Accessing private string

Hello,

I wan't to get a private string from class CWDirectory in member function set_path(const char* s) and put it in a member function set_path() in class Directory.

Code:

//cwdirectory.cpp
//class to output the path of the current working directory
#include <iostream>
#include <stdexcept>
#include "cwdirectory.h"
#include "unistd.h"

#define MAXPATHLEN 200

using namespace std;

CWDirectory::CWDirectory()
{
	char buf[MAXPATHLEN];
	if(getcwd(buf, MAXPATHLEN))
		set_path(buf);
	else
		throw domain_error("pathway not found");
}

string CWDirectory::set_path(const char* s)
{
	return path = s;
}

void CWDirectory::get_cwdir()
{
	cout << path << endl;
}

.............................................................

//directory.cpp
//class Directory to output the contents of the current
//working directory
#include <iostream>
#include <stdexcept>
#include "cwdirectory.h"
#include "directory.h"

Directory::Directory()
{
	set_path();
}

void Directory::set_path()//function not complete
{
	CWDirectory cwdir;
	cwdpath = cwdir.set_path(buf);//buf causes compiler error
	cout << cwdpath << endl;
}

Here is the error I am getting:

[hopchewer@hopchewer linux_com]$ make
g++ -O2 -Wall -Werror -ansi -c -o cwdirectory.o cwdirectory.cpp
g++ -O2 -Wall -Werror -ansi -c -o directory.o directory.cpp
directory.cpp: In member function ‘void Directory::set_path()’:
directory.cpp:17: error: ‘buf’ was not declared in this scope
make: *** [directory.o] Error 1

I am not sure how to get the path from class CWDirectory into class Directory to list the contents of the current working directory.

I fully agree with the compiler. path is not declared -- notice that path is used in the function set_path(). Is it supposed to be defined as part of class CWDirectory?

I just edited this post. Some how I had the wrong error. It is buf that is not declared in this scope.

Okay. buf isn't declared in that function either.

Do you want the buf variable belonging to cwdir? If so, then use cwdir.buf. Although that seems a bit circular, since buf would just have garbage in it so far as I can tell.