Advanced C

Input/Output Library

Th.S Nguyen Minh Anh

Phenikaa University

Last Update: 27th February 2023

Recap

We have learned how to handle console input and output:

▶ The std::cout to print out console
▶ The std::cin to input from keyboard
What if our data from file instead of keyboard? or we want to store output into a file
instead of just printing it out?
Outline

Stream Concept

How to interact with files using fstream

Reading in a File
Writing to a File

String Streams
Definition
stream
▶ Sequence of bytes flowing in and out of the programs
▶ Think of streams as a pipeline of data (just like water and oil flowing through a
pipe).
▶ Streams acts as an interface between the programs and the actual IO devices
▶ Streams convert between data and the string representation of data.
Two ways to classify streams

By Direction: By Source or Destination:

▶ Input streams: Used for reading data ▶ Console streams: Read/write to
(ex. std::istream, std::cin) console (ex. std::cout, std::cin)
▶ Output streams: Used for writing ▶ File streams: Read/write to files (ex.
data (ex. std::ostream, std::cout) std::fstream, std::ifstream,
▶ Input/Output streams: Used for std::ofstream)
both reading and writing data (ex. ▶ String streams: Read/write to
std::iostream, strings (ex. std::stringstream,
std::stringstream) std::istringstream, std::ostringstream)
Output Streams

An output stream lets you take data from your program and output it to a source (like
the console, a file, etc.).
▶ Can only send data to the stream.
▶ Send data using stream insertion operator: <<
▶ Converts data into string and sends to the stream.
The std::cout stream is an example of an output stream.
std::cout << 5 << std::endl;
// converts int value 5 to string ’5’
// sends ’5’ to the console output stream
Input Streams

An input stream lets you get data from a source (like user input, a file, a webpage,
etc.) and read it in your program.
▶ Can only receive data.
▶ Pull out data using stream extraction operator: >>
▶ Extraction receives data from stream as a string and converts it into the
appropriate type.
The std::cin stream is an example of an input stream.
int x;
string str;
std::cin >> x >> str;
//reads exactly one int then one string from console
I/O Decision Tree
Outline

Stream Concept

How to interact with files using fstream

Reading in a File
Writing to a File

String Streams
Outline

Stream Concept

How to interact with files using fstream

Reading in a File
Writing to a File

String Streams
Reading in a File

Let say we want to read the data.txt file

Step 1: Open the file

Remember to include the fstream header to use the fstream type

#include<fstream>
Before we can use an input stream in a program, we must create stream object:
ifstream inFile;
To connect the ifstream inFile to the file ”data.txt”, we use the following statement:
inFile.open("data.txt");
Checking for Failure with File Commands

The either of following commands is used to check if the stream is valid

inFile.is_open()
inFile.fail()
int main()
{
ifstream inFile;

inFile.open("Lecture4");
if (inFile.fail())
{
cout << "Unable to open file!\n";
exit(0);
}
...
Step 2: Read the file - One word at a time

Read one word at a time using extraction operator >>

int num;
vector<int> vec;
int total = 0;
while(inFile >> num) {
// do something with num
vec.push_back(num);
total += num;
}
Step 3: Close the file

To disconnect connect the ifstream ”inFile” to whatever file it is connected to, we

write:
inFile.close();
inFile.open("other_data.txt"); // open another file
Outline

Stream Concept

How to interact with files using fstream

Reading in a File
Writing to a File

String Streams
Step 1: Open the file

Before we can use an output stream in a program, we must create stream object:
ofstream outFile;
To connect the ofstream outFile to the file ”result.txt”, we use the following
statement:
outFile.open("result.txt");
Step 2+3: Write the file, then close

int main(){
...
outFile << "List of numbers: ";
for (int num : vec)
outFile << num << " ";
outFile << "\n";
outFile << "Sum = " << total << endl;
outFile.close();
That Looks Familiar...

▶ If file-writing syntax seems similar to printing to the console, that’s because it is!
- cin is an ifstream; cout is an ofstream
Here’s the problem

What if the input file looks like this ...

Here’s the problem

What if the input file looks like this ...

or this ...
getline() and stringstreams

A file has a certain format where

you know related data is on a
single line of text but aren’t sure
how many data items will be on
that line ▶ Can’t use >>
▶ We can use getline() to get
the whole line as a string,
then a stringstream with
>> to parse out the pieces
(Tokenizing a string)
Outline

Stream Concept

How to interact with files using fstream

Reading in a File
Writing to a File

String Streams
stringstream

Sometimes we want to be able to treat a string like a stream.

Useful scenarios:
▶ Converting between data types
▶ Tokenizing a string
Include header file sstream to use stringstream type:
#include <sstream>
istringstream

An istringstream lets you tokenize a string.

Let’s extract data from the line "Balogun Reims 15"
string line = "Balogun Reims 15";
...
...
...
...
...
...
istringstream

An istringstream lets you tokenize a string.

Let’s extract data from the line "Balogun Reims 15"
string line = "Balogun Reims 15";
istringstream iss(line);
string name;
string club;
int numGoal;
iss >> name >> club >> numGoal;
cout << name << "-" << club << "-" << numGoal << endl;
istringstream - using Delimeters

How about we change the line a bit:

"Balogun Reims 15" → "Balogun, Reims, 15"
string line = "Balogun, Reims, 15";
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
std::getline()

Used to read a line from an input stream

istream& getline(istream& is, string& str, char delim);
▶ is: the stream getline reads from
▶ str: where it stores output in
▶ delim: Stops when read (’newline’ = default)
How it works:
▶ Clears contents in str
▶ Extracts chars from is and stores them in str until:
▶ End of file reached
▶ Next char in is is delim, extracts but does not store delim
istringstream - using Delimeters

How about we change the line a bit:

"Balogun Reims 15" → "Balogun, Reims, 15"
string line = "Balogun, Reims, 15";
istringstream iss(line);
string token;
getline(iss, token, ’,’);
cout << token << endl; // token = Balogun
getline(iss, token, ’,’);
cout << token << endl; // token = Reims
getline(iss, token, ’,’);
cout << token << endl; // token = 15
ostringstream

An ostringstream lets you write output into a string buffer.

- Use the str method to extract the string that was built.
// produce a formatted string of output
int age = 42, iq = 95;
ostringstream oss;
oss << "Zoidberg’s age is " << age << endl;
oss << " and his IQ is " << iq << "!" << endl;
string result = oss.str();
// result = "Zoidberg’s age is 42\nand his IQ is 95!\n"
Choosing an I/O Strategy
▶ Is my data delimited by particular characters?
▶ Yes, stop on newlines: Use getline()
▶ Yes, stop on other character: User getline() with optional 3rd character
▶ No, Use >> to skip all whitespaces and convert to a different data type (int, double,
etc.)
▶ If ”yes” above, do I need to break data into smaller pieces (vs. just
wanting one large string)
▶ Yes, create a stringstream and extract using >>
▶ No, just keep the string returned by getline()
▶ Is the number of items you need to read known as a constant or a variable
read in earlier?
▶ Yes, Use a loop and extract (>>) values placing them in array or vector
▶ No, Loop while extraction doesn’t fail placing them in vector
Remember: getline() always gives text/string. To convert to other types it is easiest
to use >>