Thread: menu help

hi, I am trying to take a command input by the user and continue looping until the user types exit

within the loop there are 5 keywords which will send throw control elsewhere

it works the first time through

i think the problem is that the strings holding the input are not cleared on subsequent iterations

i have tried various things with no success

could someone offer me some suggestions on how to fix this?

or

is there (i'm sure there is) a better way in which a beginner (me) can do this with the most basic of skills.

Thanks

Code:

while(true)
  {
    string str, cmd, titl;         //str entire input
    int loc;                       //cmd first word - determines where to send
    cout << "Enter command: ";     //titl text after cmd
    getline(cin, str);
    loc = str.find(" ", 0);
    cmd.append(str,0,loc);
    titl.append(str,loc,titl.size()-1);
    
    //cout << "1st word: " << cmd << endl << "text: " << titl <<endl;
    
       char c_cmd1[80];                     //convert string to lower
       const char *c_cmd = cmd.c_str();     //  c_cmd(c_style string)
       strncpy(c_cmd1, c_cmd, 79);           // c_cmd1 lowercase
       strlwr(c_cmd1);                      //  c_cmd2 is
       string c_cmd2(c_cmd1);               //converted back to string class
       
       //cout << c_cmd << endl << c_cmd1 << endl << c_cmd2 << endl;
  
    if(c_cmd2 == "took")
      took();
      //pass to took function, send string title
      
    else if(c_cmd2 == "clear")
      clear();
      //pass to clear function, send string title
    else if(c_cmd2 == "list")
      list();
        //pass to list function
    else if(c_cmd2 == "advice")
      advice();    
        //pass to advice function
    else if(c_cmd2 == "exit")
      break;
    else huh();
  } 

//Function Took
void took()
{
 cout << "took" << endl;
}

//Function Clear
void clear()
{
 cout << "clear" << endl;
}

//Function List
void list()
{
 cout << "list" << endl;
}

//Function Advice
void advice()
{
 cout << "advice" << endl;
}

void huh()
{
 cout << "Huh??" << endl;
}

after looking at it some more it seems that it only works when there are two words input separated by a space

when one word is input it crashes

I think I fixed it,

added the following if statement:

Code:

if(loc < str.size() )
      titl.append(str,loc,titl.size()-1);

but would still like to hear suggestions on improving code if anyone is up for it

Thanks