Search code examples
c++iostream

Reading from an iostream

Maybe I'm missing something, but I'm having a lot of trouble finding any information on how to how to read from an iostream (std::iostream& stream). Is there a way I can convert it to a string or similar?

For clarification this is (what I'm basically trying to do, for example):

std::stringstream ss("Maybe I'm missing something \n but I'm having a lot of trouble finding any information on how to how to read from an iostream.");
readStream(ss);

void readStream(std::iostream& stream)
{
    std::string out;
    stream >> out;
    // Do some stuff with the string
}

This seems to work, but out will be equal to "Maybe" rather than the full string.

Solution

  • You read from an iostream the same way you would if you were using cin.

    stream >> varName;

    Crazy syntax yes, but that's what the makers of streams decided to do.

    You can also use get and getline if your reading to strings. Get will get the next character or a specified buffer of characters, and getline will go to the next newline.

    getline(stringName);

    You can read more on this here: http://cplusplus.com/reference/iostream/iostream/