Searching file for string

I'm in a beginner C++ course, and have gotten stuck on an assignment I've been given. This is the part I'm having trouble with right now:

The program then asks the user for a search string, which may contain white space. The program should search the file for every occurrence of the search string. When the string is found, the line that contains it should be displayed in the following format
nnnnn:Line Contents
That is the line number of the line, 5 columns wide, right justified, followed by a colon, followed by the contents of the line.

And this is what I've got so far:

Code:

---

#include<iostream>
#include<fstream>
#include<string>
#include<iomanip>
using namespace std;

int main(int argc, char *argv[])
{
        ifstream inFile;
        string fileName,
                  text,
                  toFind;
        size_t found = 0;

        if (argc > 1)
                fileName = argv[1];
        else
        {
                cout << "File Name: ";
                getline(cin, fileName);
        };
        inFile.open(fileName.data());

        if (!inFile)
        {
                cout << "Error, cannot open the file";
                exit(1);
        };

        cout << "Enter string to find: ";
        cin >> toFind;
        inFile >> text;
        int lineNum = 1;
        while (getline(inFile, text))
        {
                found = (text.find(toFind));
                if (found != 0)
                {
                        cout << setw(5) << lineNum << ":";
                        cout << text << endl;
                }
                lineNum++;
                found = 0;
        };

        inFile.close();

        return(0);
}

---

But this doesn't work. It prints everything in the file, not just the lines where the string is found. Can anyone help me understand what I need to do differently?

Instead of comparing found against 0, you need to compare it against string::npos.

Okay...I looked up what npos is and I'm not totally sure how to use it. Sorry if this is really basic, but we haven't covered that yet and I'm having a hard time understanding how exactly to use it.

string::npos is a constant of type size_t, which essentially is nothing else than an unsigned int. So, your test whether the search string has been found could look like this:

Code:

---

                found = text.find(toFind) != string::npos;

---

with the type of found changed to bool. However, since you're only using the found status stored in the variable in a single if condition anyway, you can eliminate the variable found altogether and do the check right inside the if instruction, like this:

Code:

---

                if (text.find(toFind) != string::npos)
                {
                        // ...
                }

---

IMO that's not only shorter overall, but also clearer.

Quote:

---

However, since you're only using the found status stored in the variable in a single if condition anyway, you can eliminate the variable found altogether and do the check right inside the if instruction, like this:

Code:

---

                if (text.find(toFind) != string::npos)
                {
                        // ...
                }

---

IMO that's not only shorter overall, but also clearer.

---

I used this, but it still prints the entire file, not just the line where the text is found

Works for me. Using the .cpp source file itself as the input file to search through:

Attachment 30605

Oh, okay, I realized my issue is that I was entering a two word phrase and it was only searching for the first word. How can I get it to accept the space character and search for phrases as well? I changed cin >> toFind to getline(cin, toFind), but it's still not working.

Exactly that should do the trick, and it does for me. I simply copy-pasted your proposed command from your post into my version of your program here. Could it be you made the change but then forgot to rebuild the program?

I'm not sure what I was messing up, but I finally got it to work with this:

Code:

---

#include<iostream>
#include<fstream>
#include<string>
#include<iomanip>
#include<algorithm>
using namespace std;

bool nocase_compare (char c1, char c2)
{
    return toupper(c1) == toupper(c2);
}

int main(int argc, char *argv[])
{
        int lineNum = 1, wordNum = 0;
        ifstream inFile;
        string fileName,
                  text,
                  toFind;
        size_t found;
        static const size_t npos = -1;

        if (argc > 1)
                fileName = argv[1];
        else
        {
                cout << "File Name: ";
                getline(cin, fileName);
        };
        inFile.open(fileName.data());

        if (!inFile)
        {
                cout << "Error, cannot open the file";
                exit(1);
        };

       
        cout << "Enter string to find or type // to quit: ";
        getline(cin, toFind);
                while (toFind != "//")
                {
                        inFile >> text;
                        wordNum = 0;
                        while (getline(inFile, text))
                        {
                                string::iterator pos;
                                pos = search (text.begin(),text.end(),
                      toFind.begin(),toFind.end(),
                        nocase_compare);
                                if (pos == text.end())
                                {
                                }
                                else
                                {
                                        cout << setw(5) << lineNum << ":";
                                        cout <<  text << endl;
                                        wordNum++;
                                }
                                lineNum++;
                        }
                        cout << "Number of times found: " << wordNum << endl;
                        cout << "Enter string to find or type // to quit: ";
                        getline(cin, toFind);
                }
        cin.ignore();       

        inFile.close();

        return(0);
}

---

But I can't get the search to repeat. It asks for the string again, but doesn't search again. It also doesn't exit immediately if the user types "//", they have to type it again before it will close. Why isn't the while (toFind != "//") loop working?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by taymaxi

But I can't get the search to repeat. It asks for the string again, but doesn't search again. It also doesn't exit immediately if the user types "//", they have to type it again before it will close. Why isn't the while (toFind != "//") loop working?

---

I think it's time that you started to debug your code, instead of just writing code, running it, and asking "what's wrong?" Debugging is part and parcel of learning how to write computer programs. It is a mandatory process.

What is the value of "toFind" when the while loop is entered? What is the flow of your program when you run it? If you single-stepped through the program with the debugger, where does the program flow take you? All of these questions are answered by debugging your code.

Regards,

Paul McKenzie