User input filename

Question

#include <iostream>
#include <fstream>
#include <cassert>
#include <cstring>

using namespace std;

const int WL = 20;
const int WR = 1000;

void READ (ifstream &, char[], char[][WL], int &);
void PRINT (char [][WL],  int, int,  int );

int main()
{
    ifstream file;
    string fileName;
    cout << "enter file name";
    getline(cin, fileName);
    char name[] = fileName;
    char Word[WR][WL];
    int row = 0;
    int WordMax;
    int WordMin;

    file.open(name);
    assert(! file.fail() );
    READ (file, name, Word, row);
    file.close();
    cout << "file successfully opened" << endl;

    cout << "word length: \n";
    cout << "min: ";
    cin >> WordMin;
    cout << "max: ";
    cin >> WordMax;

    PRINT(Word, row, WordMin, WordMax);

    system("pause");
    return 0;
}

As I understand, the problem is that I can't use fileName in char name[], because it is string, but char name[] will be used in the code later... what can I change to fix this?

Answer 1

You can just convert the string to a char once, like this filename.c_str()

For example, char name[] = fileName.c_str();

Answer 2

First, define : char name[sizeof(fileName)]; Then, you can use strcpy(name, fileName.c_str()); Should work but you may need to manage the null case by checking the fileName value before passing it to the char array.

Answer 3

Don't introduce the new variable name for this, just use the c_str() method of std::string:

string fileName;
//...
getline(cin, fileName);
//...
file.open(fileName.c_str());
//...
READ (file, fileName.c_str(), Word, row);