C++ code works in Gedit, but not in VS (it just prints the "press any key to exit . . ." message)

Question

I've written a program in Visual Studio on Windows, and the program compiles correctly, but does not display the desired output to the console. However, if I compile and run the program in Gedit on Linux, the correct output displays and everything works. Why is this? Code is below:

#include <iostream>
#include <fstream>

using namespace std;

int main()
{
string input;

cout << "College Admission Generator\n\n";

cout << "To begin, enter the location of the input file (e.g. C:\\yourfile.txt):\n";
cin >> input;


ifstream in(input.c_str());

if (!in)
{
    cout << "Specified file not found. Exiting... \n\n";
    return 1;
}

char school, alumni;
double GPA, mathSAT, verbalSAT;
int liberalArtsSchoolSeats = 5, musicSchoolSeats = 3, i = 0;

while (in >> school >> GPA >> mathSAT >> verbalSAT >> alumni)
{

    i++;

    cout << "Applicant #: " << i << endl;
    cout << "School = " << school;
    cout << "\tGPA = " << GPA;
    cout << "\tMath = " << mathSAT;
    cout << "\tVerbal = " << verbalSAT;
    cout << "\tAlumnus = " << alumni << endl;

    if (school == 'L')
    {
        cout << "Applying to Liberal Arts\n";

        if (liberalArtsSchoolSeats > 0)
        {

            if (alumni == 'Y')
            {

                if (GPA < 3.0)
                {
                    cout << "Rejected - High school Grade is too low\n\n";
                }

                else if (mathSAT + verbalSAT < 1000)
                {
                    cout << "Rejected - SAT is too low\n\n";
                }

                else
                {
                    cout << "Accepted to Liberal Arts!!\n\n";
                    liberalArtsSchoolSeats--;
                }
            }

            else
            {
                if (GPA < 3.5)
                {
                    cout << "Rejected - High school Grade is too low\n\n";
                }

                else if (mathSAT + verbalSAT < 1200)
                {
                    cout << "Rejected - SAT is too low\n\n";
                }

                else
                {
                    cout << "Accepted to Liberal Arts\n\n";
                    liberalArtsSchoolSeats--;
                }
            }
        }

        else
        {
            cout << "Rejected - All the seats are full \n";
        }
    }

    else
    {
        cout << "Applying to Music\n";

        if (musicSchoolSeats>0)
        {
            if (mathSAT + verbalSAT < 500)
            {
                cout << "Rejected - SAT is too low\n\n";
            }

            else
            {
                cout << "Accepted to Music\n\n";

                musicSchoolSeats--;
            }
        }

        else
        {
            cout << "Rejected - All the seats are full\n";
        }
    }
    cout << "*******************************\n";
}
return 0;
}

To clarify, the program does compile in VS. It opens the file, but does not echo any information from the file, and instead just prints the "press any key to exit . . ." message.

Answer 1

You have string input; and cin >> input;. These statements require the <string> header but you did not include it (explicitly). In some implementations you can get away with free rides since <iostream> includes the <string> header. But you should not. Always include the appropriate header:

#include <string>

Without the above header your code will compile on Linux using g++ (which is what you are using) but not on Windows using Visual C++. That being said use std::getline to accept strings from the standard input instead of std::cin.