Increase type safety, reduce errors, improve performance, allow extensibility, and provide subclassability.
printf() is arguably not broken, and scanf() is perhaps livable despite being error prone, however both are limited with respect to what C++ I/O can do. C++ I/O (using << and >>) is, relative to C (using printf() and scanf()):
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For example, suppose you have the following code that reads integers from cin:
#include <iostream.h>
main()
{
cout << "Enter numbers separated by whitespace (use -1 to quit): ";
int i = 0;
while (i != -1) {
cin >> i; // BAD FORM — See comments below
cout << "You entered " << i << '\n';
}
}
The problem with this code is that it lacks any checking to see if someone entered an invalid input character. In particuluar, if someone enters something that doesn't look like an integer (such as an 'x'), the stream cin goes into a "failed state," and all subsequent input attempts return immediately without doing anything. In other words, the program enters an infinite loop; if 42 was the last number that was successfully read, the program will print the message You entered 42 over and over.
An easy way to check for invalid input is to move the input request from the body of the while loop into the control-expression of the while loop. E.g.,
#include <iostream.h>
main()
{
cout << "Enter a number, or -1 to quit: ";
int i = 0;
while (cin >> i) { // GOOD FORM
if (i == -1) break;
cout << "You entered " << i << '\n';
}
}
This will cause the while loop to exit either when you hit end-of-file, or when you enter a bad integer, or when you enter -1.
(Naturally you can eliminate the break by changing the while loop expression from while (cin >> i) to while ((cin >> i) && (i != -1)), but that's not really the point of this FAQ since this FAQ has to do with iostreams rather than generic structured programming guidelines.)
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See the previous FAQ for an example of the "funky while (cin >> foo) syntax."
The expression (cin >> foo) calls the appropriate operator>> (for example, it calls the operator>> that takes an istream on the left and, if foo is of type int, an int& on the right). The istream operator>> functions return their left argument by convention, which in this case means it will return cin. Next the compiler notices that the returned istream is in a boolean context, so it calls the "cast" operator istream::operator bool(). I.e., in this case, it calls cin.operator bool(), just as if you had casted it explicitly such as (bool)cin or bool(cin). (Note: if your compiler doesn't yet support the bool type, istream::operator void*() will be called instead.)
The operator bool() cast operator returns true if the stream is in a good state, or false if it's in a failed state (in the void* case, the return values will be some non-NULL pointer or the NULL pointer, respectively). For example, if you read one too many times (e.g., if you're already at end-of-file), or if the actual info on the input stream isn't valid for the type of foo (e.g., if foo is an int and the data is an 'x' character), the stream will go into a failed state and the cast operator will return false.
The reason operator>> doesn't simply return a bool indicating whether it succeeded or failed is to support the "cascading" syntax:
cin >> foo >> bar;
The operator>> is left-associative, which means the above is parsed as:
(cin >> foo) >> bar;
In other words, if we replace operator>> with a normal function name such as readFrom(), this becomes the expression:
readFrom( readFrom(cin, foo), bar);
As always, we begin evaluating at the innermost expression. Because of the left-associativity of operator>>, this happens to be the left-most expression, cin >> foo. This expression returns cin (more precisely, it returns a reference to its left-hand argument) to the next expression. The next expression also returns (a reference to) cin, but this second reference is ignored since it's the outermost expression in this "expression statement."
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Because the eof state is not set until after a read is attempted past the end of file. That is, reading the last byte from a file does not set the eof state.
For example, the following code has an off-by-one error with the count i:
int i = 0;
while (! cin.eof()) { // WRONG!
cin >> x;
++i;
// Work with x ...
}
What you really need is:
int i = 0;
while (cin >> x) { // RIGHT!
++i;
// Work with x ...
}
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Because the numerical extractor leaves non-digits behind in the input buffer.
If your code looks like this:
char name[1000];
int age;
for (;;) {
cout << "Name: ";
cin >> name;
cout << "Age: ";
cin >> age;
}
What you really want is:
for (;;) {
cout << "Name: ";
cin >> name;
cout << "Age: ";
cin >> age;
cin.ignore(INT_MAX, '\n');
}
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Use operator overloading to provide a friend left-shift operator, operator<<.
#include <iostream.h>
class Fred {
public:
friend ostream& operator<< (ostream& o, const Fred& fred);
// ...
private:
int i_; // Just for illustration
};
ostream& operator<< (ostream& o, const Fred& fred)
{
return o << fred.i_;
}
main()
{
Fred f;
cout << "My Fred object: " << f << "\n";
}
We use a friend rather than a member since the Fred parameter is second rather than first.
Note that operator<< returns the stream. This is so the output operations can be cascaded.
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Use operator overloading to provide a friend right-shift operator, operator>>. This is similar to the output operator, except the parameter doesn't have a const: "Fred&" rather than "const Fred&".
#include <iostream.h>
class Fred {
public:
friend istream& operator>> (istream& i, Fred& fred);
// ...
private:
int i_; // Just for illustration
};
istream& operator>> (istream& i, Fred& fred)
{
return i >> fred.i_;
}
main()
{
Fred f;
cout << "Enter a Fred object: ";
cin >> f;
// ...
}
Note that operator>> returns the stream. This is so the input operations can be cascaded and/or used in a while loop or if statement.
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Provide a friend operator<< that calls a protected virtual function:
class Base {
public:
friend ostream& operator<< (ostream& o, const Base& b);
// ...
protected:
virtual void print(ostream& o) const;
};
inline ostream& operator<< (ostream& o, const Base& b)
{
b.print(o);
return o;
}
class Derived : public Base {
protected:
virtual void print(ostream& o) const;
};
The end result is that operator<< acts as if it was dynamically bound, even though it's a friend function. This is called the Virtual Friend Function Idiom.
Note that derived classes override print(ostream&) const. In particular, they do not provide their own operator<<.
Naturally if Base is an ABC, Base::print(ostream&) const can be declared pure virtual using the "= 0" syntax.
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This is implementation dependent. Check with your compiler's documentation.
For example, suppose you want to do binary I/O using cin and cout. Suppose further that your operating system (such as DOS or OS/2) insists on translating "\r\n" into "\n" on input from cin, and "\n" to "\r\n" on output to cout or cerr.
Unfortunately there is no standard way to cause cin, cout, and/or cerr to be opened in binary mode. Closing the streams and attempting to reopen them in binary mode might have unexpected or undesirable results.
On systems where it makes a difference, the implementation might provide a way to make them binary streams, but you would have to check the manuals to find out.
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Because "\t" is a tab character.
You should use forward slashes in your filenames, even on an operating system that uses backslashes such as DOS, Windows, OS/2, etc. For example:
#include <iostream.h>
#include <fstream.h>
main()
{
#if 1
ifstsream file("../test.dat"); // RIGHT!
#else
ifstsream file("..\test.dat"); // WRONG!
#endif
// ...
}
Remember, the backslash ("\") is used in string literals to create special characters: "\n" is a newline, "\b" is a backspace, and "\t" is a tab, "\a" is an "alert", "\v" is a vertical-tab, etc. Therefore the file name "\version\next\alpha\beta\test.dat" is interpreted as a bunch of very funny characters; use "/version/next/alpha/beta/test.dat" instead, even on systems that use a "\" as the directory separator such as DOS, Windows, OS/2, etc.
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