Question

I am new to the forum. I have a strange problem. I have a simple code which reads unformatted data from a file using read() function. The code is given below.

int main () {
    ifstream meshfile;
    char buf[1000], ch;
    memset(buf, 0, 1000);
    meshfile.open ("sometextfile");
    meshfile.read (buf, 1000);//38+62+(19*47) + 7);
    cout << strlen(buf) << std::endl;
    cout << buf << std::endl;
}

The code when run with the sample input file below gives 1006 as length of buf and prints additional characters for buf. Strangely, this happens only when bufsize is 1000 & 1000 characters are read. Changing the bufsize to > 1000 and reading 1000 chars does not produce this error. Could this be a coding problem?

The sample input file is

fdjgjdskgggggggggggggggggggggggggggggj bvjgdsv dsjkvgds gvdsj gvjdsgvjksdjkfgdsjkgfdsjgfsdjgfjkdsgfkjsdgjfgsdjfgdsjgfsdjgfjsdgfjsgfjsdgfjgsdjfgsdjfgdsjgfsdjgfsdjgfjsdgfjsdgfjsdg
fdjgjdskgggggggggggggggggggggggggggggj bvjgdsv dsjkvgds gvdsj gvjdsgvjksdjkfgdsjkgfdsjgfsdjgfjkdsgfkjsdgjfgsdjfgdsjgfsdjgfjsdgfjsgfjsdgfjgsdjfgsdjfgdsjgfsdjgfsdjgfjsdgfjsdgfjsdg
fdjgjdskgggggggggggggggggggggggggggggj bvjgdsv dsjkvgds gvdsj gvjdsgvjksdjkfgdsjkgfdsjgfsdjgfjkdsgfkjsdgjfgsdjfgdsjgfsdjgfjsdgfjsgfjsdgfjgsdjfgsdjfgdsjgfsdjgfsdjgfjsdgfjsdgfjsdg
fdjgjdskgggggggggggggggggggggggggggggj bvjgdsv dsjkvgds gvdsj gvjdsgvjksdjkfgdsjkgfdsjgfsdjgfjkdsgfkjsdgjfgsdjfgdsjgfsdjgfjsdgfjsgfjsdgfjgsdjfgsdjfgdsjgfsdjgfsdjgfjsdgfjsdgfjsdg
fdjgjdskgggggggggggggggggggggggggggggj bvjgdsv dsjkvgds gvdsj gvjdsgvjksdjkfgdsjkgfdsjgfsdjgfjkdsgfkjsdgjfgsdjfgdsjgfsdjgfjsdgfjsgfjsdgfjgsdjfgsdjfgdsjgfsdjgfsdjgfjsdgfjsdgfjsdg
fdjgjdskgggggggggggggggggggggggggggggj bvjgdsv dsjkvgds gvdsj gvjdsgvjksdjkfgdsjkgfdsjgfsdjgfjkdsgfkjsdgjfgsdjfgdsjgfsdjgfjsdgfjsgfjsdgfjgsdjfgsdjfgdsjgfsdjgfsdjgfjsdgfjsdgfjsdg

Answer 1

You problem is the use of strlen
It expects a string terminated by \0.

read doesn’t add a \0 at the end of the buffer, so strlen reads beyond the edge of the buffer.