Returning ifstream in a function
- by wrongusername
Here's probably a very noobish question for you: How (if at all possible) can I return an ifstream from a function?
Basically, I need to obtain the filename of a database from the user, and if the database with that filename does not exist, then I need to create that file for the user. I know how to do that, but only by asking the user to restart the program after creating the file. I wanted to avoid that inconvenience for the user if possible, but the function below does not compile in gcc:
ifstream getFile() {
string fileName;
cout << "Please enter in the name of the file you'd like to open: ";
cin >> fileName;
ifstream first(fileName.c_str());
if(first.fail()) {
cout << "File " << fileName << " not found.\n";
first.close();
ofstream second(fileName.c_str());
cout << "File created.\n";
second.close();
ifstream third(fileName.c_str());
return third; //compiler error here
}
else
return first;
}
EDIT: sorry, forgot to tell you where and what the compiler error was:
main.cpp:45: note: synthesized method ‘std::basic_ifstream<char, std::char_traits<char> >::basic_ifstream(const std::basic_ifstream<char, std::char_traits<char> >&)’ first required here
EDIT: I changed the function to return a pointer instead as Remus suggested, and changed the line in main() to "ifstream database = *getFile()"; now I get this error again, but this time in the line in main():
main.cpp:27: note: synthesized method ‘std::basic_ifstream<char, std::char_traits<char> >::basic_ifstream(const std::basic_ifstream<char, std::char_traits<char> >&)’ first required here
