Why is cin.getline() skipping the first word in each line? - c++

I am trying to display the text of a command line inputted text file line by line. But for some reason, it skips the first word in each line after the first line.
code:
using std::cout;
using std::cin;
using std::endl;
int main (int args, char* argv[])
{
char x[100];
char y[100];
char z[100];
cin.getline(x,100) >> argv[2];
cin.getline(y,100) >> argv[2];
cin.getline(z,100) >> argv[2];
cout << x <<endl;
cout << y <<endl;
cout << z <<endl;
return 1;
}
running ./a.out < moby.txt
displays this:
CHAPTER 1. Loomings.
me Ishmael. Some years ago--never mind how long precisely--having
or no money in my purse, and nothing particular to interest me on
but the first three lines in moby.txt is this:
CHAPTER 1. Loomings.
Call me Ishmael. Some years ago--never mind how long precisely--having
little or no money in my purse, and nothing particular to interest me on
The code is omitting "Call" and "little".
I feel like this is an \n error but i have no idea how to fix it.
Thanks in advance for any help.

cin.getline(x,100) >> argv[2];
You read a line (or the first 99 characters of the line) into x. Then you skip any whitespace and read the next word into argv[2]. The first words are ending up there.
Why are you using >> argv[2]? What are you possibly trying to do with this? argv[2] may not exist and even if it does, you don't have any control over the size of the character array pointed to by argv[2], so your chances of overrunning that array are quite high.
Rather than using char arrays directly for this, use std::getline with std::string to read lines into std::string objects: it is much easier to write correct code this way. For example,
std::string x;
if (!std::getline(std::cin, x)) {
// handle input error
}

#James McNellis has already pointed to the basic problem. My advice would be:
Don't use the member-function form of getline.
Don't mix getline and >> in the same statement.
Use a loop.

I find the other C++ getline to be easier and safer to use;
string str;
getline (cin,str);
will slurp the entire line and put it into a string, which you can then play with via the many fine string methods, or stringstream if you want to do I/O on parts of the string.

This is what I chose to do to make sure I am not missing any words or letters when I Use getline:
cout << "\nEnter some words: ";
while (getline(cin,myString)){
getline(cin,myString);
break;
};

Related

How to take multiple line string input in C++?

I am learning C++. I want to take multiple line string as input but I can't. I am using getline() for it but it is taking only one line input. When I press enter for writing next line it stoped taking input and print the first line.
I want to give input like the example below
Hello, I am Satyajit Roy.
I want to make a program.
I love to travel.
But it takes only the first line input.
My code:
#include <iostream>
#include <string>
using namespace std;
int main()
{
string s;
getline(cin, s);
cout << s << endl;
return 0;
}
Please help me to know how can I do that.
Thank you.
Either you write a loop to read individual lines and concatenate them to a single string, thats what this answer suggests. If you are fine with designating a specific character to signal the end of the input, you can use the getline overload that takes a delimiter as parameter:
#include <iostream>
#include <string>
int main() {
std::string s;
std::getline(std::cin,s,'x');
std::cout << s;
}
The user would have to type an x to end input, so this input
Hello, I am Satyajit Roy.
I want to make a program.
I love to travel.
x
would result in this output:
Hello, I am Satyajit Roy.
I want to make a program.
I love to travel.
Of course this won't work when the string to be entered contains x, which renders the approach rather useless.
However, instead of using a "real" character as delimiter you can use the EOF character (EOF = end of file) like this:
std::getline(std::cin, s, static_cast<char>(EOF));
Then input is terminated by whatever your terminal interprets as EOF, eg Ctrl-d in linux.
Thanks to #darcamo for enlightening me on the EOF part.
You can only read one line at a time with std::getline if you don’t provide your own delimiter. If you want to accumulate multiple lines, one at a time, you need a place to put the result. Define a second string. Read a line at a time into s with std::getline, and then append s to the result string. Like this:
std::string result;
std::string s;
while (std::getline(std::cin, s))
result += s;
You can take several lines using the code below if you know how many lines you will input.
int line=3, t;
string s, bigString;
for(int i=0 ; i<line ; i++)
{
getline(cin,s); // This is to input the sentence
bigString += s + "\n";
}
cout << bigString;
If you don't know how many lines you will input (Input from file until end of file) then you can check this.
string s;
vector<string> all;
while(getline(cin,s))
{
all.push_back(s);// This is to input the sentence
}
for(auto i:all)
{
cout << i << endl;
}

Does getline() not extract the delimiter?

