Question

I’m going to have two class functions. The first class function opens the file. Then it calls a second function that writes to the file and recursively calls itself. When the second function finishes, the original function closes the file.

Is it possible to do this?

Answer 1

Sure, as long as you pass the file handle/object to the recursive function:

void recursion(int data, int maxdepth, ostream &os)
{
    // must eventually break out
    if (maxdepth == 0)
        return;

    // write data
    os << data << std::endl;

    // and call one deeper
    recursion(data + 1, maxdepth - 1, os);
}

void start(const char *filename)
{
    std::ofstream os(filename);

    recursion(0, 100, os);
}