Thread: Compiler skipping a statement & moving to nxt instruction

Hi Folks,

I'm facing a strange problem here. In my code the compiler isn't executing an instruction and is skipping to next instruction.

Below is a program I created for flash card. Here first we feed the program with some words and its meanings. Later vocab is tested by calling one word after another, if user gets it right then the word is deleted and if user gets it wrong the word stays.

Below program isn't commented so don't bother understanding the whole code cause i'm having trouble only in a small part of it.

Code:

 #include <iostream>
#include <string>

class flash_card
{
    std::string question[15];
    std::string answer[15];

    public:

    flash_card()
    {
        std::cout<<"constructing class\n";
    }

    int feed();

    void test(int& total_noofqs);

    void right(const int index, int& totalqs);

    void wrong();

    void learn();

    ~flash_card()
    {
        std::cout<<"Deconstructing class\n";
    }
};

int number_of_questions=0;

int flash_card::feed()
{
    bool y=true;
    int i=0;
    char return_value;

    for(i=0;(y=true);++i)
    {
        std::cout<<"\nEnter the word: ";
        std::getline(std::cin,question[i]);    //not executing, problem lies in this block
        std::cout<<"\nEnter its meaning: "; 
        std::getline(std::cin,answer[i]);
        std::cout<<answer[i];
        std::cout<<"\nPress n to exit or other key to continue: ";
        std::cin>>return_value;
        if(return_value=='n')
        y=false;
    }
    number_of_questions=i+1;
    return(number_of_questions);
}

void flash_card::test(int& total_noofqs)
{
    int i=0;
    std::string local_answer;
    char return_value;
    while(i<total_noofqs)
    {
        std::cout<<"meaning for "<<question[i]<<" is?\n";
        std::getline(std::cin, local_answer);
        if(answer[i]==local_answer)
        {
            right(i, total_noofqs);
            continue;
        }
        else
        wrong();
        ++i;
        std::cout<<"\nDo you wanna continue the test: ";
        std::cin>>return_value;
        if(return_value=='n')
        break;
    }
}

void flash_card::right(const int index, int& totalqs)
{
    int y=0;
    std::cout<<"\nright";
    for(y=0;(y<(number_of_questions-index));++y)
    {
        question[index]=question[index+1];
        answer[index]=answer[index+1];
        --totalqs;
    }
}

inline void flash_card::wrong()
{
    std::cout<<"\nwrong";
}

inline void flash_card::learn()
{
    int x=0;
    for(x=0;x<number_of_questions;++x)
    {
        std::cout<<"\n"<<question[x]<<" : "<<answer[x];
    }
}

int main()
{
    flash_card list;
    int num;
    std::cout<<"\n1:feed, 2:test, 3:learn 4:quit";
    std::cout<<"\nenter ur choice";

    while(true)
    {
    std::cin>>num;
    if(num==4)
    break;
    switch(num)
    {
        case 1:
        list.feed();
        case 2:
        list.test(number_of_questions);
        case 3:
        list.learn();
        default:
        std::cout<<"\nenter a proper choice";

    }
    }
    return(0);
}

In the function int flash_card::feed()
line 43 isn't executing
I get the display to enter the word because std::cout<<"\nEnter the word: "; is executuing
However, compiler doesn't wait for me to enter the word(std::getline(std::cin,question[i]); isn't executing).
It continues to execute the next instruction.

If this line doesn't execute then the whole program is useless.
I would really appreciate any help for this problem.

Thanks

I'm going to guess it's because you are using both getline and std::cin >>.

The problem is
std::cin >>
leaves a newline character in the stream, so when it comes around to getline, it gets an empty line automatically.

You can do a std::cin.ignore(1, '\n'); after your cin >>.

Or just use getline for everything, which I think is cleaner.

No one said it(maybe because its more like a C approach?), but adding a fflush(stdin) before the line thats giving you trouble should work... probably...

Originally Posted by cyberfish

I'm going to guess it's because you are using both getline and std::cin >>.

The problem is
std::cin >>
leaves a newline character in the stream, so when it comes around to getline, it gets an empty line automatically.

You can do a std::cin.ignore(1, '\n'); after your cin >>.

Or just use getline for everything, which I think is cleaner.

By adding this line seems have solved the problem, Thank you for all the people to have replied. But, can anyone tell me whats wrong with the earlier code, when I give a instruction to receive i/p,it should wait till I give the input.But that wasn't happening.
If someone gave me some idea about the mistake then I'll have better understanding of the usage of statements like ignore, fflush etc.

Thanks

A stream is like a pipe. You put things in one end by typing them at the console, and they are taken out from the other end when you call getline or cin >>.

They only wait for input when the pipe is empty. If not, it will just grab whatever's in the pipe, and move on.

When you type, for example, "5[enter]", 2 characters are entered. a '5', and a newline ('\n').

cin >> int only grabs an integer, so that leaves a newline in the stream.

When it gets to getline, it thinks there is already an empty line (terminated by a newline), so it grabs that, and move on.

cin.ignore(1, '\n'); says grab and discard the first character from the stream, if it's a newline. So when getline comes, the stream is empty, and it waits for more data (your input).