Section 15.2 Streams
To get input from a file or send output to a file, you have to create an
ifstream
object (for input files) or an ofstream
object (for output files). These objects are defined in the header file fstream
, which you have to include.
A stream is an abstract object that represents the flow of data from a source like the keyboard or a file to a destination like the screen or a file.
We have already worked with two streams:
cin
, which has type istream
, and cout
, which has type ostream
. cin
represents the flow of data from the keyboard to the program. Each time the program uses the >>
operator or the getline
function, it removes a piece of data from the input stream.
Similarly, when the program uses the
<<
operator on an ostream
, it adds a datum to the outgoing stream.
Checkpoint 15.2.2.
What is a stream object?
- an abstract object that works exclusively with cin and cout statements
- Incorrect! Stream objects do work with cin and cout, but that is not all that they do!
- an abstract object on which input and ouput operations are performed
- Correct!
- an abstract object that works only with file data
- Incorrect! Stream objects do work with file data, but they do other things too.
- an abstract object that controls the flow of statements
- Incorrect! This is not at all what stream objects do, you should try re-reading to get a better understanding!
Checkpoint 15.2.3.
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