Const/String Problems

I'm working on a class Word. The objective of the main program is to
open a file (which contains a poem), put the file into a dynamic array
of pointers, which each point to one Word. The pointer to the main
array is wordArr, which is a double pointer. Each node in the array
points to a Word. So it looks like:
WordArr** -> (Word*[0] -> (Word1), Word*[1] -> (Word2), Word*[2] ->
(Word3), etc)

Here is words.cpp:

class Word;
#include "words.h"
#include <iostream>
#include <string>
using namespace std;

string* ptr;
int len;

Word::Word(const string* word)
{
    len = word.size();
    ptr = new char [len + 1];
    strcpy (ptr, word.c_str());
}

Word::~Word()
{
    ptr = NULL;
    len = 0;
}

char Word::GetFirstLetter()
{
    return ptr[0];
}

char* Word::GetWord()
{
    return ptr.c_str();
}

Words.h

#include <iostream>
#include <string>
using namespace std;

#ifndef WORD_H
#define WORD_H

class Word
{
private:
    string* ptr;
    int len;

public:
    Word(const string* word);
    ~Word();
    char GetFirstLetter();
    char* GetWord();
};

#endif

I keep getting this error: "words.cpp:22: error: request for member
‘size’ in ‘word’, which is of non-class type ‘const std::string*’"
What does this mean? How can I fix this?

Any help is appreciated. Thank you!

sargon94 (405)

you know you can just make a vector of strings right?

snazziosity (21)

I have to use the .h file given, but I can edit it a little bit. I don't know how to make a vector of strings (or even what it is!), and the instructor wouldn't expect me to know that, so that's not really an option. Thanks for your suggestion, though.

sargon94 (405)

Well, I see your dilemma, let me explain what it is (for future refrence). A vector is like an array, except it resizes itself to meet your needs. Since a string can be just a word, a vector of strings would be a vector of words.

Now about your problem: You said len = word.size(); but word is only a pointer you must put len = *word.size(); for it to to access the value of size.
Again here strcpy (ptr, word.c_str()); you must put the * signifying value like so: strcpy (ptr, *word.c_str());

ne555 (10692)

word->size(); or (*word).size()
Why are you using a pointer in word? why don't just a string?

Word::Word(const string* word)
{
//....
    //ptr = new char [len + 1]; 
    ptr = new string; //ptr is a string pointer (not a char pointer)
    //strcpy (ptr, word.c_str()); 
    *ptr = *word;
}

what are those global variables in word.cpp?

Last edited on

sargon94 (405)

haha, oops. Thanks for catching that ne555.

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