trying to get the computer to count user input digits

I'm just testing what I've wrote so far to check if it's correct, but it's not...where did I go wrong?

Code:

/* 
   Purpose: This program accepts a number, up to 5-digits, and the prints it out
   in English.
*/
#include<iostream.h>

int main()
{
	//User's inputs, stored in char, so whitespace characters can be evaluated
	char char1;
	char char2;
	char char3;
	char char4;
	char char5;
    //variable that will count the digits the user will input, intialized to 0
	int digits;
	digits=0;
    
	//Program Description and prompt to user
	cout<<"This program accepts a number, up to 5-digits and then prints it out\n"
		<<"in English.  Please enter in a 5-digit or less number:  ";
	
	//Getting user's data
	cin>>char1;
	cin.get(char2);
	cin.get(char3);
	cin.get(char4);
	cin.get(char5);
    
	if(char5==' ')
		digits++;
	if(char4==' ')
		digits++;
	if(char3==' ')
		digits++;
	if(char2==' ')
		digits++;
	if(char1==' ')
		digits++;
	
	//trying to get digits to print out, why doesn't it work?
	cout<<endl<<endl<<digits;


	return 0;
}

I think using a string would be the best way

Code:

#include<string>

int main(){


string s;

cout<< "enter whatever:";

cin >> s;

cout << "you entered " << s.size();


return 0;
}

Thanks. That should work great. I think the problem with my code above is that if the user only enters 3 numbers char4 and char5 will not even be read--not even as blankspace characters, so digits will always be equal to 0. I will try your method; it sounds much better.

You say digits, but you use syntax for strings- If you use numbers you can use / and %.