using fstream and char arrays, reading junk from file

[nixius]

I have done some searching but because of the broad searching terms I have come accross countless websites that don't really deal with what it is I wish to know.

here is my code:

char currString[25];

	ifstream levelFile("./Media/levels/level1.txt",std::ios::in);

	while(!levelFile.eof()){
		levelFile >> currString;
		//levelFile.getline(currString,25);
		if (currString=="##"){
			//Ommited
		} else if (currString=="Room_01"){
			//Ommited
		}
		
	}
	levelFile.close();

What I am trying to do is basically read some parameters from a .txt file to instantiate some objects later on.

I have multiple objects I want to instantiate from this one file, and I was planning on using "##" as a break between the objects. When I am debugging I also see garbage often before my actual text, such as instead of "Room_01" I might see something like "€@Room_01....".

Another problem I am having is that I have some parameters such as "-5" and then I may have paramater that is "matBoxMaterial", so if I load matBoxmaterial into currString first, when it comes to -5 I get

"-5xMatMaterial..."

and then all the other junk from the rest of the array. I guess my general question is, how can I read in just what is on that line? Or perhaps how can I clear the char array of garbage. I have contemplated using a terminator (like -5/0) but it just seems like I am missing something really obvious!

Any advice is always muchly appreciated.

nixius~