So I was taking input some integers and then taking input some sentences.
This code works fine:
#include<bits/stdc++.h>
using namespace std;
main(){
int c,b,n,i;string s;
cin>>n>>b>>c;
for(i=0;i<n;i++){
cin>>ws;
getline(cin,s,'\n');
cout<<s;
}
}
Example:
3 3 3
This is weird
This is weirdDefinitely makes
Definitely makesNo sense
No sense
However, when I try to omit the cin>>ws inside the forloop, it doesn't work properly, eg this code segment,
#include<bits/stdc++.h>
using namespace std;
main(){
int c,b,n,i;string s;
cin>>n>>b>>c;
for(i=0;i<n;i++){
getline(cin,s,'\n');
cout<<s;
}
}
Example:
3 3 3
This is weird
This is weirdDefinitely makes
Definitely makes
..and terminates there instead of taking all three inputs.
Why is that? cin>>ws extracts all whitespace from the input but isn't getline() doing that too? So why does it not work properly when I omit cin>>ws in the forloop?
std::getline() extract characters until it extracted the first delimiter character (by default '\n'). The delimiter is not stored in the result but it is extracted. It does not extract whitespace in general or multiple delimiter characters.
As an aside: always check whether input works after trying to read a value.
In the example printed, the issue is is that after formatted input, i.e., using the >> operator, whitespaces are not extracted. That is, the first calls to std::getline() extracts the empty string terminated by the initial newline. It generally is necessary to extract trailing whitespace when switching between formatted and unformatted I/O. That is, You'd want code like
if (cin>>n>>b>>c >> std::ws) {
for(i=0;i<n;i++){
if (getline(cin,s,'\n')) {
cout << "i=" << i << ":'" << s << "'\n";
}
}
}
I can't recommend input operations without adding check for success. The output is changed to make it more easily visible what is going on: try the code with/without this particular std::endl to see what is happening.
When you use cin >> it doesn't remove any whitespace after the input. This means the newline that terminated the first 3 inputs is still in the buffer, waiting to be read by the first getline. Since there's nothing before the newline, the first getline delivered an empty string. Your output should have included a newline so you could have seen the empty line, then it would have made sense.
Originally the code you posted showed a cin >> ws just before the for loop which would have eliminated this problem.
The default delimiter for getline() is '\n', so there is no need to include that in the getline call, though, it should not change the functionality.
See for example Same as getline(input, str, input.widen('\n')), that is, the default delimiter is the endline character.
The change in formatting from the integer input to the getline() input leaves some whitespace (endl) after the integer as explained by #DietmarKühl.
You can change the getline() call to eliminate the delimiter to
getline(cin,s);
which will cause getline() to use '\n' as the default delimiter.
I have modified the 'n' variable to count and removed the other integers to make the code a little simpler to read:
#include <iostream>
int main()
{
int i; // index
int count; // number of strings to accept
std::string str;
std::cout << "Input the number of strings you would like me to process: " << std::endl;
std::cin >> count;
if (std::cin >> count >> std::ws) {
for (i = 0; i < count; i++) {
if (getline(std::cin, str)) {
std::cout << "i=" << i << ":'" << str << "'\n";
}
}
}
}
Cin doesn't extract all white spaces, it just gets the first word until the first white space. It is like having a getline with a space delimiter(not quite but close to).
Getline takes the whole line and has the default '\n' delimiter like mentioned above.
Ex:
string a = "Stack Overflow is awesome";
can give you Stack and getline will give you everything at that line

