other errors in my program.
Your text.txt file will not be at the executable path.
Go to your Build Phases - > Copy Files -> Add Your text file
Make sure that:
Destination should be Products Directory
Copy only when installing should be unchecked
I want the user to give me the full path where the file exists and not just the file name. How do I open the file this way?
Is it something like this:
ifstream file;
file.open("C:/Demo.txt", ios::in);
This doesn't seem to work.
Normally one uses the backslash character as the path separator in Windows. So:
ifstream file;
file.open("C:\\Demo.txt", ios::in);
Keep in mind that when written in C++ source code, you must use the double backslash because the backslash character itself means something special inside double quoted strings. So the above refers to the file C:\Demo.txt.
You can use a full path with the fstream classes. The folowing code attempts to open the file demo.txt in the root of the C: drive. Note that as this is an input operation, the file must already exist.
#include <fstream>
#include <iostream>
using namespace std;
int main() {
ifstream ifs( "c:/demo.txt" ); // note no mode needed
if ( ! ifs.is_open() ) {
cout <<" Failed to open" << endl;
}
else {
cout <<"Opened OK" << endl;
}
}
What does this code produce on your system?
The code seems working to me. I think the same with #Iothar.
Check to see if you include the required headers, to compile. If it is compiled, check to see if there is such a file, and everything, names etc, matches, and also check to see that you have a right to read the file.
To make a cross check, check if you can open it with fopen..
FILE *f = fopen("C:/Demo.txt", "r");
if (f)
printf("fopen success\n");
For those who are getting the path dynamicly... e.g. drag&drop:
Some main constructions get drag&dropped file with double quotes like:
"C:\MyPath\MyFile.txt"
Quick and nice solution is to use this function to remove chars from string:
void removeCharsFromString( string &str, char* charsToRemove ) {
for ( unsigned int i = 0; i < strlen(charsToRemove); ++i ) {
str.erase( remove(str.begin(), str.end(), charsToRemove[i]), str.end() );
}
}
string myAbsolutepath; //fill with your absolute path
removeCharsFromString( myAbsolutepath, "\"" );
myAbsolutepath now contains just C:\MyPath\MyFile.txt
The function needs these libraries: <iostream> <algorithm> <cstring>.
The function was based on this answer.
Working Fiddle: http://ideone.com/XOROjq
A different take on this question, which might help someone:
I came here because I was debugging in Visual Studio on Windows, and I got confused about all this / vs \\ discussion (it really should not matter in most cases).
For me, the problem was: the "current directory" was not set to what I wanted in Visual Studio. It defaults to the directory of the executable (depending on how you set up your project).
Change it via: Right-click the solution -> Properties -> Working Directory
I only mention it because the question seems Windows-centric, which generally also means VisualStudio-centric, which tells me this hint might be relevant (: