Ignoring line in C++ when reading from file

Hi all!

I have the following codes i use to read from a textfile.

Code:

---

while(!textfile.eof())
  { //textfile is a ifstream                     
    textfile >> string1 >> string2;
    //use strings for processing
  }

---

however my above program hits an error when there is a blank line in the text file. i would only want to process the information if only the link is not blank. i have tried a couple of ways but they couldnt work.. is there anyway for me to check if the line is blank using the ifstream textfile that i got? and only if the line is not blank can i go process the data.

Thanks in advance

Read the FAQ.

That code should skip blank lines correctly. Can you post a more complete example that demonstrates the problem?

BTW, using eof() to control the loop that way is a bad idea. It will often lead to processing of the last line twice. NOrmally you would use this:

Code:

---

while(textfile >> string1 >> string2)
  { //textfile is a ifstream                     
    //use strings for processing
  }

---

Use the string version of getline, if the line was empty, then the resulting string will have a length of 0. If not, then you can try to extract the string1/string2 values from the line you've just read. To do that, you could then initialize a stringstream object with the line you've already read and then >> the data from the stringstream just like you currently do with the fstream(?) object.

Code:

---

while(!textfile.eof())

---

You should avoid the testing of eof in the while loops condition. There are only a few instances where such a thing works. The extraction itself (in whatever form it takes) should instead be put in its place, i.e.:

Code:

---

while( textfile >> string1 >> string2 )

---

Or...:

Code:

---

while( getline(textfile,line) )

---

The reason for this is that eof is not set to true until after an unsuccessful read attempt has been made. If you've just read the last line of data from the file (a successful read), then eof is still false even though there really is no more data. You haven't read past that point to trigger eof to be true yet. Then end result of this is that you go through the loop one more time than you should be doing. This subsequent read inside the loop does fail and eof gets set to false but you are already inside the loop processing data you think is valid (the string1 and string2 variables that you think are going to be holding valid data). The variables are likely to have the same values in them as they did in the last successful read and your output/result (if any) are not going to be accurate.

operator >> will skip over all whitespace, including multiple newlines, so you really shouldn't have to switch to getline. Of course, if you want to read in strings with embedded spaces, then you do want to switch.

Hi this is my code that got error when encounter blank lines.

Code:

---

while(!textFile.eof())
  {                                                         
        if(line == 0)
        {                 
          textFile >> string1 >> string2;
        }
        else if(line == 1)
        {
            textFile >> string1 >> string2 >> string3;
          } 
        else
        {
            //no action 
        }   
        line++;
}

---

Anything wrong with above? why did i get error when the datafile got a blank line?

Code:

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while(!textFile.eof())

---

Is usually a bad thing, but in this case, it may succeed. Suggest you read the FAQ about that and beware using it.

What does your input file look like?