input stream crashing program

[Eronamanthius]

I've been working on my first project in C++, and I have a function where I get a users name. It goes like this:

void getName()
{
     char name[24];
     cout << "Enter your name: ";
     cin.getline(name, 24);
     cin.clear();
     cout << "Your chosen name is ";
     cout << name << endl;
}

It works fine for the most part, but the thing I'm trying to make it do is ignore any input past the first 24 characters. Currently when I run this, if you use say 26 characters, it just crashes.
Please advise! Thanks.

[1yvXoG1T]

Either increase your array size (i.e char name[48];) or do some research on STL strings.

[Athar]

That's one of the many reasons you should not use char arrays.
The correct way to do this is:

string name;
cout << "Enter your name: ";
getline(cin,name);

[Eronamanthius]

Ah, good call Athar!

So, how could I limit the amount of characters for the input line then? I'd like to keep the user name short if possible.

[Athar]

You can check the name's length after the input was made and either cut it short or prompt for another name.

if (name.length()>30)doSomething();

[Eronamanthius]

Thanks a bunch :)
I should do some more research on string functions like neuro said.

[Eronamanthius]

To answer my own question, I came across this:

playerName.resize (10);

seemed to work well.

[Athar]

Make it if (playerName.length()>10)playerName.resize(10); or playerName.resize(min(playerName.length(),10u));, otherwise you'd append null chars to a name shorter than 10 characters.

Edit: unless you already do this. I guess you might.