Question

#include <iostream>
#include <cctype> // isdigit
using namespace std;

// Global buffer
const int LINE_LENGTH = 128;
char line[LINE_LENGTH];
int lineIndex;

void getLine () {
// Get a line of characters.
// Install a newline character as sentinel.
   cin.getline (line, LINE_LENGTH);
   line[cin.gcount () - 1] = '\n';
   lineIndex = 0;
}

enum State {eI, eF, eM, eSTOP};

void parseNum (bool& v, int& n) {
   int sign;
   State state;
   char nextChar;
   v = true;
   state = eI;

   do {
      nextChar = line[lineIndex++];
      switch (state) {
         case eI:
            if (nextChar == '+') {
               sign = +1;
               state = eF;
            }
            else if (nextChar == '-') {
               sign = -1;
               state = eF;
            }
            else if (isdigit (nextChar)) {
               sign = +1;
               n = nextChar - '0'; // line 41
               state = eM;
            }
            else {
               v = false;
            }
            break;
         case eF:
            if (isdigit (nextChar)) {
               n = nextChar - '0';
               state = eM;
            }
            else {
               v = false;
            }
            break;
         case eM:
            if (isdigit (nextChar)) {
               n = 10 * n + nextChar - '0';
            }
            else if (nextChar == '\n') {
               n = sign * n;
               state = eSTOP;
            }
            else {
               v = false;
            }
            break;
      }
   }
   while ((state != eSTOP) && v);
}

int main () {
   bool valid;
   int num;
   cout << "Enter number: ";
   getLine();
   parseNum (valid, num);
   if (valid) {
      cout << "Number = " << num << endl;
   }
   else {
      cout << "Invalid entry." << endl;
   }
   return 0;
}

What does the ‘0’ in line 41 mean? Does this line assign n the next character minus the first character of nextChar?

Answer 1

nextChar - '0' returns the integer value of a character. For example, if the character value is ‘1’ (which is ASCII 0x31) then if you subtract ‘0’ (which is 0x30) you get the value 1. Since the ASCII values ‘0’ – ‘9’ are continuous, this technique will work.