question about reading files in

Hi,

I am having a lot of trouble with reading a file in, but being able to ignore the first few lines. This is the file I'm reading in:

######################
#something
#####################


somethingtobereadin1

somethingtobereadin2


I want to be able to ignore the first 3 lines and whitespace, and read in the strings "somethingtobereadin1" and "somethingtobereadin2". I am posting the code I have written so far, I tried reading it in and then using the ignore function. However, I am having lots of trouble trying to figure this out and will appreciate any help anyone can provide. THanks for any help.

Here is the code:

Code:

---

#include <iostream>
#include <string>
#include <fstream>

int main()
{
  ifstream infile;
  infile.open("readinfile");

  char buffer[50];
  string temp;
 
while (!infile.eof()){

  infile>>buffer;
  infile.ignore(100,'\n');
 
  infile>>temp;
 
  cout<<temp<<endl;
}

}

---

Code:

---

#include <iostream>
#include <string>
#include <fstream>

int main()
{
  ifstream infile;
  infile.open("readinfile");

  string temp;
 
  for(int i=0; i<5; i++)
  {
        getline(infile, temp);
  }
 
  cout<<temp<<endl;

  getline(infile, temp);
  getline(infile, temp);
  cout<<temp<<endl;
}

}

---

Hi, thanks for the response.

However, the code posted did not work and I am still having trouble figuring this out. I want to be able to ignore the first 3 line of comments.

And then want to be able to read in the rest of the strings, one line at a time till the end of file.

What I was trying to do in the code posted in the previous posted code is to readin the buffer of a certain size and then ignore it and then start reading the strings till the end of file.

I am not sure if this is possible, but would appreciate any additional help on this. Here is the read in file and the reading in code below it.

######################
#something
######################

somethingtobereadin1

somethingtobereadin2

The code:

Code:

---


#include <iostream>
#include <string>
#include <fstream>

int main()
{
  ifstream infile;
  infile.open("readinfile");

  char buffer[50];
  string temp;
 
while (!infile.eof()){

  infile>>buffer;
  infile.ignore(100,'\n');
 
  infile>>temp;
 
  cout<<temp<<endl;
}

}

---

Thanks so much for any help anyone can give !

Ignoring or reading--it's the same difference.

Code:

---

#include<iostream>
#include <fstream>
#include<string>

using namespace std;

int main()
{
        ifstream infile("readinfile");

        string temp;

        for(int i=0; i<3; i++)
        {
                getline(infile, temp);
        }
       
        int count = 0;
       
        while(!infile.eof())
        {
                getline(infile, temp);
                count++;
               
                if(count%2 == 0) //if count is even
                {
                        cout<<temp<<endl;
                }
        }

        return 0;
}

---

Hi,

Thanks for the response.

I am still having trouble with a piece of code: I have been trying to read in a file, ignore the first 3 lines and then read in the 2 strings that follow. I can open the FILE but can't figure out how to be able to ignore the first 3 lines and then read in the 2 strings that follow.

Here is the readinfile:

###################### //ignore this
#something //ignore this
###################### //ignore this

somethingtobereadin1 //read this string in

somethingtobereadin2 //read this string in

Here is the code:

Code:

---

#include <iostream>
#include <string>
#include <fstream>

int main()
{
  ifstream infile;
  infile.open("readinfile");

  char buffer[50];
  string temp;
 
while (!infile.eof()){

  infile>>buffer;
  infile.ignore(100,'\n');
 
  infile>>temp;
 
  cout<<temp<<endl;
}

}

---

I tried the code someone suggested, however I get no output when I ran it.

I have been stuck on this and would appreciate any help or guidance on how to do this.

THanks in advance for any help anyone can provide.

Put:

Code:

---

using namespace std;

---

after your includes.

You should make sure the file you are reading doesn't have an extension. However, I would assume you are reading a txt file, and in that case append ".txt":

Code:

---

infile.open("readinfile.txt");

---

To make sure the file is being opened:

Code:

---

infile.open("readinfile.txt");
if (infile.fail())
{
  cerr<<"Unable to read from file.";
  cin.get();
  exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
}

---

Maybe that will help some...I might post back later

edit:
You could check to see if the first character in the line is a "#" then ignore the rest by using infile.ignore(100,'\n');
Try using infile.get(char) and then check whether that char is the "#" character

I tried the code someone suggested, however I get no output when I ran it.

Then:
1) You don't know how to run programs
2) You don't know how to open a file for reading
or
3) Your input file is not the same as you claim

JaWiB,
You could check to see if the first character in the line is a "#" then ignore the rest by using infile.ignore(100,'\n');


That would also ignore any lines after the first three lines that had a '#' at the beginning of the line, and "something to be read in" can begin with a '#' character couldn't it? Your test would also designate blank lines as valid input.

Hi,

thanks for the quick response,

I tried the using namespace std;

and I also changed the code based on what 7stud posted,

unfortunately when I run that code, I get no output at all.
When you execute it, does it give the output strings

"somethingtobereadin1" and "somethingtobereadin2" ?

THis file is set in terms of 3 lines with comments that need to be ignored and the strings will have no '#' in front. I checked the file name as well (the one being read in).

Is there maybe another reason I'm getting no output at all??

Thanks a lot for all the help.

I tried the using namespace std;

You said your code gave you no ouput, but your code won't even compile without the using namespace line. Did your code not compile or did you get no ouput? Or, do you consider those the same?

The code did compile without the using namespace std, and when I ran the a.out, there was no output.

And then I ran the code posted (which had the using namespace), and that compiled as well, and I ran the a.out, and there was no output.

I am doing this on solaris, and I double checked the name of the file being read in, unfortuantly , still getting no output.
when you ran this code, did it output the 2 strings successfully??

THanks for all your time and help!

Of course! Otherwise, I wouldn't have posted it. But it's dependent on the exact format of the input file you posted. If your format actually has an extra blank line at the beginning of the data to be read in, then instead of discarding the blank lines, the program will discard the data to be read in and display the blank lines. However, you should have enough information to alter it to fit your input file.

Thanks for your help!!! There was something wrong with my compiler....but it works now...thanks again for the help!