Question

In the C++ Without Fear: A Beginner’s Guide That Makes You Feel Smart book in chapter(8), part of a code trying to display a text file is the following:

while(1)
{
    for(int i=1; i <= 24 && !file_in.eof(); i++)
    {
        file_in.getline(input_line,80);
        std::cout<<input_line<<std::endl;
    }

    if(file_in.eof())
    {
        break;
    }

    std::cout<<"More? (Press 'Q' and ENTER to quit.)";
    std::cin.getline(input_line,80);
    c=input_line[0]; // <<<<<<
    if(c=='Q'||c=='q')
    {
        break;
    }
}

The part I’m not getting here is:

c=input_line[0];

I think it is put to read ‘Q’ or ‘q’. But, why using this form (Array)? And, isn’t there a way to read ‘Q’ or ‘q’ directly?

I tried std::cin>>c; but seemed to be incorrect.

Any ideas?

Thanks.

Answer 1

Because input_line is string ( array from chars), so input_line[0] gets the first letter – this is in case, that the user write “quit” or “Quit”, not just “Q”

std::cin >> c; would be correct, if you enter just one char and press Enter