Thread: My array question

An array or vector would probably be a good storage model. Vector has the advantage of you not having to worry about the size.

Or, if you use std::map<>, you could use the name as a key, and the rank as the second element, thus avoiding you having to make a search yourself.

As general advice: Don't try to write the whole program at once. Portion up the work, so you do (for example) the code to read the names + ranks into an array [or vector, map or some such]. Once you have that working, start working on asking the user for a name, then work on the searching and listing.

--
Mats

Thank you for the reply s im going to start working on this in sections, typically its chaotic because i write it all, it half works and then i debug it.

#include <fstream>
using std::ifstream;
using std:fstream;
using std:stream;

int main()
{

int Nums[999], x=0; ifstream inFile("babynames2004.txt"); //Open text file
while(inFile >> Nums[x] && x<50)

x++;

inFile.close(); return 0;

}

the txt file contains a list of integers, this code will read them into the array. okay so there are a 1000 names in this file. So this makes it a little easier.

My question is: 1) how do i make it so it read the entire line into the array?
2) how to make the search for it? based on user input.

Now that i think about this it wont work cause i need people to search for names and have it display the name and its rank. For example heres is 1 -10 rank names

1 Jacob Emily
2 Michael Emma
3 Joshua Madison
4 Matthew Olivia
5 Ethan Hannah
6 Andrew Abigail
7 Daniel Isabella
8 William Ashley
9 Joseph Samantha
10 Christopher Elizabeth

So when they type in a name, say its ethan or something, then it would output
ethan is ranked 5 in popularity among boys.
ethan is not ranked among the girls.

So would this be the right way to read each word in a line?

Code:

    int number;
    char boy, girl;
    ifstream names_txt;
    names_txt.open ( "babynames2004.txt" );
    
    names_txt >> number;
    names_txt >> boy;
    names_txt >> boy;

Still need to figure out how to have it search

why to allocate 999 ints if you plan to read only 50?
why not to use std::vector?
use getline to read a string (better into std::string )
you can use std::stringstream to parse the string if you need it

char boy will held 1 character, are you sure it is enogh?
use std::string

Code:

    int number;
    char boy[20], girl[20];
    ifstream names_txt;
    names_txt.open ( "babynames2004.txt" );
    
    names_txt >> number;
    names_txt >> boy;
    names_txt >> girl;

Thanks for catching that. but is this right way to read each line?

i would write it like

Code:

int number;
std::string boy, girl;
std::ifstream names_txt( "babynames2004.txt" );

names_txt >> number;
names_txt >> boy;
names_txt >> girl;

would see

will contain - yes, and yes size is no matter here
operator >> will read till the wightspace

cin >> boy, girl;

no this will not work...

something like

Code:

cin >> name;
if ( name == boy)
{
// it's a boy name
}
else if (name == girl)
{
//it's a girl name
}
else
{
//it's a wrong name
}

and if you plan to search several names one after anouther - I world make a struct

Code:

struct Record
{
 int index;
 std::string boy;
 std::string girl;
};

and fill the
std::vector<Record>
with data from file - then I'll be able to search for the name in this vector without rereading the file again