passing variables

Hey guys, I have two newbie questions, is it possible to pass an ifstream variable to a function the same way you can pass an integer variable?

I was also wondering when cin.getline is used as follows is it better to use a string or an array?

Thanks in advance for any advice.

Code:

char ch[10000];
cout<<"enter something"<<endl;
cin.getline(ch, 10000);

Originally Posted by 182

Hey guys, I have two newbie questions, is it possible to pass an ifstream variable to a function the same way you can pass an integer variable?

Yes, you'll usually want to pass it as a non-const reference argument since any changes to the stream (the state of the stream) made within the function should be kept when the function exits.

Originally Posted by 182

I was also wondering when cin.getline is used as follows is it better to use a string or an array?

Well, you can use either version depending on your needs; but, cin.getline() is only for character arrays, the string form of that function looks a little bit different: getline(cin,name_of_string).

>is it possible to pass an ifstream variable to a function the same way you can pass an integer variable?
Yes, but you should pass a reference (&). In fact some compilers give you an error if it's not a reference or pointer.

Code:

void foo( ifstream &in )

>I was also wondering when cin.getline is used as follows is it better to use a string or an array?
A string is the modern C++ way:

Code:

string ch;
cout<<"enter something"<<endl;
getline(cin, ch);

Thanks for your replies I was also wondering if I was using an array to loop through a txt files contents with the following code where word is the array and test2 is the ifstream variable could i also use a string instead of an array in this case or am I best keeping the array?

Thanks again guys.

Code:

char word[10000];
while ((test2>> word))

Yes, you could use a string object in place of the character array by simply substituing the string variable name in place of the character array name. One whitespace separated word would be read each iteration through the loop. A string object would be more space efficient taking up less stack space.

IMO, best to switch to string:

Code:

string word;
while ((test2 >> word))

The most obvious reason being you don't have to allocate space for 10000 characters, and if the user types in more characters than you allocate space for the string code will still work just fine.

Thanks again guys your advice is great, I will use strings this will be my first time using them. So as you can implement a string by using the code string name; does it have any limit in size as it doesn't have an index like an array?

To see what the theoretical maximum size for a string is, use the max_size member function.

Code:

string str;
cout << str.max_size() << endl;

My output:

Code:

4294967293

Thanks guys

Originally Posted by swoopy

>is it possible to pass an ifstream variable to a function the same way you can pass an integer variable?
Yes, but you should pass a reference (&). In fact some compilers give you an error if it's not a reference or pointer.

Code:

void foo( ifstream &in )

When I use code like the above I get an error which says cannot convert parameter 1 from the class ifstream * to class ifstream &. Anyone have anyidea what the problem could be?

What does your function call look like?

Code:

#include <fstream>

void PASS_IFSTREAM(std::ifstream &foo) {}

int main() 
{
    std::ifstream foo;
    
    PASS_IFSTREAM(foo);   // not PASS_IFSTREAM(&foo)
}

>Anyone have anyidea what the problem could be?
Leave off the & when calling the function. The compiler already knows it's a reference, when it sees the function's definition.

Code:

foo( name_of_ifstream );

That was it thanks