Thread: Question About Blank Lines in Text Files

  1. #1
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    Question About Blank Lines in Text Files

    Hello,

    I was just curious how blank lines are handled when using getline? Say I have a text file as follows:

    Line of text

    Line of text again
    And I have some simple code like this:

    Code:
    #include <iostream>
    #include <string>
    using namespace std;
    int main() {
    
            string line;
    
            while (getline(cin,line) )
                    if (line == blank) cout << "A blank line!" << endl;
    
    }
    What would I put in the "blank" spot to test if the line that was retrieved was blank? Thanks.

  2. #2
    Guest Sebastiani's Avatar
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    Code:
    if(str == '\n') {
     // it's a blank
     }
    Code:
    #include <cmath>
    #include <complex>
    bool euler_flip(bool value)
    {
        return std::pow
        (
            std::complex<float>(std::exp(1.0)), 
            std::complex<float>(0, 1) 
            * std::complex<float>(std::atan(1.0)
            *(1 << (value + 2)))
        ).real() < 0;
    }

  3. #3
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    I tried putting that in my code and I get a compile error. I then tried putting double quotes around it, but I received no output. Here's my code with the new addition:

    Code:
    #include <iostream>
    #include <string>
    using namespace std;
    int main() {
    
            string line;
    
            while (getline(cin,line) )
                    if (line == '\n') cout << "A blank line!" << endl;
    
    }

  4. #4
    Cat without Hat CornedBee's Avatar
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    Use double quotes around the \n. A std::string can't be compared to a single character.
    All the buzzt!
    CornedBee

    "There is not now, nor has there ever been, nor will there ever be, any programming language in which it is the least bit difficult to write bad code."
    - Flon's Law

  5. #5
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    I did that, but it doesn't seem to work. When it encounters the blank line, it should print "A blank line!" but instead it prints nothing at all. Is there something else that needs to be done?

  6. #6
    Registered User
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    On windows machines, a blank line is probably represented by "\r\n", not "\n".

  7. #7
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    But I'm running this program on UNIX. Sorry, I should have mentioned that before.

  8. #8
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    Quote Originally Posted by Zildjian
    But I'm running this program on UNIX. Sorry, I should have mentioned that before.

    Code:
      if (str = "") {
          cout << "A blank line!" << endl;
    
      }
    Regards,

    Dave

  9. #9
    unleashed alphaoide's Avatar
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    '\n' is the default delimiter for 'getline()' and any delimiter will be extracted but not stored. So probably check if the string is empty.
    source: compsci textbooks, cboard.cprogramming.com, world wide web, common sense

  10. #10
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    if (str == "") {

  11. #11
    Crazy Fool Perspective's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Dave Evans
    Code:
      if (str == "") {
          cout << "A blank line!" << endl;
    
      }
    Regards,

    Dave
    fixed

  12. #12
    Registered User jlou's Avatar
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    Even better:
    Code:
    if (line.empty())

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