Question

So I need to create a char buffer containing 4 lines of text (EN_us) like

first line
line with some number like 5
line 3
empty line

What is correct way of getting such char buffer from user and how to get its length?

Answer 1

Instead of getting a buffer like that, it might be easier to read four lines into separate strings from the standard input using getline (use a loop if you prefer):

Then the total data length is the sum of the individual string lengths. Alternatively use this method to retrieve the data from the user and then concatenate them into a four-line stringstream.

Combined code example:

#include <string>
#include <sstream>
#include <iostream>

std::string s[4];
size_t length(0);

std::ostringstream output;

for (size_t index = 0; index < 4; ++index)
{
    getline(std::cin, s[index]);
    length += s[index].length();

    output << s[index] << std::endl;
}

output.flush();
streamoff streamLength = output.tellp();