C++, Text to ASCII while-loop error - c++

I've come this far without asking for help, but I've got a problem that I can't seem to fix. I like cryptology, so now that I am learning C++, I want to make programs to encrypt and decrypt strings. I read that the best way is to convert the text to ASCII and go from there, so here is a simple program I made in C++ to try and convert a char variable to ASCII:
#include <iostream>
#include <string>
#include <math.h>
using namespace std;
int main()
{
char strString[1000];
cout<<"Enter you message:"<<endl;
cin>>strString[1000];
string strEncrypt;
int a = 0;
while (strString != '\0')
{
int b = (int)strString[a];
strEncrypt.at(a) = b; //This is where I'm getting an error.
a++;
}
cout<<"Encrypted message:"<<endl;
cout<<strEncrypt<<endl;
}
So, I've tried all 3 things I know to do to troubleshoot (Google, check for missing simicolons, and make sure I'm doing == not =, but this is just something I don't know how to do, not something I'm forgetting (I hope). So, any help would great!

You don't have to change the characters to ASCII they already are. Chars are basically the same as integers in memory.
Now to your question; . If you want to set a character in a string you can do that like this
string[index] = b;
Another thing to be careful for in your code. You are using cin to read the string from the user. This will not let you read messages that have spaces in them and will only read the first word. For example, if the user enters "Love Crypto" cin will only read "Love" and "Crypto" will be ignored. To get the entire line, use getline instead.
As for looping over characters in a string, it's better to do it as follows:
for(int i = 0; i < strString.length(); i++)
{
strString[i] = bla;
}
Again, you're code isn't actually doing anything. It is only reading a letter and then storing a "letter" in another string.

string::at() throws exception if the index passed to at() is out of range. So, if you are getting runtime error then it's expected. Because, your string strEncrypt is initialized to "" and thus the size is 0.
You may try
strEncrypt.reserve(strlen(strString));

Easiest way to actually make the code you have work is change this line strEncrypt.at(a) = b; to this strEncrypt += b; Which will add the characters to the empty string strEncrypt.
Your code doesn't make much sense though as char types are already ascii. You'll have to explain more about what kind of encrypting you are trying to do and maybe we can point you in the right direction.
EDIT: After thinking about what you're trying to do a bit more based on the code you have it seems like you want to print the numeric ascii value of characters. You can do that with just a cast like this:
string input;
cout << "Enter you message:" << endl;
// handle spaces in the message
getline(cin, input);
cout << "String chars as ascii values:" << endl;
cout << "Char: " << "ASCII Code:" << endl;
for (int i = 0; i < input.length(); ++i)
{
// casting the char to an int with (int) will print the ascii code
cout << input[i] << " " << (int)input[i] << endl;
}

On top of the fact that your input is already in ASCII, keep in mind that doing cin >> strString[1000] doesn't limit the input captured to the length of your buffer unless you specifically specify the number of characters to capture for the stream object using setw() or setting it's ios_base::width data member. So your method right now risks buffer overflows.
Secondly, the form of cin >> that you're using will not capture the entire line of input. Instead it will stop at the first white-space or any other delimiting character (or end-of-file if that is reached first). In your case, if you are entering a line like "Hello World", then the syntax you're using will only capture "Hello" and drop "World".
A much better idea would be to use the getline() function with a std::string object if you are wanting to capture a line of input to a string and remove the delimiting newline character without risking buffer overflows ... for instance:
string strString;
getline(cin, strString);

Apart from advises given, when receiving this kind of run-time errors use Cppcheck utility.
It will give you the answer: "Message: Array 'strString[1000]' index 1000 out of bounds".

