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Data File Handling in C++

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N Rakhesh
PGT (Comp. Science) Kendriya Vidyalaya Railway Colony Bangalore

Topics - Agenda
Introduction Opening & closing of files Stream state member functions File operations Binary file operations Random access file operations CBSE Question Pattern from this topic Conclusion
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 Computer programs are associated to work with files as it helps in storing data & information permanently. File - itself a bunch of bytes stored on some storage devices. In C++ this is achieved through a component header file called fstream.h fstream. The I/O library manages two aspects- as interface and for transfer of data. The library predefine a set of operations for all file related handling through certain classes.
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Introduction

The fstream.h header file

Streams act as an interface between files and programs. programs. They represent as a sequence of bytes and deals with the flow of data. data. Every stream is associated with a class having member functions and operations for a particular kind of data flow. flow. File Program ( Input stream) - reads Program File (Output stream) write All designed into fstream.h and hence needs to be fstream. included in all file handling programs. programs. Diagrammatically as shown in next slide

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File Handling Classes

Hierarchy Diagram

ios

istream

streambuf

ostream

iostream

ifstream

fstream

ofstream filebuf

fstreambase

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Why to use Files:

Convenient way to deal large quantities of data. Store data permanently (until file is deleted). Avoid typing data into program multiple times. Share data between programs. We need to know: how to "connect" file to program how to tell the program to read data how to tell the program to write data error checking and handling EOF

// Initial experience reading and writing files #include <fstream.h> #include <iostream.h> #include <stdlib.h> int main() { ifstream in_stream; ofstream out_stream; int num; in_stream.open("numbers.dat"); if (in_stream.fail()) { cout << "Input file could not be opened.\n"; exit(1); } out_stream.open("squares.dat"); if (out_stream.fail()) { cout <<"Output file could not opened.\n"; exit(1); } in_stream >> num; out_stream << "The square of " << num << " is " <<num * num; in_stream.close(); out_stream.close(); All rights reserved 9 }

File Handling Classes

When working with files in C++, the following classes can be used:
ofstream writing to a file ifstream reading for a file fstream reading

/ writing

What does it all have to do with cout?

When ever we include <iostream.h>, an ostream object, pointing to stdout is automatically defined this object is cout.

ofstream inherits from the class ostream (standard output class). ostream overloaded the operator >> for standard output.thus an ofstream object can use methods and operators defined in ostream.

Opening & Closing a File

 A file can be open by the method open() or immediately in the constructor (the natural and preferred way).
void ofstream / ifstream::open(const char* filename, int mode);

 filename file to open (full path or local)  mode how to open (1 or more of following using | )
ios::app append ios::ate open with marker at the end of the file ios::in / ios::out (the defaults of ifstream and ofstream) ios:nocreate / ios::noreplace open only if the file exists / doesnt exist ios::trunc open an empty file ios::binary open a binary file (default is textual)

Dont forget to close the file using the method close()

1: To access file handling routines: #include <fstream.h> 2: To declare variables that can be used to access file: ifstream in_stream; ofstream out_stream; 3: To connect your program's variable (its internal name) to an external file (i.e., on the Unix file system): in_stream.open("infile.dat"); out_stream.open("outfile.dat"); 4: To see if the file opened successfully: if (in_stream.fail()) { cout << "Input file open failed\n"; failed\ exit(1); // requires <stdlib.h>}
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5: To get data from a file (one option), must declare a variable to hold the data and then read it using the extraction operator: int num; in_stream >> num; [Compare: cin >> num;] 6: To put data into a file, use insertion operator: out_stream << num; [Compare: cout << num;] NOTE: Streams are sequential data is read and written in order generally can't back up. 7: When done with the file: in_stream.close(); out_stream.close();
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Stream state member functions

In C++, file stream classes inherit a stream state member from the ios class, which gives out the information regarding the status of the stream. For e.g.: eof() used to check the end of file character fail()- used to check the status of file at opening fail()for I/O bad()- used to check whether invalid file bad()operations or unrecoverable error . good()- used to check whether the previous file good()operation has been successful

File operations
The following member functions are used for reading and writing a character from a specified file. file. get()get()- is used to read an alphanumeric character from a file. file. put()put()- is used to write a character to a specified file or a specified output stream

Reading /Writing from/to Binary Files

To write n bytes:
write (const unsigned char* buffer, int n);

To read n bytes (to a pre-allocated buffer):

read (unsighed char* buffer, int num)

#include <fstream.h> main() { int array[] = {10,23,3,7,9,11,253}; ofstream OutBinaryFile("my_b_file.txt, ios::out | ios::binary); OutBinaryFile.write((char*) array, sizeof(array)); OutBinaryFile.close(); }

