build error in If statement -- total newbie

Hey all, new to the board and new to Cpp.

I'm having a build error that has me stumped.
What I am trying to do is write a header function that requests a date in MM/DD/YYYY format and returns three ints to the caller. But I get an error than I can't figure out in these lines:

Code:

---

        iii=0; for (i=3; i<5; i++) {ii=i-1;
            if (date_c[ii] !(<"0" || >"9")) {dd_c[iii]=date_c[ii]; iii++;} else {error=1;}}

        ii=i; if (date_c[ii] !("/" || "-")) {error=1;}

---

The error is "Expected ` ) ' before ' ! ' token". Note the " ` ".

All of my braces, brackets, and parantheses seem to be in order.

Date_c and dd_c are declared as char *date_c, etc. I tried including <string> and declaring them as strings, but that caused problems.

Can anyone see what I cannot?
TIA

First of all: i, ii, and iii as variables is very confusing. The convention is to use i, j, and k, if you need multiple indexing variables.

Second, ! is not a binairy operator. you can't do "date_c[ii] !(...)". All ! does is make a true value evaluate to false, and a false one to true. It does not mean "is not". If you want to compare date_c[ii] to some constants then you have to write an expression like (data_c<constant1 || data_c >constant2 )

Third, you cannot compare string literals to characters like that. Use character literals. These use single quotes.

Fourth, you really should use std::strings. Figure out what the problems are and fix them. It will be easier then debugging problems with char *.

Fifth, you should avoid long lines of code. Rarely is it a good idea to have multiple semicolons (excluding for loop first line) in the same line.

Your if statements, to my eyes, are incorrect.

Code:

---

if (date_c[ii] !(<"0" || >"9"))

---

What does this statement mean? Nothing to me. Perhaps you meant something like this:

Code:

---

if ( date_c[ii] < "0" || date_c[ii] > "9" ) {
    error_stuff_here();
} else {
    not_error_stuff_here()
}

---

Same thing goes for your second if statement.

Thanks King and Zach!

Your input helped me quite a bit.

I changed back to std::string, reformatted the lines for easier reading, and took the advice from both of you. Compiles with no errors, now. Here's the change:

Old code:

Code:

---

        iii=0; for (i=3; i<5; i++) {ii=i-1;
            if (date_c[ii] !(<"0" || >"9")) {dd_c[iii]=date_c[ii]; iii++;} else {error=1;}}

        ii=i; if (date_c[ii] !("/" || "-")) {error=1;}

---

New code:

Code:

---

for (i=3; i<5; i++)
        {j=i-1;
            if (date_s[j] >='0' || date_s[j] <='9')
            {dd_s[k]=date_s[j]; k++;}
            else {error=1;}
            }

        j=i;
        if (date_s[j] !='/' && date_s[j] !='-') {error=1;}

---

Runs as a stand alone, but still won't output what I want. But that is something I want to try and solve on my own. Best way for me to learn, eh?

Thanks again for your help.

C