File Input/Output

M. Anand M.Tech.
Assistant Professor (Sr. G)
Dept. of Information Technology
SRM University
Introduction
• A file is a collection of related data
stored in a particular area on the disk
• There are two kinds of data
communication
1. data transfer between the console unit
and the program .
2. data transfer between the program and
a disk file
Introduction
• Types of streams
1. Standard input/output
2. File input/output
3. String input/output
File Streams
• File stream classes:
– ifstream
• Used for input operations
• Derived from istream class
• Contains open() function with default input
mode
– ofstream
• Used for output operations
• Derived from ostream class
• Contains open() function with default output
mode
File Streams

– fstream
• Used for both input and output operations
• Derived from iostream class
• Inherites properties of both the istream and
the ostream classes
• Contains open() function with default input
mode
 Classes for file stream operations

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 Classes for file stream operations

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 Opening and closing a file
A file can be opened in two ways :
1. using the constructor function of the
class.
2. using the member function open() of
the class.

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 Opening files using constructor

ofstream outfile(“result.txt”);

outpfile.close();

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 Opening files using constructor
#include<iostream.h>
void main()
{
ofstream outfile(“test.txt”);
outfile<<”This is a test\n”;
outfile<<”program to store\n”;
outfile<<”a set of lines on to a file\n”;
outfile.close();
}

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 Opening files using open()
file_stream_class stream_object;
stream_object.open(“filename”);

#include<iostream.h>
void main()
{
ofstream outfile;
outfile.open(“test.txt”);
outfile<<”This is a test\n”;
outpfile<<”program to store\n”;
outpfile<<’ a set of lines on a file\n”;
}

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 Detecting end-of-file
1. while(infile.eof()!=0)
{
…..
…..
…..
}

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 Detecting end-of-file
2. while (!infile.eof())
{
…..
…..
…..
}

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 Detecting end-of-file
3. while (infile)
{
…..
…..
…..
}

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 Detecting end-of-file
if (infile.eof()!=0)
{
exit(0);
}

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 More about open(): File modes
Stream_object.open(“filename”,mode);

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 More about open(): File modes

Eg:

fout.open(“data.txt”,ios::app||ios::nocreate);

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 File pointers and their manipulations
• Types of pointers
– Get pointer
– Put pointer
Default actions

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 Functions for manipulation of
file pointers

1. seekg() - moves get pointer to specified location

2. seekp() - moves put pointer to specified location
3. tellg() - gives the current position of the get pointer
4. tellp() - gives the current position of the put pointer

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 Functions for manipulation of file
pointers
seekg(offset,refposition);
seekp(offset,refposition);

Refposition
• ios::beg- start of the file
• ios::cur- current position of the pointer
• ios::end- end of the file

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 Functions for manipulation of file
pointers

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 Sequential input and output
operations

• put()
• get()
• read()
• write()

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 get()
char_variable=object_name.get();

#include<fstream.h>
void main()
{
char ch;
ifstream infile(“test.txt”);
while(infile)
{
infile.get(ch);
cout<<ch;
}
}

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 put()
object_name.put(char_variable);

#include<fstream.h>
#include<string.h>
void main()
{
char str[]=”c++ is better than c”;
ofstream outfile(“test.txt”);
for(int i=0;i<strlen(str);i++)
outfile.put(str[i]);
}

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 write() and read() functions
infile.read((char (*)&v,sizeof(v));
outfile.write((char *)&v,sizeof(v));

#include<iostream.h>
#include<fstream.h>
#include<iomanip.h>
void main()
{
faot height[4]={175.5,153.0,167.25,160.75};
ofstream outfile(“binary”);
outfile.write((char *)&height, sizeof(height));
outfile.close();

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 write() and read() functions
for(int i=0;i<4;i++)
{
height[i]=0;
}
ifstream infile(“binaryh”);
infile.read((char *)&height, sizeof(height));
for(int i=0;i<4;i++)
cout<<height[i]<<endl;
}

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 Reading and writing a class object
infile.write((char *)&obj, sizeof(obj));
#include<fstream.h>
class person
{
protected:
char name[40];
int age;
Public:
void getdata()
{
cout<<”Enter name\n”;
cin>>name;
cout<<”\nEnter age\n”;
cin>>age;
}
};
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 Reading and writing a class object
void main()
{
person pers;
pers.getdata();
ofstream outfile(“person.dat”);
outfile.write((char *)&pers, sizeof(pers));
}

