Change improper whitespace to proper

[C0mput3rm4n]

I am working on a program that can write a text file from improperly formatted text and then show the contents of that file. The text has too many spaces between words, and I need to remove them preserving the line breaks. The code I have here can make a text file, but cannot write to it. I appreciate any help I can get. I also am trying to get the getbaddata input to loop so that users can enter multiple lines, but am having no luck. Thanks for any help you can provide!

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

string removeWhitespace(const string & s);

int getbaddata()
{
	int x = 1;
	while (x == 1)
	{
		string input;
		ofstream file("fixedtext.txt");
		cout << "Enter words with too many spaces in between or 0 to end: " << endl;
		getline(cin,input,'\n');
		file <<  removeWhitespace(input) << endl;
		ofstream file.close;
	}
	return 0;
}

string removeWhitespace(const string & s)
{
    istringstream iss(s);
    string result;
    string temp;
	
    while (iss>>temp)
    {
        result+=temp;
        result+=' ';
    }
	
    result.erase(result.end()-1);
	
    return result;
}
int showcleandata()
{
	ifstream("fixedtext.txt");
	return 0;
}
int main()
{
	getbaddata();
}

[hanst99]

The >> operator of istream ignores whitespaces, so removing extra whitespace while preserving line breaks is no big deal if you use stringstreams and the getline method of ifstream.

[Duthomhas]

Hint: the std::unique() algorithm (#include <algorithm>) can help you. Depending on what you really want, other algorithms may also apply:
http://www.cplusplus.com/reference/algorithm/unique/

Hope this helps.

[edit] Fixed typo

[C0mput3rm4n]

Thanks for the suggestions. I am almost new to C++, so I do not know how to adapt the program according to the responses you posted. If you could give an example of how to implement the solution that would be great!

[Duthomhas]

#include <algorithm>
#include <cctype>
#incude <iostream>
#include <string> 

bool is_both_space( char a, char b )
  {
  return std::isspace( a ) && std::isspace( b );
  }

std::string s = "  Hello    world!   ";  // or use: getline( cin, s ); ...
s.erase( std::unique( s.begin(), s.end(), is_both_space ), s.end() );
cout << s << endl;  // prints " Hello world! " 

Notice how all space sequences are now just a single space.

Hope this helps.

[mikeofthenight]

/* This very basic program will show you how to open a file for writing, passing as many lines as you like to the file.
* and how to open a file for reading. There are several problems with this program however. In that if you type an incorrect
* filename to the showcleandata function the program exits. In real life it should have a retry option for people who
* mistype the filename. However the program as it stands will give you a push in the right direction.
*
* cheers mikeofthenight
*/
#include <iostream>
#include <string>
#include <sstream>
#include <fstream>
#include <cstdlib> // added
#include <temp.hpp>
using namespace std;

void getbaddata()
{
cout << "Enter name of file to save modified text to: ";
string FileName;
cin >> FileName; // get file you wish to save data to.

ofstream fout(FileName.c_str(), ios::out | ios::app);
// open file for appending data to.

if (fout.is_open() == false){
cerr << "Unable to open " << FileName << endl;
exit(EXIT_FAILURE); // defined <cstdlib>
}

cin.get(); // clear buffer
cout << "Enter words with too much whitespace (enter a blank line to quit):n";
string line,name;

while (getline(cin,line) && line.size() > 0) {
istringstream istr(line); // use a stream to discard whitespace

while (istr >> line) {
name.append(line) += " "; // build up the line of data with one space char
}
fout << name << endl; // write it to the file
name.clear(); // clear the string ready for next line of data
}
fout.close(); // finished so close the file

}

void showcleandata()
{
char ch;

cout << "Enter name of file to display: ";
string FileName;
cin >> FileName; //
ifstream fin(FileName.c_str(), ios::in);

if (fin.is_open()) {
cout << "Here are the new contents of the "
<< FileName.c_str() << " file:n";

while (fin.get(ch)) // get each char in the file
cout << ch; // and display it to stdout
fin.close();
} else {
cerr << "Unable to open " << FileName
<< " for reading!" << endl;
exit(EXIT_FAILURE); // defined <cstdlib>
}

}


int main()
{
getbaddata();
showcleandata();

return 0;
}

[mikeofthenight]

In my program that I sent you is the line #include <temp.hpp> Please delete this from the file as it is
part of my debugging program and has nothing to do with the running of the program.
Sorry about that. mikeofthenight