how do i get the file pointer in a ifstream object?

hiya,

i'd just like to get the pointer if it's possible because i need to load the data somewhere else,

ie,

GetPointerFromFile(...)
{
ifstream fin("data.dat")
fin.seekg(offset, ios::beg);
return fin_pointer; // how?
}

GetData(fin_pointer)
{
fin_pointer.readdata....
};

my problem here is, if i read the data in GetPointerFromFile then i have to allocate a dynamic array of char then return it, but i wouldn't be able to delete it anymore and i also don't like to delete it somewhere else but on that function only,

many thanks,

What's wrong with passing an ifstream reference to the function for opening and positioning?

Code:

---

int get_file ( ifstream& fin, long offset )
{
  fin.open ( "data.dat" );
  if ( fin.is_open() )
    return OPEN_FAILURE; // Or a suitable exception

  fin.seekg ( offset, ios::beg );

  return OPEN_SUCCESS;
}

---

-Prelude

err., i just need the pointer, because loading of the data will be handled by another function(not using ifstream anymore).. or maybe this isn't possible because loading the data can only be handled by the ifstream class??

many thanks! :)