Read tab delimited file

[kelprinc]

Does anybody know how to read a tab delimited file at the same time using the '\n' as a delimiter if its encountered first. I tried using getline(buffer, num_chars, '\t') It works fine when i know the number of columns. Say i had a file like line1:Col1 Col2 Col3 line2:Col1 Col2 line3:Col1 Col2 Col3 using getline(buffer, num_chars, '\t') would return Col1 Col2 Col3 Col1 Col2 Col1 Col2 Col3 everything in one line. I tried defining a macro like #define tab_eol '\t'|'\n' then use it as getline(buffer,num_chars,tab_eol) but it does not really work Any help Please Kelvin Chikomo

[toxcct]

kelprinc wrote:

#define tab_eol '\t'|'\n'

perfectly useless buddy... consider this to understand why :

'\t' | '\n' = 0x09 | 0x10
= 00001001 | 00010000
= 00011001
= 0x19
= '\031'
= DC3 character...

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TOXCCT >>> GEII power
[toxcct][VisualCalc 2.20][VCalc 3.0 soon...]

[David Crow]

Does strtok() help?

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"The greatest good you can do for another is not just to share your riches but to reveal to him his own." - Benjamin Disraeli

[Stephen Hewitt]

Are the entries (e.g. "Col1") allowed spaces in them? If not this will do won't it?

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

// Somewhere...
string entry;
while ( cin >> entry )
{
     cout << entry << endl;
}

Steve

[kelprinc]

Yah they have spaces between them

[kelprinc]

DO you have any suggestions

[Stephen Hewitt]

If thay have spaces between them then the code I have should work. If they have spaces in them it will not. Steve

[kelprinc]

I got it I read each line into an an istringstream object and i use getline(buffer,num_chars,'\t') to seperate the the string. COOL Kelvin Chikomo

[kelprinc]

Thanks but strtok() does not work well if you have empty columns. i.e concurrent tabs

[David Crow]

True. You could always make your own version of strtok() that does not skip leading delimeters.

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"The greatest good you can do for another is not just to share your riches but to reveal to him his own." - Benjamin Disraeli

[kelprinc]

I managed to sort out the problem by reading the whole line into a istringstream object then tokenize the object using the getline method and '\t' as the delimiter. But for interest sake how wld you do it? Kelvin Chikomo

[David Crow]

kelprinc wrote:

But for interest sake how wld you do it?

I guess that would depend on several factors. Am I limited to just C++ code? Is it a console or GUI application? What is my state of mind at that moment? Glad you got it going.

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"The greatest good you can do for another is not just to share your riches but to reveal to him his own." - Benjamin Disraeli