Question

This bundle of errors is caused by one function, and none of these errors are valid

error C2059: syntax error : '='
error C2143: syntax error : missing ';' before '{'
error C2181: illegal else without matching if
error C2660: 'Lexicon::convertOntology' : function does not take 0 arguments

string Lexicon::convertOntology(string input, int d, string out, string temp) // C2059; C2143
{
    if (in.length() == 0 && temp.length() == 0) {return out; //check for completed conversion //C2181
    } else {
        int r = 1;
        if (d == 1) r = 0; 
        if (in[0] == '.' || in[0] == '-' || in == "") { //found deliminator or end //C2059; C2143
            return convertOntology(in.substr(1), d, out+=vectorSearch(list, temp, 0, d, r), ""); //convert and check // C2143; C2660
        } else return convertOntology(in.substr(1), d, out, temp); //increment and check
    }
}

I did not place all the errors, they are repeated 14 times – it seems clear that these are not errors but is an issue with the compiler parsing the text; there is something upstream from this that is unmatched. I checked the previous function and checked the lines prior to where this function is called and found nothing.

How do I resolve these errors?

Answer 1

First of all, you reference in throughout your function although you pass a variable called input.

Secondly, you should also check this in[0] == '.' || in[0] == '-' || in == "" in another order, where you check for an empty string first. If the string is empty, your program will crash here when you try and access the first element [0]. Put in == "" first.

Thirdly, list isn’t defined anywhere I can see, and it’s being used here, vectorSearch(list, temp, 0, d, r), "");

Finally, eww. Please don’t write c++ like that. IMHO there is nothing wrong with excusing brackets for one line if statements, but try and make everything readable so the next person doesn’t want to blow their brains out trying to figure out what’s going on.

string Lexicon::convertOntology(string input, int d, string out, string temp)
{
  if (input.length() == 0 && temp.length() == 0) 
    return out; 
  else 
  {
    int r = 1;
    if (d == 1) 
      r = 0; 
    if (input[0] == '.' || input[0] == '-' || input == "") 
      return convertOntology(input.substr(1), d, out+=vectorSearch(list, temp, 0, d, r), "");
    else 
      return convertOntology(input.substr(1), d, out, temp);
  }
}