How to input a string from a structure using getline?

Question

Im currently going through C++ Basics in data structure and have a small doubt regarding strings

I am trying to input a string value from the main function by creating an instance of a structure object in the main function.

#include<iostream>
#include<sstream>
#include<string>

using namespace std;

struct StudentData {
  string name[50];
  char rollNo[20];
  int semester;
};

int main() {
  struct StudentData s1;
  cout<<"Enter the name, Roll.No and Semester of the student:"<<endl;
  getline(cin, s1.name);
  cin>>s1.rollNo>>s1.semester;
  cout<<endl<<"Details of the student"<<endl;
  cout<<"Name: "<<s1.name<<endl;
  cout<<"Roll.No: "<<s1.rollNo<<endl;
  cout<<"Semester: "<<s1.semester<<endl;
  return 0;
}

But here I am getting error in getline for name.

mismatched types 'std::__cxx11::basic_string<_CharT, _Traits, _Alloc>' and 'std::string [50]' {aka 'std::__cxx11::basic_string<char> [50]'}

Could you please explain what is happening here? Thank you

Answer 1

When you get to getline(cin, s1.name); , is is compiled to an address which contains the start of an array of string objects so the computer tries to write a string of characters to the location of a String class in memory.

This will not work because the memory is allocated to not just hold an ascii character.

I believe you are confusing string with char [] array.