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 Reading and writing a class object
infile.read((char *) &obj, sizeof(obj));

#include<fstream.h>
class person
{
protected:
char name[40];
int age;
public:
void showdata()
{
cout<<”Name:=”<<name<<endl;
cout<<”Age:=”<<age;
}
};

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 Reading and writing a class object
void main()
{
person pers;
ifstream infile(“person.dat”);
infile.read((char *) &pers,sizeof(pers));
pers.showdata();
}

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 Updating a file: Random Access
• Displaying the contents of a file.
• Modifying and existing item.
• Adding a new item.
• Deleting an existing item.

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 Updating a file: Random Access
#include<iomanip.h>
class inventory
{
char name[40];
int code;
float cost;
public:
void getdata()
{
cout<<”\nEnter name:”;
cin>>name;
cout<<”\nEnter code”;
cin>>code;
cout<<”\nEnter cost”;
cin>>cost;
}

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 Updating a file: Random Access
void putdata()
{
cout<<”\nName:=”<<name;
cout<<”\nCode=”<<code;
cout<<”\nCost:=”<<cost;
}
};
void main()
{
inventory item;
fstream inoutfile;
inoutfile.open(“stock.data”,ios::ate||ios::in||ios::out||ios::binary);
inoutfile.seekg(0,ios::beg);
while(inoutfile.read((char *)& item, sizeof(item))
item.putdata();
inoutfile.clear();

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 Updating a file: Random Access
cout<<”Add an item”;
item.getdata();
inoutfile.write((char *)&item, sizeof(item));
cout<<”\nEnter object number to be updated\n”;
int object;
cin>>object;
int locaction=(object-1)*sizeof(item);
inoutfile.seekp(location);
cout<<”\nEnter new values of the object\n”;
item.getdata();
inoutfile.write((char *) &item, sizeof(item));
cout<<”\nContents of updated files\n”;
while(inoutfile.read((char *) &item ,sizeof(item))
{
item.putdata();
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} 34 M. Anand
}
 Error handling during file operations
• A file which we are attempting to open
for reading does not exist.
• The file name used for a new file may
already exist.
• We may attempt an invalid operation
such reading past the EOF.
• We may use an invalid file name.

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 Error handling during file operations
Function Return value and meaning

eof() Returns true if EOF is encountered while reading;

otherwise returns false
fail() Returns true when an input or output operation
has failed.
bad() Returns true if an invalid operation is attempted or
any unrecoverable error has occurred.

good() Returns true if no error has occurred.

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 Error handling during file operations
Example:
……………………
……………………
ifstream infile(‘ABC”);
if (!infile.fail())
{
……………………
……………………
}
else if(infile.eof())
{
……………………
……………………
}
else if(infile.bad())
{
……………………
……………………
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 Command line arguments
Two forms of main

void main()
void main(int argc, char * argv[])

C:\> exam data result

argc Æ 3
argv[0] Æ exam
argv[1] Æ data
argv[2] Æ result

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 Command line arguments
#include<fstream.h>
#include<stdlib.h>
#include<iostream.h>
void main(int argc,char *argv[ ])
{
ifstream in(argv[1]);
ofstream out(argv[2]);
if (argc!=3)
{cout<<"Invalid number of argument...";
exit(0);
}
while(!in.eof())
out.put(in.get());
cout<<"Successfully Copied.....";
in.close();
out.close();
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String Stream
• The cout is an ostream object
• The cin is an istream object
String Stream
• istringstream for input
• ostringstream for output

• stringstream
– presented in <sstream> header file
– Inherits both from istringstream and
ostringstream.
Output String Stream
#include<sstream>
#include<iostream>
using namespace std;
int main()
{
ostringstream ostr(“Welcome”);
cout<<ostr.str();
}
Input String Stream
• Input stream object is to read from a
string object
Input String Stream
#include<sstream>
#include<iostream>
using namespace std;
int main()
{
string s=“Welcome”;
istringstream istr(s);
cout<<istr.str();
}
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