getline run-on

[twiz]

Hi all,
I have checked in archives but can't find any helpful posts.

It seems that I can't stop any program when the number of maximum characters in getline is exceeded. Here is a test program . . .

 

#include <iostream.h>

int main()

{
     char name[4];                   // declare cstring 3chars long + null

     cout << "\nType now :";

     cin.getline(name, 4);           // this should truncate to 3 chars 
                                               // then discard the rest.

     cout << "You typed :" << name;

     int wait;

     cin >> wait;            // should wait for int input 
                                    // irrespective of whether name > 3 or not

     return 0;

}

// THE PROBLEM: it just won't wait. If the number of characters input exceeds 3

// then program terminates while in other programs, the endless loop appears!

// SOLUTION: ???


It appears that \n stuck in the input stream, the above program just terminates and others endless loop as if repeated \n, no matter how many iterations of cin >> wait of cin.ignore().

I have tried everything I can think of including another cin.getline command, but can’t stop it if 4 characters (in this case) are input.

Additionally, I have tested and the variable ‘name’ does truncate fine to 3 characters (in this case).

Am I suffering from tunnel vision today and doing some thing fundamentally wrong?

Thanks, any help appreciated.

[Stoned_Coder]

add....

cin.ignore(80,'\n');

before the cin>> and after the cin.getline()

[twiz]

Thanks i'll give it a go . . .

[Hammer]

http://faq.cprogramming.com/cgi-bin/...&id=1043284392

[twiz]

Thanks Hammer,

Had seen that info but will go through it again.

I was assuming the getline would not only discard the data after max characters reached as it says it will, but would also clear the instream buffer.

I was hoping for a simple solution.

Thanks again.