backspacing over a string doesn't delete it

I noticed, while working on a program, that when i backspace in the input line, it does not delete the characters on the line. It merely moves the cursor back a space and allows me to type over the characters.

When i enter that string, it leaves all the characters that should have been removed by backspace in the string:

Code:

stupid account die@jeff ~/sample
$ ./input
Input a line, and try backspacing over it and correcting it.
why won't it delete these from the string?f;lskf;sdj
Here is the string as detected by the system:
why won't it delete these from the string?f;lskf;sdj
stupid account die@jeff ~/sample
$

here is the simple code that i'm running, which doesn't have any room for errors:

Code:

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

int main()
{
	string input;

	cout<<"Input a line, and try backspacing over it and correcting it." <<endl;
	getline(cin,input);
	cout<<"Here is the string as detected by the system:" <<endl;
	cout<<input;

	return EXIT_SUCCESS;
}

anybody know why this is happening? i don't recall this happening when running programs in windows (this is under bash on linux)

not sure if i understand it but when i type in something, then backspace and correct it, then hitting enter it gives me the string after the backspacing(the correct string), im on windows btw

i suppose this is a linux/unix specific question then, as i don't recall having that happen when i use that in windows.

i just created another version of the program, but replaced the getline(cin, input) with cin>>input; and it still does the same thing.




if it wasn't clear, in the first post i typed in a bunch of random characters, backspaced to the beginning of the line, and typed "why won't it delete these from the string?". the characters after that remained from before i backspaced.

This isn't a C++ issue, it's a Linux shell issue.

Try using ctrl-h and see if that works.

nope, ctrl+h had the same effect as backspace.

this is kind of like the issue of typing in an assembly program, it just takes the input without letting you completely modify it (in assembly it would just take each character as it was entered, this one just takes the final string without allowing deletion)

strange!

Code:

user1@bart:~/temp$ ./a.out
Input a line, and try backspacing over it and correcting it.
hello
Here is the string as detected by the system:
hello
user1@bart:~/temp$ ./a.out
Input a line, and try backspacing over it and correcting it.
jacl^Hob
Here is the string as detected by the system:
jacob
user1@bart:~/temp$

Works for me (g++ 3.2.2 under bash in slackware linux).

I did add a "<<endl" after "cout<<input". But i doubt that makes a difference.

well, i guess it's just a problem with console bash in cygwin, i just tried it from konsole in KDE under cygwin, and it worked fine

Just a quickie suggestion to verify that the backspace is doing what you think it is, try:

Code:

$ stty erase ^H

And see if the problem persists.

wow, when i typed that, it deleted the word erase from the string. but when i type two or more words, it deletes the rest except for the first contiguous string of characters.

at least that makes some stuff go away