File I/O (#18943)

I have had some troubles with trying to get a program to read a file without putting the whole path in for it.

Code:

	std::ifstream file( "Runes.txt" , std::ios::in );
    if (!file.is_open())
        std::cout<<"Error opening file";
    else

Doesn't work for me, but putting C:\\My Documents\\RuneParse\\Runes.txt in the quotation marks does work, what am I doing wrong.

I am using Dev-C++, if that helps.

(PS - This was done before i found out about using namespace std so that is why all the std:: are in there, I have yet to remove them in this program)

you aren't doing anything "wrong". If you don't specify the whole path then the open function looks for the file only in the current working directory.

The file is in the same directory that the exe is in, so I would assume that would make that directory the active directory

EDIT: Nevermind, when I run the exe by clicking on it, it works fine, if i run it from the compiler it does not work.

That doesn't mean the current working directory is the same as where the .exe is located. If you execute the program from within the IDE of a M$ compiler, such as VC++ 6.0 or newer, the current working directory is not where the .exe is located, but where the project files are located (normally the parent of the directory that contains the .exe).

Originally Posted by Wraithan

The file is in the same directory that the exe is in, so I would assume that would make that directory the active directory

This is right if you call the program from the commandline. If you call it by selecting run from windows explorer a different working directory might be set.
Kurt

If I understand corectly, this should allow the user to put in the path to the file they want to load. For some reason I can't get this to work though, am I doing someting wrong?

Code:

string filename;
cout<<"TodesRunes could not find your ATMA dump"<<endl<<"please specify the path to the txt file."<<endl;
cin>>filename;
cin.ignore();
ifstream file( filename.c_str() , ios::in );
                    
if (!file.is_open())
    cout<<"The file does not appear to be here!";

Another question, inline functions, and how to make it so a funtion outside can access the loaded file. Such as "file" in the above example.

When I try to do as I explain above I get:

Originally Posted by compiler

c:\docume~1\owner\mydocu~1\parsing\todesr~1.cpp:80 : initializing non-const `ifstream &' with `const char *' will use a temporary
c:\docume~1\owner\mydocu~1\parsing\todesr~1.cpp: In method `ifstream::ifstream(const ifstream &)':
C:\DEV-C_~1\Include\G__~1\streambuf.h:128: `ios::ios(const ios &)' is private
c:\docume~1\owner\mydocu~1\parsing\todesr~1.cpp:80 : within this context
c:\docume~1\owner\mydocu~1\parsing\todesr~1.cpp: In method `fstreambase::fstreambase(const fstreambase &)':
C:\DEV-C_~1\Include\G__~1\streambuf.h:128: `ios::ios(const ios &)' is private
c:\docume~1\owner\mydocu~1\parsing\todesr~1.cpp:80 : within this context
c:\docume~1\owner\mydocu~1\parsing\todesr~1.cpp: In method `istream::istream(const istream &)':
C:\DEV-C_~1\Include\G__~1\streambuf.h:128: `ios::ios(const ios &)' is private
c:\docume~1\owner\mydocu~1\parsing\todesr~1.cpp:80 : within this context

Code:

inline void loadfile(ifstream& file("runes"))
{
    ifstream file( "Runes.txt");
    if (!file.is_open())
        ifstream file( "runes.txt");
        if (!file.is_open())
            ifstream file( "rune.txt");
            if (!file.is_open())
                ifstream file( "Rune.txt");
                if (!file.is_open())
                    {
                    string filename;
                    cout<<"TodesRunes could not find your ATMA dump"<<endl<<"please specify the path to the txt file."<<endl;
                    cin>>filename;
                    ifstream file( filename.c_str());
                    }
                    if (!file.is_open())
                        cout<<"The file does not appear to be here!";
}

Code:

int main ()
{
    int el = 0, eld = 0, tir = 0, nef = 0, eth = 0, ith = 0, tal = 0, ral = 0, ort = 0, thul = 0,amn = 0,
        sol = 0, shael = 0, dol = 0, hel = 0, io = 0, lum = 0, ko = 0, fal = 0, lem = 0,pul = 0, um = 0,
        mal = 0, ist = 0, gul = 0, vex = 0, ohm = 0, lo = 0, sur = 0, ber = 0, jah = 0, cham = 0, zod = 0;
    loadfile();
    cout << "Loading your ATMA readout and parsing now" << endl;
	string line;


    while (getline( file , line ))
	{
        if (line.empty() || (line == "\r")) continue;
        int colon_pos = line.find(':');
        string rune = line.substr(colon_pos+2,line.size()-colon_pos-7);
        if (rune == "El")
            el++;
        else if (rune == "Eld")
            eld++;
        else if (rune == "Tir")
            tir++;
        else if (rune == "Nef")
            nef++;
        else if (rune == "Eth")
            eth++;

The main continues on, but I think I included the parts that would help people to help me.

Code:

inline void loadfile(ifstream& file("runes"))

The above line is wrong -- remove the string literal.

Code:

inline void loadfile(ifstream& file)

When I correct it, I get:

82 c:\docume~1\owner\mydocu~1\parsing\todesr~1.cpp
declaration of `file' shadows a parameter

which is the line that has

Code:

80 inline void loadfile(ifstream& file)
81 {
82     ifstream file( "Runes.txt");
83     if (!file.is_open())
84         ifstream file( "runes.txt");
85         if (!file.is_open())
86             ifstream file( "rune.txt");
87             if (!file.is_open())
88                 ifstream file( "Rune.txt");
89                 if (!file.is_open())
90                     {
91                     string filename;
92                     cout<<"TodesRunes could not find your ATMA dump"<<endl<<"please specify the path to the txt file."<<endl;
93                     cin>>filename;
94                     ifstream file( filename.c_str());
95                    }
96                     if (!file.is_open())
97                         cout<<"The file does not appear to be here!";
98 }

Code:

int main ()
{
    ifstream file;

    loadfile(file);

I had to intialize the variable in main, and this seemed to fix 99% of my errors, but this last one has me caught.

EDIT: I found out why it is saying that, I have it declared twice, is the reason I think, is there a way around that?

you get that error because file is being declared twice -- as a parameter and in the line immedicately following it. Correct like this

Code:

 inline void loadfile(ifstream& file)
 {
       file.open( "Runes.txt");

Thanks for all that help Ancient Dragon, one last question (I hope) using user input for the path to the file always fails for me. The program just quits when you type something in.

Code:

                if (!file.is_open())
                    {
                    string filename;
                    cout<<"TodesRunes could not find your ATMA dump"<<endl<<"please specify the path to the txt file."<<endl;
                    cin>>filename;
                    cin.ignore();
                    ifstream file( filename.c_str());
                    }

cin>>filename does not accept spaces in the filename. If the path contains spaces then use getline()

When filename is std::string

Code:

std::string filename
getline(cin,filename);

when filename is character array

Code:

char  filename[255];
cin.getline(filename,sizeof(filename));

And you don't need cin.ignore() after inputting strings. That will cause the program to stop and wait for more user input!

It is no longer just exiting out when I am using user input. But even if I put the whole path, case sesitive, it does not find the file.

then the file is probably not where you think it is, or you may be misspelling it. MS-Windows operating system file names are case insensitive.

I severly doubt it is me misspelling or not knowing where the file is, since I have been going through cmd and i can see the complete path.