File Input Output C++

In C/C++ programming language, Input/output library refers to a family of class templates and supporting functions in the C++ Standard Library that implement stream-based input/output capabilities. Some Useful Functions that might come very handy in I/O.

I/O libraries

ifstream: Stream class to read.
ofstream: Stream class to write.
fstream: Stream class to read and write.

ifstream OpenFile(char *filename, int mode);

You should know the the file name which is stored in the filename var and the mode determine how to open the file.
ios::in Open file to read ios::
out Open file to write
ios::app All the date you write, is put at the end of the file. It calls ios::
out ios::ate All the date you write, is put at the end of the file. It does not call ios::out
ios::trunc Deletes all previous content in the file. (empties the file)
ios::nocreate If the file does not exists, opening it with the open() function gets impossible.
ios::noreplace If the file exists, trying to open it with the open() function, returns an error.
ios::binary Opens the file in binary mode.

Create file and input some string C++

#include <fstream>
using namespace std;

int main()
{
 ofstream myfile;
 myfile.open("mycodinglab.txt");
 myfile << "writing this to mycodinglab.txt \n";
 myfile.close();
 return 0;
}

Check is a file is open while reading I/O C++

ofstream myfile("mycodinglab.txt");
if (myfile_open()) or if (!myfile.eof())

state flags
1
bad() Returns true if a reading or writing fails.
fail() Returns true if a format error occure.
eof() Returns true if a file reading is at the end.
good() Returns true if there are no errors.

Reading File Input/Output C++ source code

#include <fstream.h>
void main()
{
 ifstream myfile;
 myfile.open("mycodinglab.txt");

char out;
 while(!myfile.eof())
 {
 myfile.get(ch);
 cout << out;
 }
 my_file.close();
 return 0;
}

//Closing a file
myfile.close();

For Example

#include <fstream.h>
void main()
{
 ofstream SaveFile("mycodinglab.txt", ios::ate);
 SaveFile << "That's new!\n";
SaveFile.close();
}

Some more Input/Output C++ source code

Example 1: The most usual way

fstream File(“cpp-home.txt”);
if (!File)
{
cout << “Error opening the file! Aborting…\n”;
exit(1);
}

Example 2: If the file is created, return an error

ofstream File("unexisting.txt", ios::nocreate);

if(!File)
{
cout << “Error opening the file! Aborting…\n”;
exit(1);
}

Example 3: Using the fail() function

ofstream File("filer.txt", ios::nocreate);

if(File.fail())
{
cout << “Error opening the file! Aborting…\n”;
exit(1);
}

Functions that might come very handy in Input/Output C++

tellg() – Retunrs an int type, that shows the current position of the inside-pointer. This one works only when you read a file.
tellp() – The same as tellg() but used when we write in a file. To summarize: when we read a file, and we want to get the current position of the inside-pointer, we should use tellg(). When we write in a file, and we want to get the current position of the inside-pointer, we should use tellp().
seekp() – go to specified position.
ignore() – Used when reading a file. If you want to ignore certain amount of characters, just use this function.

Some more complicated example showing how to copy files in Linux environment using C++ libraries

</span></h2>
<pre>#include <stdlib.h>
#include <string>
#include <iostream>
#include <fstream>

 using namespace std;

 int main() {

 //declare global variables
 ifstream inFile;
 ofstream outFile;
 char inputFilename[90];
 char outputFilename[90];
 char flag; string p;

 //user input
 cout << endl;
 cout<< "Input path to sourse and destination files: "<< endl;
 cin >> inputFilename >> outputFilename;
 inFile.open(inputFilename, ios::in);

 //check the file
 if (!inFile) {
 cerr << "Can't open input file " << inputFilename << endl;
 exit(1);
 }
 //open the file
 outFile.open(outputFilename, ios::in);

 //check if the output(second) file exist and if not make one
 if (!outFile) {
 cerr << "Can't open output file: "<< outputFilename << endl;
 cout << "Perhaps the file doesn't exist, Would you like to create one Y/N: ";
 cin >> flag;

 //check the user input
 if(flag == 'y')
 outFile.open(outputFilename, ios::out); else exit(0);
 }
 cout << "start copying information from "
 << inputFilename
 << " to "
 << outputFilename<< endl;

 //copy files
 while (!inFile.eof()) {
 getline(inFile,p);
 outFile<<p;
 }

 cout << "copy finished " << endl;
 cout << "closing files.... " << endl;

 //close both files
 inFile.close();
 outFile.close();

 return 0;
 }// end of main

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