Trying to find the middle initial of a name

Question

#include<iostream>

using namespace std;

int main(){
    char sampleName[30];
    char middle;
    int i;

    cin>>sampleName;

    for(i=0;i<30;i++){
        if(sampleName[i]=='.'){
            middle=sampleName[i-1];
            break;
        }          
    }

    cout<<middle;

    return 0;
    }

It doesn't seem to work though when the input has spaces in it. Please. Can anyone help me out?

can you paste sample input and output which you have tried and which is not working? — voidMainReturn, Jul 02 '13 at 01:22
The input "JohnS.Smith" works. (Outputs 'S') The input "John S. Smith" does not. (Outputs ' ') — user2027369, Jul 02 '13 at 01:26
See this question: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/5838711/c-cin-input-with-spaces It's stopping at the space — pilotcam, Jul 02 '13 at 01:26

score 1 · Answer 1 · edited May 23 '17 at 12:28

1

I am not completely sure what your expected input is, but you may wish to look into std::getline (in conjunction with std::string) to avoid whitespace issues with std::cin >> .... (See here for a relevant discussion.)

So, something of the form

#include <iostream>
#include <string>

int main()
{
    std::string sampleName;
    char middle;

    std::getline(std::cin, sampleName);

    for (int i = 0; i < sampleName.size(); i++)
    {
        if (sampleName[i] == '.')
        {
            middle = sampleName[i-1];
            break;
        }          
    }

    std::cout << middle << std::endl;

    return 0;
}

may work best. (Click here to test.)

edited May 23 '17 at 12:28

Community

1
1

answered Jul 02 '13 at 01:27

Not much of a discussion in the linked question but the reason for the problem is `operator>>` skips leading whitespaces and reads characters until it reaches a whitespace. – Captain Obvlious Jul 02 '13 at 01:34
Thank you Captain Obvlious! Just had to say that. – user2027369 Jul 02 '13 at 05:24

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Jul 02 '13 at 01:29

0

you hav getline function to get in a line with spaces. You are getting wrong output because your program is not taking input with spaces correctly.

answered Jul 02 '13 at 01:29

voidMainReturn

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Trying to find the middle initial of a name

2 Answers2