Loop not pausing for input

[mcdoim14]

Ok, so I have searched through various posts on this topic about clearing the input buffer and such, but I can't seem to resolve this issue. My program takes each character entered by the user and stores it in an array, then deletes all repeated characters, and displays the results. It works fine on its own, but when I tried to implement a while loop the program doesn't pause for user input. Any help is greatly appreciated. Here is my code:

 // ********************************************************************
// This program implements a function to return a dynamic array
// that deletes repeated characters.
// ********************************************************************

#include <iostream>
#include <limits.h>

using namespace std;

char *delete_repeats(char letters[], int size, int& numLetters);
bool isInArray(char arr[], int size, char target);
void runAgain(bool& run);

// ====================
//     main function
// ====================

int main()
{
  bool run;

 do
 {
  char a[140];
  char *noRepeats = NULL;

  int size = 0;
  int numLetters;
  cout << "ENTER A STRING OF CHARACTERS \n";
  cout << "(up to 140 characters)\n";
  a[size] = cin.get();
  while ((size < 140) && (a[size] != '\n'))
  {
    size++;
    a[size] = cin.get();
  }
  numLetters = size;
  cout << "\nYOU ENTERED " << size << " CHARACTERS \n";
  for (int i=0; i<size; i++) cout << a[i] ;
  cout << endl;

  cout << "\nDELETING REPEATS\n";
  noRepeats = delete_repeats(a, size, numLetters);

  for (int i=0; i<numLetters; i++)
  {
          cout << *(noRepeats + i);
  }
  cout << endl;
  delete [] noRepeats;
  runAgain(run);
  }while(run);
  return 0;
}

// This function returns true if the given char
// is in the char array, and false otherwise
bool isInArray(char arr[], int size, char target)
{
   for(int i = 0; i < size; i++)
    {
     if (arr[i] == target)
     return true;
    }
     return false;
}

// This function scans through the input letters
// and copies them into a temporary buffer.
// The temporary buffer is then copied into a
// dynamic array that exactly holds the data.
char* delete_repeats(char letters[], int size, int& numLetters)
{
        char *temp = NULL;        // Holds unique chars
        char *trimmed = NULL;     // Unique chars with no empty space
        numLetters = 0;


        temp = new char[size];
        for(int i = 0; i < size; i++)
        {
         if (isInArray(temp, size, letters[i]) == false)
         {
          *(temp + numLetters) = letters[i];
          numLetters++;
         }
        }

        trimmed = new char[numLetters];
        for(int k = 0; k < numLetters; k++)
        {
         *(trimmed + k) = *(temp + k);
        }

        delete [] temp;





        // Return new array
        return trimmed;
}

        void runAgain(bool& run)
        {
         char ans;
         cout<<"Would you like to run again?(y/yes any other char/no):";
         cin>> ans;
          if (ans == 'Y' || ans == 'y') run = true;
          else run = false;
        }

[Hirokachi]

I think that using the getline(cin, a[size]) instead of using a[size] = cin.get() will work better for what you want.

the reference page for your information is the following:
http://www.cplusplus.com/reference/istream/istream/getline/

I hope this helps.

- Hirokachi

[mcdoim14]

Thanks for the quick reply! I looked over the link you posted, but I'm still a little stuck. I get the error: no matching function for call to 'getline(std::istream&, char&). With getline aren't the parameters a pointer to an array, and an integer of its size?

[Hirokachi]

I didn't realize that we were using a part of a character array.

That was my fault I am sorry.

A better function that you could use is a[size] = cin.getchar().

The following is the reference page for the getchar function:
http://www.cplusplus.com/reference/cstdio/getchar/

I hope this helps.

- hirokachi