Strings in function

[sadshordie]

For part of my project I have to prompt the user to enter their name, number, and email address using a function. I wrote the code for the function but when I try to call it in main it doesn't work. I found that if I call the variables in main AND in the function it works, but I feel like that's not the right way to do it. And I can't make the variables global either.

 void getInfo(string &, string &, string &)
{
    string name, number, email;
    cout << "Please enter your full name: ";
    getline(cin, name);
    cout << "Please enter you phone number: (ex. 555.555.5555) ";
    getline(cin, number);
    cout << "Please enter your email address: ";
    getline(cin, email);
    cout << endl;
}

[JLBorges]

#include <iostream>
#include <string>
#include <tuple>

std::string get_string( const std::string& prompt )
{
    std::string str ;
    std::cout << prompt << ": ";
    std::getline( std::cin, str ) ;
    return str ;
}

// tuple: https://en.cppreference.com/w/cpp/utility/tuple
std::tuple< std::string, std::string, std::string > get_info()
{
    // list initialisation: https://en.cppreference.com/w/cpp/language/list_initialization
    // note: in the braced-init-list, each initializer expression is sequenced before
    //       the initializer expression that follows it
    return { get_string( "Please enter your full name" ),
             get_string( "Please enter you phone number (ex. 555.555.5555)" ),
             get_string( "Please enter your email address" ) };
}

int main()
{
    // structured binding (C++17)
    // https://en.cppreference.com/w/cpp/language/structured_binding
    const auto [ name, phone, email ] = get_info() ;

    std::cout << "name: " << name << "\nphone: " << phone << "\nemail: " << email << '\n' ;
}

[deleted account xyzzy]

@JLBorges,

I was recently looking at structured binding, not very successfully, and you provide a very understandable example for using it. Thank you. :)

[coder777]

If you want a structure why not using one? See:

struct info_type
{
    string m_Name;
    string m_Number;
    string m_Email;
};

 info_type getInfo()
{
  info_type info;
    string name, number, email;
    cout << "Please enter your full name: ";
    getline(cin, info.m_Name);
    cout << "Please enter you phone number: (ex. 555.555.5555) ";
    getline(cin, info.m_Number);
    cout << "Please enter your email address: ";
    getline(cin, info.m_Email);
    cout << endl;
}

int main()
{
    const info_type info = get_info() ;

    std::cout << "name: " << info.m_Name << "\nphone: " << info.m_Number << "\nemail: " << info.m_Email << '\n' ;
}

[jonnin]

Ill admit to having too many choices here. May be the nature of the simple task at hand, but choosing vector, std::array, tuple, struct, etc here I can't see much reason to pick one over another. Some of these lose the name of the individual pieces of data but I can't say that is a serious drawback. Just pick one for now, OP. Later, with more requirements, the choices may sort out cleaner.

[jlb]

Perhaps all he needed to do is properly name those parameters and remove the variable definitions inside the function?

 void getInfo(string &name, string &number, string &email)
{
    // string name, number, email; // Remove this line.
    cout << "Please enter your full name: ";

[deleted account xyzzy]

As much as I do like the std::tuple method, based on the OP's code snippet this also works:

#include <iostream>
#include <string>

void getInfo(std::string& name, std::string& number, std::string& email)
{
   std::cout << "Please enter your full name: ";
   std::getline(std::cin, name);
   std::cout << '\n';

   std::cout << "Please enter you phone number (ex. 555.123.4567): ";
   std::getline(std::cin, number);
   std::cout << '\n';

   std::cout << "Please enter your email address: ";
   std::getline(std::cin, email);
}

int main()
{
   std::string name  { };
   std::string phone { };
   std::string email { };

   getInfo(name, phone, email);

   std::cout << "\nname:\t" << name << "\nphone:\t" << phone << "\nemail:\t" << email << '\n';
}

Please enter your full name: Mork From Ork

Please enter you phone number (ex. 555.123.4567): 123.456.7890

Please enter your email address: [e-mail]

name:   Mork From Ork
phone:  [phone]
email:  [e-mail]