Clearing a String

[Ryogathelost]

I have a chunk of code I want to repeat three times dependent on a (y or n), but it's giving me errors because i didn't tell it to empty out the strings at the end of the chunk. I must have done it before, but everything I try is giving me errors.

How do I clear out a string variable so I can immediately use it again within the same loop?

[Ryogathelost]

This was my latest form of the code, if it helps.

for (k = 0; k < 3;) {
do {
cout << "Enter the first string : " << endl << endl;
cin.getline(s1, 500);
cout << endl;
cout << "Enter the second string : " << endl << endl;
cin.getline(s2, 500);
cout << endl;

if (isAnagram(s1, s2))
{cout << s1 << " and " << s2 << " are anagrams." << endl << endl;}
else
{cout << s1 << " and " << s2 << " are not anagrams."<< endl << endl;}


cout << "Would you like to try another pair? (Y or N) : ";
cin >> yorn;
cout << endl;

k++;

} while ((yorn = 'y') || (yorn = 'Y'));
}

[shacktar]

Try putting this line after each of your cin.getline and cin>> calls:

cin.ignore(500, '\n');

What this does is it goes through the input stream and deletes up to 500 characters or the first newline, whichever comes first. I suspect newlines that remain in the stream are polluting your results.

Also, I don't understand your loop. If the user says no, it would make them do it again if they haven't done it three times yet? Shouldn't it just be the do-while without the for?

[muratagenc]

@shackar: yes, that works. and you're right, something wrong with the loop algorithm. I did some fix, below:

#include<iostream>

using namespace std;

int main(){
	
	char s1[500], s2[500];
	char yorn ;
	int k;
	
	for (k = 0; k < 3;) {

		do {
			cout << "Enter the first string : " << endl << endl;
			cin.getline(s1, 500);
			cout << endl;
			
			cout << "Enter the second string : " << endl << endl;
			cin.getline(s2, 500);
			cout << endl;

			//if (isAnagram(s1, s2))
			//	{cout << s1 << " and " << s2 << " are anagrams." << endl << endl;}
			//else
			//	{cout << s1 << " and " << s2 << " are not anagrams."<< endl << endl;}


			cout << "Would you like to try another pair? (Y or N) : ";
			cin >> yorn;
			cout << endl;

			k++;
			if (k == 3) break;  //even if k>3, if user keeps saying yes, it will not break.
// if you want to limit to 3, use this break here
			
			cin.ignore(500, '\n');

		} while ((yorn == 'y') || (yorn == 'Y')); //you missed == here.

		if (yorn == 'n' || yorn == 'N') break; //if user says No, you should break for loop too.
	} 
}

[shacktar]

OP, you should put cin.ignore(500, '\n'); right after each call to cin.getline as well. The post above only uses it at the end of the loop.

The loop can be implemented as a single do-while (cleaner):

int k = 0;
do
{
     //...
     cout << "Would you like to try another pair? (Y or N) : ";
     cin >> yorn;
     cin.ignore(500, '\n');
     cout << endl;

     k++;
} while ((yorn == 'y' || yorn == 'Y') && (k < 3));