String parsing in a card game

Question

I'm making a card dealing game. I'm having trouble parsing a string into components in order for me to keep track of the suits and values being drawn.

const string rank[] = { "Ace", "2", "3", "4", "5", "6", "7",
                    "8", "9", "10", "Jack", "Queen", "King" };
const string suit[] = { "Clubs", "Diamonds", "Hearts", "Spades" };

string random_card(bool verbose=false) {
  string card;
  card = rank[ rand()%13 ];
  card += " of ";
  card += suit[ rand()%4 ];
  if (verbose)
    cout << card << "\n";
  return card;
}

How do I break card down into components to keep track of the suits and values in a table?

Edit: I must use a string for this assignment. I cannot change the way that the card is generated. I must parse the string into components and keep track of the values for each suit in a table, which I then need to format and print into stdout.

[Don't use `rand`. It's horrible.](http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/GoingNative/2013/rand-Considered-Harmful) — chris, Sep 14 '13 at 21:27
Have to, it's part of my assignment. That's not the point, anyway. — Jake Hafendorfer, Sep 14 '13 at 21:29
would i be correct in thinking that you don't want to pick the ace of spades twice in a game? — EvilTeach, Sep 14 '13 at 21:31
I suggest you look at this answer: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/236129/splitting-a-string-in-c — thompsor, Sep 14 '13 at 21:33
@EvilTeach, right now it's just a simple card drawing program. — Jake Hafendorfer, Sep 14 '13 at 21:37

score 0 · Answer 1 · answered Sep 14 '13 at 21:29

0

Don't use a string to represent a card, just define a simple struct

struct Card
{
    int suit;
    int rank;
};

answered Sep 14 '13 at 21:29

john

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I forgot to mention, I am limited to using this method as it is part of an assignment. My task is to figure out how to parse the card string into components and keep track of the values for each suit in a table. Thank you for the quick response! – Jake Hafendorfer Sep 14 '13 at 21:30
Add the requirement to the question. – EvilTeach Sep 14 '13 at 21:32
Well I guess you have to split the card string at the spaces and look up the substrings in your arrays of ranks and suits. Ugly. – john Sep 14 '13 at 21:32

Hlib Babii · Accepted Answer · 2013-09-14T22:17:27.923

0

Try something like this:

string delimiter = " of ";
int delimiter_length = delimiter.size();

string card = "Ace of Clubs";
int del_begin = card.find_first_of(delimiter);
int del_end = del_begin + delimiter_length; 

string rank = card.substr(0, del_begin); 
string suit = card.substr(del_end, card.size() - del_end);

edited Sep 14 '13 at 22:17

answered Sep 14 '13 at 21:52

Hlib Babii

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Thank you! I think del_pos was supposed to be del_begin. This worked for exactly what I needed it for. – Jake Hafendorfer Sep 14 '13 at 22:16

String parsing in a card game

2 Answers2