ifstream error

I want the following function to open a file which the name of the file is stored in file_name. However, when I tried to compile it, I received no matching function for call to 'std::basic_ifstream...... error. When I replaced the file_name with actual name of the file like "data.txt", it compiled without error. Could someone please help me out? I need the users to be able to type in the file name. Thanks in advance.

Code:

---

void retrieve_file(string file_name)
      {
            string line;
            unsigned int input_index;
            string input_entry;
           
           
            ifstream input_file (file_name);
            if(input_file.is_open())
            {
              """ """ """
            }
      }

---

ifstream can only take a C-style string as a filename. You should use:

Code:

---

ifstream input_file (file_name.c_str());

---

Thanks:)

Thankfully a string based constructor has been added to the C++0x draft so this won't be an issue in the future.

>> Thankfully a string based constructor has been added to the C++0x draft so this won't be an issue in the future.

Woo! That's something that's been bugging me for ages! that .c_str() ... where is this draft, Daved?

Here's the post from CornedBee where I got the link. I just downloaded it from there:

http://cboard.cprogramming.com/showp...05&postcount=5