Related

Characters after a space is not being printed out

I was using character arrays to get inputs from the user then display the output afterwards. However, every time I enter values with spaces in between, only the first word before the space is printed.
For instance, this is what I typed:
Customer No.: 7877 323 2332
This will be the output:
Customer No.: 7877
I already searched for possible solutions but I can't seem to find the right solution.
This is my code for reference:
#include<iostream>
using namespace std;
int main()
{
char custNum[10] = " "; // The assignment does not allow std::string
cout << "Please enter values for the following: " << endl;
cout << "Customer No.: ";
cin >> custNum;
cout << "Customer No.: " << custNum << endl;
}
Another option is to use std::basic_istream::getline to read the entire string into the buffer and then remove the spaces with a simple for loop. But when using plain-old character arrays don't skimp on buffer size. It is far better to be 1000-characters too long than one-character too short. With your input, your absolute minimum size of custNum is 14 characters (the 13 shown plus the '\0' (nul-terminating) character. (rough rule-of-thumb, take your longest estimated input and double it -- to allow for user-mistake, cat stepping on keyboard, etc...)
In you case you can simply do:
#include <iostream>
#include <cctype>
int main() {
char custNum[32] = " "; // The assignment does not allow std::string
int wrt = 0;
std::cout << "Please enter values for the following:\nCustomer No.: ";
if (std::cin.getline(custNum, 32)) { /* validate every input */
for (int rd = 0; custNum[rd]; rd++)
if (!isspace((unsigned char)custNum[rd]))
custNum[wrt++] = custNum[rd];
custNum[wrt] = 0;
std::cout << "Customer No.: " << custNum << '\n';
}
}
The two loop counters rd (read position) and wrt (write position) are simply used to loop over the original string and remove any whitespace found, nul-terminating again when the loop is left.
Example Use/Output
$ ./bin/readcustnum
Please enter values for the following:
Customer No.: 7877 323 2332
Customer No.: 78773232332
Also take a look at Why is “using namespace std;” considered bad practice? and C++: “std::endl” vs “\n”. Much easier to build good habits now than it is to break bad ones later... Look things over and let me know if you have questions.
Apart from std::getline, if you are going to use C-style strings, try the following code:
int main() {
char* str = new char[60];
scanf("%[^\n]s", str); //accepts space a a part of the string (does not give UB as it may seem initially
printf("%s", str);
return 0;
}
Also, if you absolutely need it to be a number, then use atoi
int ivar = std::atoi(str);
PS Not to forget gets (!!dangerous!!)
char* str;
gets(str);
puts(str);
cin >> int_variable will stop reading input when it reaches the first character that isn't a valid part of a number. C++ does not consider spaces part of a number, so it stops reading as soon as it encounters one.
You could use std::getline to read into a string instead, then remove the spaces from the string before converting to an integer. Or maybe in this case you don't even need the integer and can leave it as a string.

Cin input with a + causes next input to be a string

so I'm pretty new to C++ and I'm doing an assignment for my class. I ran into a problem when trying to check if an input is a string or a double/int. So I made a basic program to test it
#include <iostream>
#include <string>
using namespace std;
int main(int argc, char *argv[])
{
string hi;
double hello;
cin >> hello;
if (!cin)
{
//Strings go here
cin.clear();
cin >> hi;
cout << hi << endl;
}
else
{
cout << hello << endl;
}
cout << "Done!" << endl;
}
So it works for basically when inputting a letter (such as "j" or "a") or a number but when inputting "+" or "-" it waits for the next input then forces it through the string block, even if it is a number. However "*" or "/" are read as strings and don't cause that issue (I'm assuming since they aren't explicitly operators)
I assume I am probably missing something. Thank you
Edit: I am testing with single types at a time (such as 123, 1 , d, +) without mixing types, so there won't be any inputs that have a double and a string
As per user4581301's suggestion, I'll put in some examples input and outputs
Inputs:Outputs
"Hello":"Hello"
123:123
"/":"/"
"+" (Input after: 2):"2"
The problem
Your programme does not work exactly as intended, because it doesn't take into consideration potentially consumed but lost characters.
Here are different cases that work as expected:
abc: the first char read is not numeric, so it's not consumed and cin fails fast. The second reading reads every chars present as a string.
123abc456: the first 123 is read. When a is encountered, it is not consumed since it's not valid numeric. Further reading is stopped, but a numeric value could be read.
/123: the first char read is not numeric, so it's not consumed and cin fails. the second reading reads every char present as string.
-123 or +123: the first char is considered as a valid numeric char and is read, and then the remainder is read, still as a numeric value. Works as expected if you consider that a double ora an int can be signed. Depending on output formatting, the + might not appear with your output.
Here are the cases that do not work: if the first char is + or - but it is not followed by a valid numeric char. In this case the first char is consumed, but the next char makes the numeric input fail. The remaining chars are then read as string (except the first sign that was already consumed and is lost). Examples:
++123
+ 123 (the space ends the axtraction of the double that fails, the remainder is read as a string).
Online demo
The solution
The easiest solution is to read the input as a string, then try to convert the string.
For example:
size_t processed;
string hi;
double hello;
cin >> hi;
try {
hello = stod(hi,&processed);
cout<<"number:" <<hello;
if (processed<hi.size())
cout << " (followed by something)";
cout <<endl;
}
catch (...) // should be more precise in catching, but it's for the proof of concept
{
cout <<"string: "<< hi << endl;
}
Online demo
If you want to consider + and - as alphanumeric, it'd be easy to check if hi is non empty and hi[0] a digit before trying to do the conversion.
Alternatively, you could also do a regex check of the string to see if it matches a numeric format.

