Storing and accessing data from and to .txt files.

How would you store string data inside a .txt file, so you can request data from the .txt file that is already there, or store additional data?

That sounds very... generic. Have you learnt about what's in the <fstream> standard header?

Write the strings to the file, one per line would likely be best. When reading from the file, just store everything in a container of some sort, std::vector<std::string> for example.

Originally Posted by hk_mp5kpdw

Write the strings to the file, one per line would likely be best. When reading from the file, just store everything in a container of some sort, std::vector<std::string> for example.

Yes, the data in the application is stored in a vector. But how do you "extract" the data of a vector to a text file; AND still be able to make the app recognize it, and edit it later on?

But how do you "extract" the data of a vector to a text file; AND still be able to make the app recognize it, and edit it later on?

You come up with a file format. For example, as mentioned by hk_mp5kpdw, each element of the vector could be on a single line. Then since your vector holds structs as elements, the members of the struct could be comma separated, or separated by pipes, or perhaps you have a fixed width to store them, etc.

Actually, I would suggest using SQLite and coming up with a database schema instead of a custom file format, but that may be a little advanced at this point, unless you already have some knowledge of relational databases.

Originally Posted by laserlight

You come up with a file format. For example, as mentioned by hk_mp5kpdw, each element of the vector could be on a single line. Then since your vector holds structs as elements, the members of the struct could be comma separated, or separated by pipes, or perhaps you have a fixed width to store them, etc.

Actually, I would suggest using SQLite and coming up with a database schema instead of a custom file format, but that may be a little advanced at this point, unless you already have some knowledge of relational databases.

Using the simplest .txt storage methods is a good start point, no? In case you want to help out, I'd love to understand it.

Using the simplest .txt storage methods is a good start point, no?

If you want to learn about file handling, then yes. What do you already know?

Originally Posted by laserlight

If you want to learn about file handling, then yes. What do you already know?

I know that a header named "<fstream>" exists. And as I said, it dosent have to be very complex at the beginning stage of the learning process. Using the most easy way will do it for a starter.

Check out the tutorial on file I/O, and also check out cppreference.com's entries on C++ I/O.

Thanks