String class confusions

My string array 'wordbank' is empty after my getword function has run. Please could somebody tell me what I need to know about strings to understand why what I'm trying won't work. Thanks

Code:

---

#include <iostream>
#include <string>

using namespace std;

int main()
{
        string wordbank[100];
        int getword(string);

        int i = 0;
        while(!getword(wordbank[i++]));

        cout << "wordbank[0] is empty? " << wordbank[0].empty() << endl;
       
        for (i=0; (!wordbank[i].empty()); i++)
                cout << wordbank[i];

}
int getword(string str)
{
        cin >> str;

        if (str == "Quit")
                return 1;
       
        return 0;
}

---

Code:

---

int getword(string& str)
{
    ...
}

---

You have to pass str by reference, so that the modifications are visible to the caller.

kmdv's observation is on the mark, but a few other things to watch out for:

• wordbank is an array of 100 words, but your loop that reads into wordbank does not check for this, thus your program is susceptible to buffer overflow.
• getword probably should return a bool instead of an int.
• While reading into wordbank, you increment i. Thus, when the loop terminates, you know the number of words that have been stored. Use this knowledge instead of testing with wordbank[i].empty().
• As a matter of good style, include the parameter name in your forward declaration of getword. Personally, I would rather forward declare getword at file scope rather than in the scope of main.

Thanks for your help both!