What is the length of my array?

Hello everyone I'm having trouble with strlen and arrays, it keeps saying my string length is only one? If anyone could help it would be great here's my code:
#include <iostream>
using namespace std;
#include <cstring>
int main()
{
char word1[20];
int len = strlen(word1);
cout << "enter a word!\n";
cin.get(word1, 20, '\n'); cin.ignore(50,'\n');
cout << len;
}
Just read the back and forth in the comments, updating my answer to try and give some more intuition behind what's going on.
char word1[20]; Sets a place in your computer's memory that can eventually be filled by data up to 20 characters. Note that this statement alone does not "clear" the memory of whatever is currently there. As sfjac has pointed out, this means that literally anything could be in that space. It's highly unlikely that whatever is in this space is a character or anything your code could readily understand.
int len = strlen(word1); Creates an integer and sets it equal to the value of the number of characters currently in word1. Note that, because we have not specified any content for word1, you're taking the length of whatever happened to be in that memory space already. You've limited the maximum to 20, but in this case, whatever data junk is in there is giving you a length of 1.
cout << "enter a word!\n"; Prompt the user for a word
cin.get(word1, 20, '\n'); cin.ignore(50,'\n'); Get the word, store it in word1. At this point, word1 is now defined with actual content. However - you've already defined the variable len. The computer does not know to automatically redefine this for you. It follows the steps you provide, in order.
cout << len; Print the value stored in len. Because len was created prior to the user entering their data, len has absolutely nothing to do with what the user entered.
Hope this helps give you some intuition that will help beyond this one question!
#Chris is correct but perhaps a small explanation. When you declare a character array like char word1[20] on the stack, the array will not be initialized. The strlen function computes the length of the array by counting the number of characters from the address of word1 to the first null byte in memory, which could be pretty much anything.
I highly recommend using std::string for text.
If you must use character arrays:
Define a named identifier for the capacity.
Define the array using the named identifier.
The capacity should account for a terminating nul, '\0', character to
mark the end of the maximum text length.
Using the above guidelines you have the simple program:
int main(void)
{
std::string a_word_string;
std::string line_of_text_string;
const unsigned int c_string_capacity = 32U;
char c_string[c_string_capacity];
// The std::string functions
cout << "Enter some text: ";
getline(cin, line_of_text_string); // read a line of text
cout << "\nEnter a sentence: ";
cin >> a_word_string;
cin.ignore(10000, '\n'); // Ignore remaining text in the buffer.
// The C-style string functions
cout << "Enter more text: ";
cin.read(c_string, c_string_capacity);
c_string[c_string_capacity - 1] = '\0'; // Insurance, force end of string character
cout << "You entered " << (strlen(c_string)) << " characters.\n";
return EXIT_SUCCESS;
}
The std::string class is more efficient and can handle dynamically size changes.
The length of the array is the value of c_string_capacity which was used when defining the array.
The length of the text in the array is defined as strlen(c_string), which is the number of characters before the terminating nul is found.
You have to calculate len after reading in word1, otherwise you are left with undefined behaviour.
char word1[20];
cout << "enter a word!\n";
cin.get(word1, 20, '\n'); cin.ignore(50,'\n');
int len = strlen(word1);
cout << len;
It's a good idea to always initialize objects when you declare them. Since objects inside of a scope are not guaranteed to be initialized.
In C++11 for example, you can do this:
char arr[10]{}; // this will initialize the objects in the array to default.
char arr[10]{0}; // the same.

