Thread: reading data from a file

I am trying to read data from a file and put that data into a link list. My problem is that even if the file is empty, my function still adds junk to my link list.

Here is the function to read from the file and add, if there is data there:

Code:

template <class Type>
void linklist<Type>::readFile (char * filename)
{
	ifstream input_data;
	input_data.open(filename);

	if (!input_data)
		cout << "File could not be opened." << endl;

	Type chore;
	while (!input_data.eof())
	{

			getline(input_data, chore);
			node<Type> *new_node = new node<Type>(chore);

			add(new_node);
			delete new_node;
			chore.erase(chore.length());
	}

	input_data.close();
}

Any ideas why it reads junk in from an empty file?

Thanks

Brian

> Any ideas why it reads junk in from an empty file?
For the reasons listed in the FAQ

eof() is only true AFTER a read has failed, so you always end up executing the loop at least once (reading nothing into your uninitialised variables).

Try

Code:

while ( getline(input_data, chore) ) {
    // do stuff
}