Reading sentences as string inputs from users

I have been trying to implement a simple code which takes a sentence as an input from the user, stores it in a string and displays it back.
Here are the issues:
1. When T = 1, the program exits immediately.
2. When T>1, the loop runs for only T-1 times.
I think the usage of cin to store the value of T is an issue here. Is the value of T entered being stored as a string due to some buffer capacity of cin?
#include <iostream>
#include <string>
int main()
{
int T;
std::cin >> T;
while (T--)
{
std::string song;
getline(std::cin, song);
std::cout << song << std::endl;
}
return 0;
}
How do you terminate the input that becomes T? With a newline. What happens with that newline after you read into T? It's still left in the input buffer. What will happen when you next call std::getline, what is the first character it will read? The newline, and what happens next? The loop iterates and then T is zero (for the first case where T was originally 1) and the loop and then the program exits.
The solution to this problem is to ignore characters up to and including the newline.
Add a getchar after cin as the \n after the input of T stays in buffer.
std::cin >> T;
getchar();
This is a strange way to do it. So you ask the user to tell the program, before any other input, how many lines will follow? Why not simply:
std::string s;
while (getline(std::cin, s)) {
std::cout << s << std::endl;
}
(This will simply echo every line (press enter to end the line) until end-of-file (Ctrl-d).
Either way, the problem with your code is the while (T--): so why don't you try to see what your T is, and what your getline gives you on each iteration? (I will let you figure it out on your own). Why not use the idiomatic:
for (int i = 0; i < T; ++i)
?
P.S. If you want to read sentences, and not lines, you might want to consider reading up to a delimiter (for example .). getline will do that for you, too:
getline(std::cin, s, '.');

