Output to file produces crap

This is driving me crazy, I have the following program:

Code:

---

#include <iostream>
#include <fstream>
#include <cstdlib>
using namespace std;

int main()
{
        ofstream myfile;
        myfile.open("text.txt");
        for(int i = 1; i < 9; i++)
                for(int j = 1; j < 9; j++)
                {
                        myfile << "x" << i << j << " + ";
                }
        myfile.close();
}

---

Which should just create a file text.txt and put there the string:
x11 + x12 + .... + x88
What is actually outputs is:

Code:

---

ㅸ‱‫ㅸ′‫ㅸ″‫ㅸ‴‫ㅸ‵‫ㅸ‶‫ㅸ‷‫ㅸ‸‫㉸‱‫㉸′‫㉸″‫㉸‴‫㉸‵‫㉸‶‫㉸‷‫㉸‸‫㍸‱‫㍸′‫㍸″‫㍸‴‫㍸‵‫㍸‶‫㍸‷‫㍸‸‫㑸‱‫㑸′‫㑸″‫㑸‴‫㑸‵‫㑸‶‫㑸‷‫㑸‸‫㕸‱‫㕸′‫㕸″‫㕸‴‫㕸‵‫㕸‶‫㕸‷‫㕸‸‫㙸‱‫㙸′‫㙸″‫㙸‴‫㙸‵‫㙸‶‫㙸‷‫㙸‸‫㝸‱‫㝸′‫㝸″‫㝸‴‫㝸‵‫㝸‶‫㝸‷‫㝸‸‫㡸‱‫㡸′‫㡸″‫㡸‴‫㡸‵‫㡸‶‫㡸‷‫㡸‸‫

---

If I remove " + " it outputs the actual string without pluses, otherwise it outputs crap. Why?

What OS/compiler?
How are you viewing the resulting text file?

Very strange.
Seems to work exactly as expected (gcc, Linux)

Code:

---

$ cat bar.cpp
#include <iostream>
#include <fstream>
#include <cstdlib>
using namespace std;

int main()
{
  ofstream myfile;
  myfile.open("text.txt");
  for(int i = 1; i < 9; i++)
    for(int j = 1; j < 9; j++)
    {
      myfile << "x" << i << j << " + ";
    }
  myfile.close();
}
$ g++ bar.cpp
$ ./a.out
$ cat text.txt
x11 + x12 + x13 + x14 + x15 + x16 + x17 + x18 + x21 + x22 + x23 + x24 + x25 + x26 + x27 + x28 + x31 + x32 + x33 + x34 + x35 + x36 + x37 + x38 + x41 + x42 + x43 + x44 + x45 + x46 + x47 + x48 + x51 + x52 + x53 + x54 + x55 + x56 + x57 + x58 + x61 + x62 + x63 + x64 + x65 + x66 + x67 + x68 + x71 + x72 + x73 + x74 + x75 + x76 + x77 + x78 + x81 + x82 + x83 + x84 + x85 + x86 + x87 + x88 + $

---

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by hk_mp5kpdw

What OS/compiler?
How are you viewing the resulting text file?

---

Visual Studio 2010 Professional
and I am just using notepad to view the file

Your code works for me too (also gcc/Linux). Some suggestions: make sure you're not mixing up + and <<. If I put e.g.

Code:

---

myfile << "x" << i << j + " + ";

---

then j will be indexing into the string " + " and you'll get some garbage characters, but not as many as you're seeing.

Be absolutely certain you're compiling the code correctly. Delete the old executable and text.txt and recompile the code. Make a new project if you're paranoid.

Some suggestions that may get around compiler bugs: try the code without using namespace std. Some compilers have an older fstream implementation in the global namespace and it's possible (though it shouldn't be happening) that you're picking up an operator << from the old implementation.

Code:

---

#include <iostream>
#include <fstream>
#include <cstdlib>
 
int main()
{
    std::ofstream myfile;
    myfile.open("text.txt");
    for(int i = 1; i < 9; i++)
        for(int j = 1; j < 9; j++)
        {
            myfile << "x" << i << j << " + ";
        }
    myfile.close();
}

---

Finally, if it's really the " + " that's causing the problem, try putting that onto another line.

Code:

---

            myfile << "x" << i << j;
            myfile << " + ";

---

This would probably be an indication of a broken compiler. :)

Ok, this is a quirk of Notepad. I have the same setup as you do and my output file looked weird when viewing it in Notepad. I can open the file in the Visual Studio IDE itself (File->Open->File) and it looks fine. It also looks fine when I browse to the folder where the text file is located and open it using WordPad or MS Word. Notepad is known for some occasional idiosyncrasies.

I knew I had seen something like this before... doing some research revealed this. It may be you've stumbled across something similar.

[edit]
Ok, here's how you get Notepad to view it correctly. With Notepad open go to File->Open and browse to the folder/file you wish to open. Before double-clicking on the file to open it go to the "Encoding" drop down box and select "ANSI" or "UTF-8" instead of the default of "Unicode". Now you can double-click on the file and have it open and display as it should.
[/edit]