Need server.cpp to accept char* value in c++ with sockets

Question

Below is my server.cpp

#include <errno.h>
#include <signal.h>
#include <stdio.h>
#include <unistd.h>
#include <sys/types.h>
#include <sys/wait.h>
#include <netinet/in.h>
#include <sys/socket.h>
#include <netdb.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <string.h>
#include <iostream>
#include <fstream>
#include <queue>
#include <arpa/inet.h>

using namespace std;

int establish(unsigned short portnum)
{
    int MAXHOSTNAME = 9;
    char myname[MAXHOSTNAME+1];
    int s;
    struct sockaddr_in sa;
    struct hostent *hp;

    memset(&sa, 0, sizeof(struct sockaddr_in));
    gethostname(myname, MAXHOSTNAME);
    hp = gethostbyname("localhost"); //changed myname to localhost.
    if (hp == NULL)
    {
        return(-1);
    }
    sa.sin_family = hp->h_addrtype;
    sa.sin_port = htons(portnum);
    if ((s = socket(AF_INET, SOCK_STREAM, 0)) < 0)
    {
        return(-1);
    }

    if (bind(s,(struct sockaddr*)&sa, sizeof(sa)) < 0)
    {
        cout << "error on binding" << endl;
    }

    listen(s,3);
    return(s);
}

int get_connection(int s)
{
    int t;
    if ((t = accept(s,NULL,NULL)) < 0)
    {
        return(-1);
    }
        return(t);
}

int main(int argc, char* argv[])
{
    deque<pair<string, string> > data;

    int n;
    int s;
    int p;
    int t;
    int i = 0;
    string file;
    string username;
    string publicKey;
    char publicKeyResponse[256];
    bool connected = true;

    ifstream textfile;

    cout << "Enter a textfile name: " << endl;
    cin >> file;

    textfile.open(file.c_str());
    while(!textfile.eof())
    {
        getline(textfile, username, ' ');
        getline(textfile, publicKey);
     data.push_back(make_pair(username, publicKey));
     i++;
    }

    cout << "Enter a server port number: " << endl;
    cin >> p;
    while (p <2000 || p > 65535)
    {
        cout << "Server port number must be between 2000 and 65535. Please enter the server port number again." << endl;
        cin >> p;
    }

    if ((s = establish(p)) < 0)
    {
        perror("establish");
        exit(1);
    }
    else 
    {
        cout << "Established connection:" << endl;
    }

    while(connected != false)
        {
            if ((t = get_connection(s)) < 0)
            {
                if (errno == EINTR)
                {
                    continue;
                }
                perror("accept");
                exit(1);
            }

            
            bzero(publicKeyResponse, 256);
            n = read(t, publicKeyResponse, sizeof(publicKeyResponse));
            string terminate = "terminate";
            string Terminate = "Terminate";
            string OTerminate = "Terminate."; // might only need this one, if so delete others and name this one terminate
            if (n < 0)
            {
                cout << "Error reading from socket" << endl;
            }
            cout << publicKeyResponse;
            printf("%s\n", publicKeyResponse);
            if(publicKeyResponse == terminate || publicKeyResponse == Terminate || publicKeyResponse == OTerminate)
            {
                n = write(t, "Server Terminated", 17);
                connected = false;
            }
            else
            {
                int u = 0;
                for(int i = 0; i < data.size(); i++)
                {
                    if (data.at(i).first == publicKeyResponse)
                    {
                        char pKey [data.at(i).second.size()+1];
                        strcpy(pKey, data.at(i).second.c_str());
                        cout << pKey;
                        n = write(t, pKey, strlen(pKey));
                    }
                    else
                    {
                        u++;
                    }
                    if(u == data.size())
                    {
                        n = write(t, "does not exist.", 15);
                    }
                }
            }
        }

    close(s);
    close(t);
    return 0;
}

Where it says

n = read(t, publicKeyResponse, sizeof(publicKeyResponse));

I need to be able to read the value that is received, but I am not getting anything stored in publicKeyResponse. publicKeyResponse in this case would be the username that I am expected to receive. I am just getting blank values. I know a connection is being established but nothing is going on. publicKeyResponse is a char* variable.