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For one reason or another i decided not to learn fstream back long ago when learning C++ and now i decided to do just that. I got a good hold on it but i have one question. how do you denote where the file will be saved, i thought this would put the file in my C drive.
but it did not, it just ended up in the folder my program was in.Code:char filename[] = "c:inutput.txt";
Thanks for any help
When specifying a path in windows you need to add a slash between the drive and the filename. You can use forward or backslash ('/' or '\'). The forward slash works on both windows and other platforms, but the backslash is more commonly used with windows.
When programming, the backslash has a special meaning. It is used to create escape characters (like '\n'), So if you use the backslash you must put two into your string:
"c:/input.txt"
"c:\\input.txt"
worked like a dream, thanks man ;)
Another useful tip is that if you know the file is in the directory of the programs .exe, you can use relative paths:
"./input.txt" <- if the file is in the main directory folder
"./folder_name/input.txt" <- if the file is in a subdirectory in the main directory
No, relative paths are relative to the current working directory, which may not be the directory of your exe.
Well say I send you a program such as my pong or snake game and they use relative paths to locate all the files that the game needs, now if you just move the directory we ever you want it the game still knows were its at because of the relative path. But you can only move the main directory Ex: Snake, but if you move Ex: Snake/screens some where the relative path will fail. But who would move the screens folder out of the game directory. = ]
"./screens/mainmenu.txt"
The "." at the front of the path pretty much will replace the c:/blah/blah/blah stuff all the time.
Try it out and you will see why relative is better. Also "No, relative paths are relative to the current working directory, which may not be the directory of your exe" lets hope that the directory that contains the .exe also has the files needed to run. haha : )
Here if you compile this and you put the .exe and the input.txt file any where on you hard drive (And both .exe and input.txt are in the same folder) the .exe will still know where the input.txt is at because they are still in the same directory because of relative paths. = ]
Edit: I added conio.h -> kbhit()Code:#include <fstream>
#include <conio.h>
#include <iostream>
int main() {
std::ifstream file_buffer;
file_buffer.open("./input.txt", std::ios::in | std::ios::beg);
if(!file_buffer) {
std::cout << "Couldn't find/open file" << std::endl;
}
else
std::cout << "File Found" << std::endl;
while(!kbhit()) {
}
file_buffer.close();
file_buffer.clear();
return 0;
}
You can laugh all you want. The moment a program is in the PATH, the working directory will seldom be the program's exe directory.
You completely missunderstand relative path.Quote:
Originally Posted by Code Monkey
The path is relative to the current working directory and that has little to do with the location of the executable.
Kurt
Okay, you and do it your way, and I'll do it the way I've learned from other people.
Code Monkey, you're an idiot. Several people have offered you correct helpful advice and you're practically insulted them. and you're still wrong.
For future reference, try to engage brain before mouth.
I'm not going to reply to a fellow idiots post, but please tell me if I was wrong for just tring to show loopshot another way of locating a file? I didn't think this was in order but I appericate helpful advice, thank you to ZuK, CornedBee for pointing that issue out of my code.
You weren't wrong for trying to show another way, but you were wrong for posting an incorrect way, and then not acknowledging the corrections we made.
Sorry CornedBee