I am confused with this code that somebody gave me

I was given this code from a thread that I created (i cannot remember who) and I would like somebody (preferably the same person who gave it to me) to explain what each line does ('cause i've got no idea). And also, when I compile it (in MSVC++ 6.0), it does nothing but sit there!! It is meant to display all of the lines of a text file. I really wanted it to store each line in a variable if it wasn't empty, but anyway.....

...here is the code:

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

using namespace std;

int main()
{
ifstream file("myfile.txt"); // or whatever
vector<string> Lines;
string CurrentLine;

while(!file.eof())
{
getline(file, CurrentLine);
if(!CurrentLine.empty()) // store it if not empty
Lines.push_back(CurrentLine);
}

// show the stored lines
for(int i = 0; i < Lines.size(); i++)
cout << Lines[i] << endl;

file.close();

return 0;
}

Thanks heaps
-Chris

Is the file in the same directory as the .exe? I know MSVC likes to put debug executables in the debug folder that contains the workspace, and not in in the same folder as the workspace itself.

#include <iostream>
#include <fstream>
#include <string> // for STL string
#include <vector> // for STL vector

using namespace std; // ugly, but gets rid of need to prefix vector/string with std::

int main()
{
ifstream file("myfile.txt"); // open my myfile.txt in same dir as .exe
vector<string> Lines; // make a vector of string and call it lines
string CurrentLine; // string used to store the current line in the while loop

while(!file.eof())
{
getline(file, CurrentLine); // input everything on the next line in the file to currentline
if(!CurrentLine.empty()) // store it if not empty
Lines.push_back(CurrentLine); // put the current line into the vector
}

// show the stored lines
for(int i = 0; i < Lines.size(); i++) // for all lines
cout << Lines[i] << endl; // output them

file.close(); // close the file

return 0;
}

thanks for replying, but the program still just sits there and does nothing when I compile it/excecute it in MSVC++ 6.0. And when I do compile it, it gives me the folloing warnings:
<CODE>
c:\program files\microsoft visual studio\myprojects\lines\main.cpp(28) : warning C4786: 'std::reverse_iterator<std::basic_string<char,std: :char_traits<char>,std::allocator<char> > const *,std::basic_string<char,std::char_traits<char>,st d::allocator<
char> >,std::basic_string<char,std::char_traits<char>,st d::allocator<char> > const &,std::basic_string<char,std::char_traits<char>,st d::allocator<char> > const *,int>' : identifier was truncated to '255' characters in the debug information
c:\program files\microsoft visual studio\myprojects\lines\main.cpp(28) : warning C4786: 'std::reverse_iterator<std::basic_string<char,std: :char_traits<char>,std::allocator<char> > *,std::basic_string<char,std::char_traits<char>,st d::allocator<char>
>,std::basic_string<char,std::char_traits<char>,st d::allocator<char> > &,std::basic_string<char,std::char_traits<char>,st d::allocator<char> > *,int>' : identifier was truncated to '255' characters in the debug information
c:\program files\microsoft visual studio\vc98\include\vector(39) : warning C4786: 'std::vector<std::basic_string<char,std::char_trai ts<char>,std::allocator<char> >,std::allocator<std::basic_string<char,std::char_ traits<char>,std::allocator<char> > >
>::vector<std::basic_string<char,std::char_traits< char>,std::allocator<char> >,std::allocator<std::basic_string<char,std::char_ traits<char>,std::allocator<char> > > >' : identifier was truncated to '255' characters in the debug information
c:\program files\microsoft visual studio\vc98\include\vector(60) : warning C4786: 'std::vector<std::basic_string<char,std::char_trai ts<char>,std::allocator<char> >,std::allocator<std::basic_string<char,std::char_ traits<char>,std::allocator<char> > >
>::~vector<std::basic_string<char,std::char_traits <char>,std::allocator<char> >,std::allocator<std::basic_string<char,std::char_ traits<char>,std::allocator<char> > > >' : identifier was truncated to '255' characters in the debug information
</CODE>
And could you also explain to me what a "vector" is or point me in the direction of a good tutorial on it.

Thanks
-Chris

You need to put myfile.txt in the same folder as your workspace and it will work.

The warnings don't matter, perhaps someone can tell you the correct way to disable them in source (#pragma disable ErrorNum or something like that)

yes!! My god you are a legend! It worked! THANKS!!! ...ok, now I only have one question: If I wanted to use the lines that this program displays in another function in the program, how would I read them all into an array...i'll show you what i'm talking about:

var1 = array[0]; // the first line of the text file is stored in var1
var2 = array[1]; // the second stored in var2
var3 = array[2]; // and the third in var3...
//... and it keeps going

would I be able to do something like this (after having your code executed at the beginning of the program) for an unknown amount of lines?

Thanks for replying to my thread :)
-Chris

A. it's not my code
B. A vector acts like an array, except it has greater functionality.

string firstLine = Lines[0];
string secondLine = Lines[1]; // etc

The problem with having an array store a variable (not known at compile time) amount of data is solved by the vector. The vector will resize itself if you put more in than it can hold, an array will overflow. You could use dynamic memory (new) and pointers, but that is messy and error prone, and eventually you'd probably end up creating something similair to vector if you wanted to do it cleanly anyway.

um...you didn't explain how to read each line into an array without knowing how many lines there are in the text file...i think

...anybody?

That is because vector is a substitute array, a better array essentially. It will act very much like an array, but have greater functionality. Anything you wanted to do with an array you can do with a vector.

in what variable is each line stored?

Each line of the file is stored in Lines. For a file with n lines, the first line is at Lines[0], the second line at Lines[1], the nth (last) line at Lines[n-1].

would i be able to do soemthing like the following?

Code:

---

int Id;
Id = lines[0];

string Name;
Name = lines[1];

cout << "ID = ";
cout << Id;
cout << "\nName = ";
cout << Name;

---

where in the file it had:

Code:

---

6
Chris

---

Code:

---

int Id;
Id = lines[0];

---

No, because lines[0] is a string, and you want to assign it to an int.

You can get an integer value from a string like this

Code:

---

#include <iostream>
#include <strstream>
#include <string>

int main(int argc, char *argv[])
{
  std::string blah="212";
  std::string blah2="32";

  std::istrstream inputBlah(blah.c_str());    // make input stream from blah's input, will function like cin
  std::istrstream inputBlah2(blah2.c_str());  // make input stream from blah2's input

  int intBlah, intBlah2;
  inputBlah >> intBlah;    // get value of intBlah from the inputBlah stream
  inputBlah2 >> intBlah2;  // get value of intBlah2 from inputBlah2 stream

  std::cout << "Integer sum of blah and blah2 is " << intBlah + intBlah2 << std::endl;
 
  char wait; cin >> wait;
  return 0;
}

---

but is the other one right (the one that get's the sting "Name"? And how would i change the code that I gave you so it gets the Id integer?

Code:

---

int getInt(string& str) {
    istrstream stringInputStream(str.c_str());
    int whatever;
    stringInputString >> whatever;
    return whatever;
}

int main () {
    // all that other crap
    int Id = getInt(lines[0]);
     
    cout << "ID = ";
    cout << Id;
    cout << "\nName = ";
    cout << lines[1];
   
    return 0;
}

---