iostream manipulators

let's say i have a data file i want to write:

Code:

float gpa=3.45654;
int cost=45430;
string name;
name = "two words"
ofstream out("out.file");
out << gpa << cost << name;
out.close();

/* .... */

ifstream in("out.file");
in >> gpa >> cost >> name;
in.close();

most of you can see the problem here: name has a space in it. what i want to do is seperate each field with a comma (or some other distinct marker). is there a manipulator that can automatically end everything with a character of my choice?

//edit: for instance:
out << gpa << cost << name;
should output
3.45654,45430,two words

and input should act like this:
in >> gpa >> cost >> name;
it should take a float, throw away the comma, get the integer, throw away the comma, then get the whole string, regardless of spaces, but only until it hits a comma (or the end of the string).

theoretically, anyway. i don't know if this is possible even with changing the iostream and/or the string classes

look at overloading the '>>' and '<<' operators to do what you want.

I'm not sure you really want operator>>/<< but you could try something llike -

Code:

#include <iostream>
#include <string>	
#include <sstream>
using namespace std;


istream& operator>>(istream&  in,string& s)
{
	char c;
	c = in.get();
	if(c!=' ')
		in.putback(c);
	return getline(in,s,',');
}


int main()
{
	string abc = "3.45654 45430 two words,";
	stringstream ss;
	float a;
	int b;
	string c;
	ss << abc;
	ss >> a >> b >> c;

	cout << a << ' '<< b << ' ' << c;


	return 0;
}

This would rely on your file having a set format of float-int-string with a comma delimiting the end.

i didn't know you could overload that operator like that. i always thought that it was already defined so i would have to use a manipulator or something.

thanks. but one more thing. in my code i want to store a file looking like:

Code:

35,3.4,the next time,85,8.9,zero,...

where each field is seperated by a comma, and the fields are float, int, and string in order, repeating until eof. could i still overload the >> and << operators to do this?

yes. All you have to do is write an equivalent function that would do the same thing and overload the operator with that.

say i wanted to return to the behavior of the iostream before hand after i'm done inputting and outputting the file. what can i do?

I dont think there's an "automatic" manipulator of that kind, maybe the getline() for reading purposes esp. in case of char/strings but i dont know of any function for output.

and if you put a comma to seperate then you'll have to code your own function to throw/leave the comma when it encounters them.

That's the inherent beauty with operator overloading, you make the operators 'smart'. So lets say all your data was a struct called mydata for instance, then you woudl overload the '<<' operator like so:

Code:

ofstream& operator<<(ofstream& , mystruct& ){
                /*then the code in here will only be executed when the above conditions exist.  That is there is an 
object of type ofstream on the left and an object of type mystruct on the right*/
}