C++ istream::get() function

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The C++ std::istream::get() function is used to read characters from an input stream. It can operate in several modes: reading a single character, reaading character into a buffer until a specified delimiter is encountered, or reading characters into buffer of a specified size.

This function does not skip the whitespace by default, making it distinct from functions like operator>>.

Syntax

Following is the syntax for std::istream::get() function.

int get();istream& get (char& c);
or
istream& get (char* s, streamsize n);istream& get (char* s, streamsize n, char delim);
or	
istream& get (streambuf& sb);istream& get (streambuf& sb, char delim);

Parameters

• c − It indicates the reference to a character where the extracted value is stored.
• s − It indicaets the pointer to an array of characters where extracted characters are stored as a c-string.
• n − It indicates the maximum number of characters to write to s (including the terminating null character).
• delim − It indicates the explicit delimiting character.
• sb − It indicates a basic_streambuf object on whose controlled output sequence the characters are copied.

Return Value

This function returns the character read, or the end-of-file value (traits_type::eof()) if no characters are available in the stream (note that in this case, the failbit flag is also set).

Exceptions

If an exception is thrown, the object is in a valid state.

Data races

Modifies c, sb or the elements in the array pointed by s and modifies the stream object.

Example

In the following example, we are going to read the single character.

#include <iostream>
int main()
{
    char x;
    std::cout << "Enter A Character : ";
    std::cin.get(x);
    std::cout << "Entered Character : " << x << std::endl;
    return 0;
}

Output

Output of the above code is as follows −

Enter A Character : B
Entered Character : B

Example

Consider the following example, where we are going to use the get() to read characters from input stream until a delimiter is encounterd.

#include <iostream>
int main()
{
    char a[10];
    std::cout << "Enter Input : ";
    std::cin.get(a, 10, ',');
    std::cout << "Entered Input : " << a << std::endl;
    return 0;
}

Output

Following is the output of the above code −

Enter Input : Hello, Namaste!
Entered Input : Hello