Inputfile outputfile same name

How would you go to give the same name to the outputfile as the inputfile?
I know that Windows will add (2) to the name but that wouldnt matter.

Code:

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int main (int argc, char* argv[]){
   
      ifstream TheFile ("1.txt");
      ofstream TheCopy;
      TheCopy.open (TheFile,ios::app);
      TheCopy << "hello";
     
      TheFile.close();
      TheCopy.close();
}

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if you mean in the same directory, I don't think that's possible. You can't have 2 files with the same name in same directory regardless of what system or language you're using.

But if it's just the same file name in another directory then I'm guessing what you did would work fine with a little adjustment to the file location (I'm not sure. I'm still learning C++ but I've been doing C file io for a while).

Why do you want to do this anyway?

Note: you can make the extension different and, with the correct settings on Windows, the files will *look* the same since you can hide the extension.

I want the user to enter a file name,
i want the program to do something with the file
and put out a copy with the same name.
Windows renames the second file to file(2).txt if you already got the same name in the folder but i think only when you're downloading
the same file not when you're copying yourself from folder to folder.
But maybe it renames it also when its creating a new file, i dont know.
If its not the case i would like to append (2) to it.
Something like TheCopy.open (TheFile + "(2)" ,ios::app);

well what you can do is rename the old file, open it, process it's data, then write to the old name. Is that what you wanted?

"then write to the old name."

Im sorry i dont understand you.
Actually i wanna keep the old file unchanged. Same name, same content.

It somewhat depends on the process you are using.

If you read the whole input file, close it, and write the output file, then there are no considerations.

But, if you want to write as you read, then you have a couple choices.

You can use tempnam() or tempfile() and determine the final name needed at the end, or you can determine the final name needed at the beginning and just use it from the get-go.

If you want to use a suffix of (1) or (2), then you'll need to figure out if the one you need already exists in the directory you will be writing to, and if it does, bump the sequence number between the parens.

That's how I see it.

I'm writing a program right now where the user wants his input file to be overwritten by his output file, but I can't destroy the input file until the output file is completely written (and I read/write, read/write, etc.) So, I write to a tempnam() file, and at the end, erase the input file and then rename the tempnam()'ed file to the original input file.

Todd

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Ducky

I know that Windows will add (2) to the name but that wouldnt matter.

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No, it won't. Explorer does that in its code, not Windows.
What you type is what you get.

Thank you Todd i think im gonna go with the suffix of (1) or (2) option seeing that i want to
keep the original.
Thank you Elysia for the info.
And thanks Abda92 for trying to help me. :)