Question

I have the following code, so far, I want to check if a file name is already in the linked list fileList (or flist). according to the output, the string saved in the first Node was changed somewhere in Node* getFileName(Node *&flist) How did this happen? Also, is there anything else that I’m doing is wrong or not safe regarding pointers of Node and strings?

output:

in main: file4.txt
start of process: file4.txt
file4.txt
mid of process: file4.txt"
in contains, fileName in node: file4.txt"
in contains, target file name: file4.txt
end of process: file4.txt"
0
no recursive call

code:

struct Node {
    string fileName;
    Node *link;
};


/*
 *
 */
bool contains (Node *&flist, string &name) {
    Node *tempNode = *&flist;
    while (tempNode != 0) {
        cout << "in contains, fileName in node: " << flist->fileName << endl;
        cout << "in contains, target file name: " << name << endl;
        if ((tempNode->fileName) == name) {
            return true;
        }
        else {
            tempNode = tempNode->link;
        }
    }
    return false;
}


/*
 *
 */
Node* getLastNode (Node *&flist) {
    Node *tempNode = *&flist;
    while (tempNode != 0) {
        tempNode = tempNode->link;
    }
    return tempNode;
}


/*
 *
 */
string getFileName(string oneLine) {
    char doubleQuote;
    doubleQuote = oneLine[9];
    if (doubleQuote == '\"') {
        string sub = oneLine.substr(10);                    //getting the file name
        string::size_type n = sub.size();
        sub = sub.substr(0,n-1);
        cout <<  sub << endl;
        return sub;
    }
    return NULL;
}

/*
 *
 */
void process( istream &in, ostream &out, Node *&flist ) {
    cout << "start of process: " << flist->fileName << endl;
    string oneLine;         //temp line holder
    while (getline(in, oneLine)) {
        //      cout << oneLine << endl;
        string::size_type loc = oneLine.find("#include",0);
        if (loc != string::npos) {
            //found one line starting with "#include"
            string name;
            name = getFileName(oneLine);
            cout << "mid of process: " << flist->fileName << endl;
            bool recursive;
            recursive = contains(flist, name);
            cout << "end of process: " << flist->fileName << endl;
            cout << recursive << endl;
            if (recursive) {
                //contains recursive include
                cerr << "recursive include of file " << name << endl;
                exit(-1);
            }
            else {
                //valid include
                cout << "no recursive call" << endl;

            }//else
        }//if
    }//while

}//process
/*
 *
 */
int main( int argc, char *argv[] ) {
    istream *infile  = &cin;                            // default value
    ostream *outfile = &cout;                           // default value
    Node* fileList;

    switch ( argc ) {
    case 3:
        outfile = new ofstream( argv[2] );          // open the outfile file
        if ( outfile->fail() ) {
            cerr << "Can't open output file " << argv[2] << endl;
            exit( -1 );
        }
        // FALL THROUGH to handle input file
    case 2:
        infile = new ifstream( argv[1] );           // open the input file
        if ( infile->fail() ) {
            cerr << "Can't open input file " << argv[1] << endl;
            exit( -1 );
        }
        else {
            Node aFile = {argv[1], 0};
            fileList = &aFile;
            cout << "in main: " << fileList->fileName << endl;
        }
        // FALL THROUGH
    case 1:                                       // use cin and cout
        break;
    default:                                      // too many arguments
        cerr << "Usage: " << argv[0] << " [ input-file [ output-file ] ]" << endl;
        exit( -1 );                                 // TERMINATE!
    }

    processOneFile (*infile, *outfile, fileList);

    // do something
    if ( infile != &cin ) delete infile;              // close file, do not delete cin!
    if ( outfile != &cout ) delete outfile;           // close file, do not delete cout!
}

Answer 1

Could you post the original code? The code you posted doesn’t even compile.

Errors I’ve noticed, in order:

processOneFile (*infile, *outfile, fileList);

There is no processOneFile() procedure.

istream *infile  = &cin;                            // default value
ostream *outfile = &cout;                           // default value
Node* fileList;
case 1:                                       // use cin and cout
    break;
processOneFile (*infile, *outfile, fileList);

This will call processOneFile() with an uninitialized file list, which will crash when you try to print the file name.

    else {
            Node aFile = {argv[1], 0};
            fileList = &aFile;
            cout << "in main: " << fileList->fileName << endl;
    }

aFile is only in scope within that else, so trying to use a pointer to it later will fail.

string getFileName(string oneLine) {
    ///
    return NULL;
}

You can’t construct a std::string from NULL — this will crash the program.

After fixing these errors so your code wouldn’t crash, I couldn’t reproduce the error.

If you’re building in Linux, try increasing the warning level (with g++ -Wall -Wextra -ansi -pedantic) and running your code through valgrind, to check for memory errors.