String is not printing without new line character in C++

I'm opening a file, and getting lines from it.
The first line should say how many variables there are, and what their names are.
The second line should be a logic equation using these variables.
The assignment is to have it print out a truth table for the variables and equation.
The first line the program is taking in is not printing without me inserting a new line character. I tried converting to a string and using both printf and cout.
Main file that inputs everything:
#include "truthTable2.h"
int main(int argc, const char* argv[]){
ifstream inFile;
if(argc != 2){
cout << "Enter an input file name: ";
char *inFileName = "";
cin >> inFileName;
inFile.open(inFileName);
}
else
inFile.open(argv[1]);
TruthTable tTable;
while(!inFile.eof()){
char variableLine[256];
inFile.getline(variableLine, 256);
printf("%s ", variableLine);
string variable(variableLine);
tTable.setVariables(variable);
char formulaLine[256];
inFile.getline(formulaLine, 256);
cout << formulaLine << "\n";
string formula(formulaLine);
tTable.setFormula(formula);
tTable.printTable();
}
inFile.close();
return 0;
}
Sample input:
2 x y
( \wedge x ( \not y ) )
Output from this:
( \wedge x ( \not y ) )
I think whatever is causing this is giving me problems throughout the rest of the program as well. After I tokenize the variableLine it does not print without a new line character and it does not find the second variable when evaluating the formula.
An std::ostream's output needs to be flushed. It is normally flushed automatically when a line-feed \n is written. If you want to force the stream to flush, you can use the std::flush manipulator like so:
std::cout << "foo" << std::flush;
Edit: Although my post clearly answers the question "Why does my line not show up unless I output a \n character?" You said this does not answer your question, so I will attempt some mind reading to try and answer your real question.
Since I have no idea what you really want know, I'll point out several things here that are wrong with your code and it might help you find your problem or clarify your question.
First, if you are using the file name input from std::cin, when argc<2, you will, a 100% guaranteed, cause a failure in your application. The reason is that the character buffer pointed to by inFileName contains a single byte, reserved for the terminating null character. If someone enters any text whatsoever, you will get a buffer overrun. If someone enters an empty string, your program will open no file and inFile.open(...); will return an error code that you don't check, so your program won't crash, but still won't work.
Second, the other line inputs are needlessly limited to 256 characters and are just as dangerous (i.e. lines longer that 256 characters will cause a bufer overrun). Since you eventually create std::string instances out of the content, you should just plainly use std::getline(). It is shorter to type, more general and safer.
Third, the description of your problem is that no output is generated unless you add a \n character. As I explained, this is perfectly normal. From re-reading your post, I can understand that you don't unhderstand why you should have to add one given that there was already one in the input file. The reason you need to add it is because the getline() functions discard the \n character. It is not inserted into your line's buffer.
I've cleaned up some of your code to show you some clear improvements. From this code you will be able to understand the structure of your program, which should also reflect the structure of your input.
#include "truthTable2.h"
int main(int argc, const char* argv[]){
std::ifstream inFile;
if(argc != 2){
cout << "Enter an input file name: ";
std::string inFileName;
std::getline(std::cin, inFileName);
inFile.open(inFileName.c_str());
}
else {
inFile.open(argv[1]);
}
if ( !inFile.is_open() ) {
// Did not successfully open a file. Print error message and exit!
}
TruthTable tTable;
for (std::string variables; std::getline(inFile,variables); )
{
std::cout << variables << std::endl;
tTable.setVariables(variable);
std::string formula std::getline(formula);
std::cout << formula << std::endl;
tTable.setFormula(formula);
tTable.printTable();
}
return 0;
}
From this, I have a question:how is your input structured? Is your input file only consisted of 2 lines? Are there multiple sets of these line pairs? Is there a single line with variables and a bunch of equations? These three cases will lead me to re-structure the program in one of the following fashions:
2 lines only:
ThruthTable table;
std::string variables, equation;
std::getline(file, variables);
std::getline(file, equation);
// ...
Multiple sets:
while ( !inFile.eof() )
{
ThruthTable table;
std::string variables, equation;
std::getline(file, variables);
std::getline(file, equation);
// ...
}
Multiple equations:
ThruthTable table;
std::string variables;
std::getline(variables);
for ( std::string equation; std::getline(file, equation); )
{
std::getline(file, equation);
// ...
}
If what I am seeing is right, the output from printf is the one that is not showing. In that case, either use
fflush(stdout);
Or better, just go with a std::cout for that line since you're writing it in C++ (using the std::flush technique, of course.)

String.size() returns incorrect number if there is space in the string

I'm trying to write a program that returns the number of characters in a string. As I was writing my program, I've noticed that there's a bug in the string class.
Say my program is this:
#include <iostream>
#include <string>
using namespace std;
int main()
{
string input;
cout << "Input string: ";
cin >> input
cout << "Number of characters: " << input.size() << endl;
return 0;
}
If my input is Test String, I should see the number 11 as the output.
However, the output I get is this:
Number of characters: 4
It seems like the size() method does not work when there is space in the string.
My question is, is there another way to get the number of characters in a string? I tried length() method but the result was the same.
That's because your
cin >> input;
only reads up to the first whitespace character.
If you want to get the a whole line, use the following code:
std::string s;
std::getline(std::cin, s);
This is not a bug, and more particularly, actually has nothing to do with the string class.
It has to do with the istream class (cin). cin's operator>> performs "formatted input," which is to say, input delimited by whitespace. After you hit enter, you read out "Test" into a string, leaving "String" in the input buffer. "Test" is, in fact, four characters long.
Consider using std::getline or istream::getline to read entire lines of input with more control. Be sure to read the documentation for these methods carefully, as they have different behavior with respect to what is left in the input stream which can then cause results you may not expect if mixed together with oeprator>> usage.
This is a result of the meaning of cin >> input, which stops reading when any whitespace is found. If you want to keep reading until the end of a line, try getline.
After taking input correctly, you can get the length of the string or char pointer(char*)(including whitespaces) by using strlen(string_name), this will return the length.