Question

//Writing a letter

#include <iostream>
using namespace std;

int main() {
string first_name;      //Name of addressee
string friend_name;     //Name of a friend top be mentioned in the letter
char friend_sex, m, f;  //variable for gender of friend

friend_sex = 0;

cout << "\nEnter the name of the person you want to write to: ";
cin >> first_name;

cout << "Enter the name of a friend: ";
cin >> friend_name;

cout << "Enter friend's sex(m/f): ";    //Enter m or f for friend
cin >> friend_sex;                      //Place m or f into friend_sex

cout << "\nDear " << first_name << ",\n\n"
     << "   How are you? I am fine. I miss you!blahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.\n"   
     << "blahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.\n"
     << "Have you seen " << friend_name << " lately? ";

//braces only necessary if there are more than one statement in the if function
if(friend_sex == m) {
    cout << "If you see " << friend_name << ", please ask him to call me.";             
}   //If friend is male, output this
if(friend_sex == f) {
    cout << "If you see " << friend_name << ", please ask her to call me.";
}   //If friend is female, output this

return(0);
}

This is what actually comes out:

Enter the name of the person you want to write to: MOM

Enter the name of a friend: DAD

Enter friend's sex(m/f): m

Dear MOM, 

        How are you? I am fine. I miss you! blahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.
        blahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.
        Have you seen DAD lately?

This program is simulating a short letter. Outputting a block of words is easy enough, but when I want some conditionals to be placed in the letter, I’m in trouble. Even though I’ve input the friend_sex (m/f) when the program asks me, the output from the if statement does not materialize. Why?

Answer 1

You’re testing friend_sex against the uninitialized character variable m. You probably want to test against the literal value 'm'. It would be like having an integer variable called seven and expecting it to hold the value 7.