Thread: Sorting through delimiting characters

Hi

I am trying to write a C++ program that will determine whether a string from a file; from the set of characters "[]" form a group. If so, I want to print the
text that is within the out most bracket group into another file. Some examples are:

xxxx[xxxx]xxxx = [xxxx]
[xxxx[xxxx]xxxx = [xxxx[xxxx]
[xxxx[xxxx]xxxx] = [xxxx[xxxx]xxxx]
x[x[x[xxx]xx]x]x]xx = [x[x[xxx]xx]x]

At the moment I can do the "xxxx[xxxx]xxxx = [xxxx]" example and the reading to and from files I am ok with. I am lost on the thought process I should
take in order to see if I have multiple brackets and whether they form a valid group.

Any help would be great.

Currently I have:

Code:

#include<iostream>
#include<fstream>
#include<cstdio>
#include<cstring>

using namespace std;

#define OPEN	'['		
#define CLOSE   ']'	

int main()
{
	ifstream inData;
	ofstream outData;				
	char filenameIn[100];
	char filenameOut[100];
	char lineOfText[200];
	char chBuffer[BUFSIZ];
        char *Start;							
        char *End;							
	int  nChar;

	cout << "Enter filename to read DATA from: ";
	cin >> filenameIn;
	cout << endl;
	inData.open(filenameIn);
	cout << "Enter filename to write DATA to: ";
	cin >> filenameOut;
	cout << endl;
	outData.open(filenameOut);
	
	if(!inData)
		cout << "ERROR in opening " << filenameIn << endl;

	else
		if(inData)
		{
			cout << "Opening file: " << filenameIn << endl << endl;
			inData.get(lineOfText, 200);
			cout << lineOfText << endl << endl;
			
			if (((Start = strchr(lineOfText, OPEN)) != '\0') && (((End = strchr(Start, CLOSE))) != '\0'))	
			{
				nChar = End - Start + 1;											
				strncpy(chBuffer, Start, nChar);									
				chBuffer[nChar] = '\0';												
				cout << "The characters found are: " << chBuffer << endl << endl;
				outData << chBuffer << endl;
			}
			else
				if(!(Start && End))
					cout << "None found" << endl << endl; 
		}

	inData.close();
	outData.close();
	cout << endl << endl << endl;
	return 0;
}

declare an two int variables to act as counters and initialize them to zero. Use a loop to read each char from string one at a time. if char is [ then increase Lcounter by one and send char to storage. if char is ] increase Rcounter by one and send char to storage. send all other char to storage only if Lcounter > 0 and Rcounter <= Lcounter..

Code:

char data[80] = "x[x[x[xxx]xx]x]x]xx ";
char newData[80];
int i, j;
int Rcounter = 0;
int Lcounter = 0;
j = 0;
for(i = 0; i < strlen(data); i++)
{
   if(data[i] == '[')
  { 
     ++Lcounter;
     newData[j++] = data[i];
  }
  else if(data[i] == ']')
  {
     newData[j++] = data[i];
     ++Rcounter;
  }
  else
  {
     if(Lcounter > 0 && Rcounter < Lcounter)
       newData[j++] = data[i];
  }
}
newData[j] = '\0';

cout << newData;