Reading whole file w/ ifstream

I'm having a problem using ifstream; I'm more used to using FILE*'s.

I want to read an entire file using an ifstream and store it in a buffer, without loosing formatting. Here's what I have so far:

Code:

// Read (): Reads the specified data file
// and returns it's contents
std::string Dataf::Read (std::string fileName)
{
	std::ifstream   fd (fileName.c_str());
	std::string	 buffer;
	std::string	 errorBuf ("Error opening data file [");

	if (!fd.is_open()) {
		 errorBuf += fileName + "], please check it exists.\n";
		 KillGame (errorBuf);
	}

	fd >> buffer;

	return buffer;
}

That only reads one word ('Adventures') from the data file. I did try a little 'double buffering' techinique but I lost all formatting:

Code:

// Read (): Reads the specified data file
// and returns it's contents
std::string Dataf::Read (std::string fileName)
{
        std::ifstream   fd (fileName.c_str());
        std::string     buffer, buf;
        std::string     errorBuf ("Error opening data file [");

        if (!fd.is_open()) {
                errorBuf += fileName + "], please check it exists.\n";
                KillGame (errorBuf);
        }

        while (!fd.eof()) {
                fd >> buf;
                buffer += buf + " ";
        }

        return buffer;
}

Any help appreciated as usual

I am not sure if this is the best method but this works

Code:

#include <iostream>
#include <fstream>
#include <string>

std::string readFile(const std::string &toRead)
{
    std::ifstream fd(toRead.c_str());
    std::string buffer;
    char ch;
    while(fd.get(ch))
    {
        buffer.push_back(ch);
    }
    return buffer;
}

int main()
{
    std::string getBuffer = readFile("test.txt");
    std::cout<<getBuffer<<std::endl;
    std::cin.get();
    return 0;
}

Input:

Code:

Hello my name
is brian how are
you today

Output:

Code:

Hello my name
is brian how are
you today

Thanks, I didn't realise you could push_back() a string

This would work as well

Code:

#include <iostream>
#include <iomanip>
#include <iterator>
#include <fstream>

using namespace std;
int main() {   
    string file("a.cpp");
    ifstream infile(file.c_str());
    if(!infile) {
        return 0;
    }
    infile >> noskipws;
    string code_str;
    code_str.assign( istream_iterator<char>(infile),istream_iterator<char>() );
    cout << code_str;
    return 1;
}

Kurt

Thanks

Include the <sstream> header and alter the following 3 lines of code:

Code:

// Read (): Reads the specified data file
// and returns it's contents
std::string Dataf::Read (std::string fileName)
{
    std::ifstream     fd (fileName.c_str());
    std::stringstream buffer;
    std::string       errorBuf ("Error opening data file [");

    if (!fd.is_open()) {
        errorBuf += fileName + "], please check it exists.\n";
        KillGame (errorBuf);
    }

    buffer << fd.rdbuf();

    return buffer.str();
}