Trouble returning a string

[kultrva]

I am working on an assignment and though this is not a part of the assignment, this has piqued my interest.

string caesarCipher::encrypt(){

	string caesarEncrypt;

	cout<<"String to encrypt: ";
	cin>>caesarEncrypt;
	
	for (int i = 0; i < caesarEncrypt.length(); i++){
		caesarEncrypt[i] = caesarEncrypt[i] + shift;
	}

	return caesarEncrypt;
}

When I run the program, nothing for 'encrypt' is displayed. If I write cout<<caesarEncrypt, everything is good to go.

Can anybody tell me how to actually return the string? Thanks in advance to anybody who can help.

[wolfgang]

Something about the "+ shift" might be causing it. First is shift an int? if so you may need to this:

caesarEncrypt[i] = char( caesarEncrypt[i] + shift );

[kultrva]

Shift is indeed an int. I tried your modification with no luck. Any other ideas out there? Any help would be appreciated.

[zb0S216C]

If you want to return the string then try replacing your return statement with this:

return caesarEncrypt.c_str( );

Read about c_str( ) here: http://www.cplusplus.com/reference/string/string/c_str/

[rocketboy9000]

Your algorithm is wrong.
To implement the classic Caesar cipher on the english alphabet, do this:

if(isupper(caesarEncrypt[i]))caesarEncrypt[i] = (caesarEncrypt[i] - 'A' + shift)%26 + 'A';
else if(islower(caesarEncrypt[i]))caesarEncrypt[i] = (caesarEncrypt[i] - 'a' + shift)%26 + 'a';

You'll need ctype.h.