parsing a string.. how do u do this?

where can i begin looking into string parsing. if i wanna get inupt from a user in fraction format (y/z) or in mixed number format (x y/z), and be able to differentaite them
thanks

"where can i begin looking into string parsing."

Your imagination--just like where the solutions for every other problem are found.

A truly stupid question, answered well.

Come on! How do you expect someone to answer that? What kind of string? How did you get it? What results do you want? What OS? Compiler?

you can use stringstreams to parse what you need from a string. Search the string for a space after some input but befor '/' and you have a whole and frac else just a frac. Use stringstreams to do the parsing.