Getting data from a file on a server

[ocramed]

Hi. First time poster.

Well, I am working on a homework assignment, where I am to print out, on screen, the longest word from list of words from a file on a server. The server is a Unix/Linux (?) server (bash), with the following pathway:

  /users/dwynne/resources/american-english-large

For the life of me, I have yet to find any references on how to refer to a file in this manner. I know that you should do the following for a specific file:

   int main (){
	std::string word;
	ifstream dictionaryFile ("/users/dwynne/resources/american-english-large");
	if (dictionaryFile.is_open()){
		while(dictionaryFile >> word){
		std::cout << word << endl;
	}
		file.close();
	}
	else
		std::cout << "ERROR! File not found!" << endl;
	}
	system ("PAUSE");
	return 0;
}

The only thing I need is to be point in the right direction. Is there a book or reference that I can go to, in order to read up some more about how to do this? Ultimately, I want to input data from a file the longest word, where I can then output this word onto the terminal's screen. Again, I just need to be pointed in the right direction, so that I can learn this stuff. Until then, thanks.

[Peter87]

I don't understand your question. Is the code not working?

[ocramed]

My apologies.

After some editing, I have this:

int main (){
        std::string word;
        ifstream dictionaryFile ("/users/dwynne/resources/american-english-large");
        if (dictionaryFile.is_open()){
                while(dictionaryFile >> word){
                std::cout << word << endl;
                dictionaryFile.close();
                }
        }
        else{
                std::cout << "ERROR! File not found!" << endl;
        }
        return 0;
}

It's amazing how forgetting to put the brackets in their proper place can screw things up.

Though the code is "correct", but I still need to figure out how to output the longest word from a list of words from another file on a server onto the screen. I wanted to know if there are any resources as to how to do this. So far, I am outputting the SHORTEST word, not the LONGEST word. I think arrays and loop counts are involved in the process, but I am not sure. I apologies for rambling, but it's been a long day, and my brain is "fried". Maybe I will rest up, and try again tomorrow...

[2UD8vCM9]

One thing just to give you a push in the right direction is you are closing your dictionaryFile too soon. You are closing your file after you read 1 word from the file, but you actually want to close the file once you are done reading from the file.

Instead of

while (dictionaryFile >> word)
{
	std::cout << word << endl;
	dictionaryFile.close();
}

do

while (dictionaryFile >> word)
{
	std::cout << word << endl;
}
dictionaryFile.close();

[ocramed]

Okay.

So, the initial program works. I want to add something else, in order to count the length of the longest word, and then display it on the terminal screen:

int main (){
        std::string longestWord; // Longest word from file.
        ifstream wordFile ("/users/dwynne/resources/american-english-large");
        if (wordFile.is_open()){
                while(wordFile >> longestWord){
                        for (int i=0; i<longestWord; i++){  // What I had added.
                                std::cout << longestWord << endl;
                        }
                }
        dictionaryFile.close();
        }
        else{
                std::cout << "ERROR! File not found!" << endl;
        }
        return 0;
}

You can't believe the error I had gotten (two+ pages worth, in fact).

Anyway, it was my impression that by adding "for" loop, I will get the maximum length of the word from the file. Did I miss anything?