defaulting ifstream variable to standard input

[risby]

Hi peeps

About a decade ago I wrote

    ifstream fin;

    if (NULL == inputStream)
    {
        fin.attach(0);
        inputStream = "stdin";
    }
    else
    {
        fin.open(inputStream, ios::in);
    }

inputStream was NULL unless a filename had been specified on the command line. The attach() function that was available with that compiler nearly a decade ago, when I wrote it, allowed me to use this program as part of a pipeline.

I think that's a fairly standard requirement for Unix programs so I'm hoping someone will have implemented this idea somehow with a more recent compiler. It seems the attach() function was an extension that today's standard don't have.

Cheers

==========================================

I phoned the local ramblers club today, and this bloke just went on and on.

 

[cpjust]

In C++ "stdin" == cin (which is already open).
If you need to read from stdin, just read from cin.

 

[risby]

I know cin is already open. That's why the attach() function was able simply to plug in the file number and the open() function was only used for a named file.

What I want is for my program to cater for a user who specifies a file on the command line and also for one who wishes to pipe the output of one command in as the input stream of this one.

sortByDate who.txt

or

who -a | sortByDate

I want to know how to map cin on to my variable fin when the program is used as a pipe.

==========================================

I phoned the local ramblers club today, and this bloke just went on and on.

 

[ArkM]

STL stream object does not perform real i/o, it's a job for STL streambuf class object.
Try this approach:

streambuf* pold = 0; // default cin streambuf obj ptr.
ifstream infile;     // for external text file source.
if (use_file_in_cin) // check argc or what else...
{
   infile.open(...);
   pold = cin.rdbuf(infile.rdbuf()); // attach new streambuf
}

// Now cin works with infile contents...

// Don't forget to reset initial cin streambuf object
if (pold)
   cin.rdbuf(pold);
...

So no need in old attach() function, rdbuf() can do it...

 

[risby]

I went with this

    ifstream foo(inputStream);
    istream fin(cin.rdbuf());

    if(foo)
    {
        fin.rdbuf(foo.rdbuf());
    }

as suggested by XSquared over on the CProgramming forum.

Looks like much the same suggestion as your own.

Thanks

==========================================

I phoned the local ramblers club today, and this bloke just went on and on.

 

[ArkM]

Without restoring cin.rdbuf you may catch an exception in cin destructor (referred to closed file rdbuf).
Yes, it's the same (standard and portable mechanics...