C++ stringstream, if word is numeric, divide by two

I am fairly new to programming and have to create a program which reads the prompt: "I have 8 dollars to spend." It then needs to print out with each word on a separate line, and then if any of the strings is numeric, it needs to be divided by 2. Therefore it should end up printing out as:
I
have
4
dollars
to
spend.
I have managed to do everything, except finding the numeric value and dividing it by 2. So far I have this:
#include <iostream>
#include <string>
#include <sstream>
using namespace std;
int main()
{
string prompt;
string word;
cout << "Prompt: ";
getline(cin, prompt);
stringstream ss;
ss.str(prompt);
while (ss >> word)
{
cout << word << endl;
}
return 0;
}
After looking through various other posts, I cannot manage to get this to work. I'm assuming its an if/else statement within the while loop along the lines of, if numeric, set int num to num / 2 then cout << num << endl;, else cout << word << endl;, but I can't figure it out.
Thanks in advance.
You can use the stringstream class, which handles conversions between strings and other data types, to attempt to convert a given string to a number. If the attempt is successful, you know
The stringstream object allows you to treat a string as though it is a stream similar to cin or cout.
Incorporate this into your while loop, like so:
while (ss >> word)
{
int value = 0;
stringstream convert(word); //create a _stringstream_ from a string
//if *word* (and therefore *convert*) contains a numeric value,
//it can be read into an _int_
if(convert >> value) { //this will be false if the data in *convert* is not numeric
cout << value / 2 << endl;
}
else
cout << word << endl;
}
The strtol (C++11 version that works on std::string directly: std::stol) function is really good for testing whether a string holds a number, and if so, what the numeric value is.
Or you could continue using iostreams like you have been... try extracting a number (int or double variable), and if that fails, clear the error bit and read a string.
I dont have 50 rep so I cant comment, thats why I'm writing it as answer.
I think you can check it character by character, using Ascii value of each char, & if there are ascii values representing numbers between two spaces(two \n in this case as you've already seperated each word), then you have to divide the number by 2.

cin.getline() skipping first iteration

I'm practicing with c string / pointers and can't solve this simple problem. cin.getline() isn't prompting user input for the first iteration, but does so for the consecutive strings. (I arbitrarily chose 10 as the char limit).
Am I overlooking something extremely simple?
void getStrings() {
int num;
cout << "How many strings? ";
cin >> num;
const int numStrings = num;
char** stringSet = (char**) malloc(numStrings * sizeof(char*));
for (int i = 0; i < numStrings; i++) {
*(stringSet + i) = (char*) malloc(10);
cout << "String " << i << ": ";
cin.getline(stringSet[i], 10);
cout << endl;
}
Setting aside the fact that it's generally inadvisable to use bare pointers in C++ when things like the standard library's std::string are available, you should not use malloc. For example: Instead of (char*) malloc(10), you should write new char[10] and remember to delete[] *(stringSet+i) at the end of your program.
That said, the line:
cin >> num
... extracts only the first number it comes across. It will fail (and cin will set its fail bit, and will need to be reset with cin.reset()) if it encounters any non-whitespace characters before it encounters a number.
But it stops extracting from the input after that. In your input stream is still whatever whitespace or other characters were still present in your input. For example, if you ran this program and typed "2 foobar" before pressing enter, it would immediately print:
String 1: foobar
String 2:
This is because the stream still contains "foobar\n".
In order to get the behavior you're looking for you will probably want to add this before your loop:
cin.ignore();
That will clear the stream of anything that's there.
cin >> num;
This will prompt the user for some input. Assuming the user does what's expected of them, they will type some digits, and they will hit the enter key. The digits will be stored in the input buffer, but so will a newline character, which was added by the fact that they hit the enter key. cin will parse the digits to produce an integer, which it stores in the num variable. It stops at the newline character, which remains in the input buffer. Later, you call getline, which looks for a newline character in the input buffer. It finds one immediately, so it doesn't need to prompt the user for any more input. So it appears that the first call to getline didn't do anything, but actually it did.
What do you mean by " isn't prompting user input for the first iteration"? I read that to mean "isn't printing the prompt for the input of the first string", but based on your code, I think it means "is printing the prompt for the input of the first two strings before it reads input."
cin >> num reads a number, the whole number, and nothing but the number. It does not read whatever follows the number, like a newline. So the first getline reads the newline character which you've already typed.
By the way, you should use cerr instead of cout for user prompts.
cout should be reserved for actual output. That makes scripting much easier, because you can redirect cout independent of cerr, and because you don't want to capture prompts in the program results anyway.