Help!

Hey!

I now im pretty newbie but i have a problem in my code

Code:

void search(void)
{
char *p, *n, line[5000], name[64];
int a = 1;
p = line;
n = name;
cout << "\nWrite the name on the person you want to view." << endl;
cin >> name;
clrscr();
ifstream input_fil("person.dat", ios::in);
if (input_fil.fail())
{
cerr << "The file couldnt be opend!\n" << endl;
a = 0;
}
input_fil >> line;
if (a)
{
while (a)
{
if (*p == *n)
{
cout << *p;
while (*p != '|')
{
cout << *p;
p = p++;
}
a = 0;
}
else
p = p++;
}
}
input_fil.close();
}

This is suposed to open the file "person.dat" in the array "line", and then write everything to the screen, from the name the user type, to the end icon '|'.

But it dont?!

Plz help me!

try formatting your code better...

Code:

void search(void)
{
  char *p, *n, line[5000], name[64];
  int a = 1;
  p = line;
  n = name;
  cout << "\nWrite the name on the person you want to view." 
          <<    endl;
  cin >> name;
  cout << name << endl;
  clrscr();
  ifstream input_fil("person.dat", ios::in);
  if (input_fil.fail())
  //try if(!input_fil) instead of if(input_fil.fail())
  {
     cerr << "The file couldnt be opend!\n" << endl;
     a = 0;
  }
  cout << "a = " <<  a  << endl;
  input_fil >> line;
  cout << "line = " << line << endl;
  if (a)
  {
     while (a)
     {
        cout << "*p = " << *p << endl;
        cout << "*n = " << *n << endl;
        if (*p == *n)
       {
          cout << *p;
          while (*p != '|')
          {
             p = p++;
             cout << *p;
             //switched the above two lines so *p not displayed twice
          }
          a = 0;
      }
      else
        p = p++;
    }
  }
  input_fil.close();
}

The above is indented so the function reads easier. It also has a series of cout statements to help debug the function and I switched two lines to get the response I think you want. Now run the program and see where the values of a, p, and n fail to meet your expectations.