Thread: moving file pointer to specific location

I have a file "data.txt" with following content

Code:

mark      zuckerbergsiliconvalcalifornia
jimmy     wales     london    unitedking

As you can see every record is on new line and size of each record is 40.Now when i directly try to go to location 45 with this below function..

Code:

ifstream ifile("data.txt");
ifile.seekg(45,ifile.cur);

it does not take me to the location 45.it takes some arbitrary position.
As file contents change the arbitrary location changes.

Considering the above example of file contents,what is the correct
method to go to location "45" which has the letter y.

So what value are you finding a location "45"? Would it perhaps be an 'm' instead?

I don't recommend trying to seek to a specific location in a text file because of differences in line endings. You are taking the line endings into account, right?

Jim

Originally Posted by jimblumberg

You are taking the line endings into account, right?

Jim

Oh.i did not take them into account.
And there is no guarantee that i find 'm' in that location.
Like i said as data changes value at that location changes.
how to go that exact location?

how to go that exact location?

With a text file, read 45 characters worth of information, don't forget to take into account any new line characters. If you want random access you should either consider binary files or since you state the "records" are fixed lengths avoid placing new lines in the file.

And there is no guarantee that i find 'm' in that location.
Like i said as data changes value at that location changes.

When I asked my question I was basing it on the data presented, not some mystical future value.

Jim