CHARACTER I/O
C++ has some low-level facilities for character I/O. lowchar next1, next2, next3; cin.get(next1); Gets the next character from the keyboard. Does not skip over blanks or newline (\n). Can check for newline (next == '\n') (\ '\ Example: cin.get(next1); cin.get(next2); cin.get(next3); Predefined character functions must #include <ctype.h> and can be used to convert between upper and lower case test whether in upper or lower case test whether alphabetic character or digit test for space
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//#include, prototypes, void main() omitted for space ifstream fin; char Chem1, Chem2; double ratio; fin.open("input.dat"); // open error check omitted for space fin.get(Chem1); while (!fin.eof()) { if (isdigit(Chem1)) cout << "Test Code: " << Chem1 << endl; else { fin >> ratio; fin.get(Chem2); Chem2 = toupper(Chem2); cout << "Ratio of " << Chem1 << " to " << Chem2 << " is " << ratio << endl; } new_line(fin); fin.get(Chem1); } } void new_line(istream& in) { char symbol; do { in.get(symbol); All rights reserved } while (symbol != '\n'); }

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Reading /Writing from/to Textual Files

To write:
put() writing single character << operator writing an object
#include <fstream.h> main() { // Writing to file ofstream OutFile("my_file.txt"); OutFile<<"Hello "<<5<<endl; OutFile.close(); int number; char dummy[15]; // Reading from file ifstream InFile("my_file.txt"); InFile>>dummy>>number; InFile.seekg(0); InFile.getline(dummy,sizeof(dummy)); InFile.close(); }

To read:
get() reading a single character of a buffer getline() reading a single line >> operator reading a object

Binary file operations

In connection with a binary file, the file mode must contain the ios::binary mode along with other mode(s) To read & write a or on to a binary file, as the case may be blocks of data are accessed through the use of C++ read() and write() respectively.

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Random access file operations

Every file maintains two internal pointers:

get_pointer and put_pointer

They enable to attain the random access in file otherwise which is sequential in nature.

In C++ randomness is achieved by manipulating certain functions

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Moving within the File

seekg() / seekp() moving the reading (get) / writing (put) marker
two parameters: offset and anchor

tellg() / tellp() getting the position of the reading (get) / writing (put) marker

EOF and File I/O Within Functions

When using a file within a function, the file parameter MUST BE a reference parameter: int read_file(ifstream& infile); As with keyboard input, it is often desirable to process some unknown amount of data. We use the end-of-file end-of(EOF) to accomplish this. EOF is automatically included in text files we create. Can test for EOF in several ways.
while (in_stream >> num) OR in_stream >> num; // priming read while (! in_stream.eof()) {loop body in_stream >> num;}
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int main() { ofstream out_stream; double d1, d2; char file_name[20]; // cstring cout << "Enter output file name: "; cin >> file_name; out_stream.open(file_name); if (out_stream.fail()) { cout << "Output file could not be opened.\n"; exit(1); } out_stream.setf(ios::fixed); out_stream.setf(ios::showpoint); cout << "Enter two numbers: "; cin >> d1 >> d2; out_stream << setprecision(2) << setw(10) << d1 << setw(10) << d1 * d1 << endl; out_stream << setprecision(2) << setw(10) << d2 <<setw (10) << d2 * d2 << endl; out_stream.close(); All rights reserved 24 }

int main() { int side1, side2, side3, perimeter; double area; ifstream in_stream; cout.setf(ios::fixed); cout.setf(ios::showpoint); cout.precision(2); open_input_file(in_stream); cout << setw(7) << "Side 1" << setw(7) << "Side 2" << setw(7) << "Side 3" << setw(7) << "Area" << setw(12) << "Perimeter\n"; in_stream >> side1; while (! in_stream.eof()) // true AFTER attempt to read beyond eof { in_stream >> side2 >> side3; compute(side1, side2, side3, perimeter, area); cout << setw(5) << side1 << setw(7) << side2 <<setw(7) << side3 << setw(9) << area << setw(10) << perimeter << endl; in_stream >> side1; } in_stream.close(); All rights reserved 25 }

void open_input_file(ifstream& instream) { instream.open("lengths.dat"); if (instream.fail()) { cout << "Input file could not be opened.\n"; exit(1); } } void compute(int side1, int side2, int side3, int& perimeter, double& area) { double s; perimeter = side1 + side2 + side3; s = perimeter / 2.0; area = sqrt (s * (s - side1) * (s - side2) * (s - side3)); }
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CBSE QUESTION PATTERN

RELATED TO DATA FILE HANDLING

Summary
Files in C++ are interpreted as a sequence of bytes stored on some storage media. Bases classes are used to perform I/O operations. The data of a file is stored in either readable form or in binary code called as text file or binary file. The flow of data from any source to a sink is called as a stream.
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More Information on File I/O

1. When getting data from a file, there is no need to prompt for input. 2. One program may have multiple input and/or output files, and may intermix keyboard/ display I/O with file I/O. 3. The file name may be obtained from the user, rather than hard coded in the program. 4. The layout of a program's output is called the format. A variety of options are available for controlling the appearance of the output. 5. Flags to control floating point display: out_stream.setf(ios::fixed); out_stream.setf(ios::showpoint); out_stream.precision(2); 6. rd_state() returns a variable with one or more (check with AND) of the following options: ios::goodbit OK ios::eofbit marker on EOF ios::failbit illegal action, but alright to continue ios:badbit corrupted file, cannot be used. 7. We can also access the bit we wish to check with eof(), good(), fail(), bad(), All rights reserved 29 8. clear() is used to clear the status bits (after they were checked).

Questions ? ?

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Presented by: N RAKHESH PGT Comp. Science KVS