I'm trying to write a char into a .txt file by using the ifstream getline function. But i get an Error Message

Question

E0304 no instance of overloaded function "std::basic_ifstream<_Elem, _Traits>::getline [with _Elem=char, _Traits=std::char_traits]" matches the argument list

Im using a struct for the Information:

 struct customer {
    int id;
    char name;
    char phone;
    char address;
};

And im trying to write the Customers Information into a .txt file:

void customerData()
{
    ifstream ifs;
    ifs.open("Customer.txt");
    int custNum = 0;
    while (!ifs.eof())
    {
        ifs >> cust[custNum].id;
        ifs.ignore();
        ifs.getline(cust[custNum].name, 100, ';');
        ifs.getline(cust[custNum].phone, 15, ';');
        ifs.getline(cust[custNum].id, 15, ';');
        ifs.getline(cust[custNum].address, 1500);
        custNum++;
    }
}

I cant figure out how to fix the above posted Error on the getline functions.

Perhaps if you used character *arrays* of the correct sizes (instead of single `char`) it would work better? Like, how do you expect to store up to a 100 characters in the single character variable `name`? — Some programmer dude, Aug 10 '22 at 10:22
On a couple of other notes: Please learn how to use `std::string` for all your strings. That will make your life as a C++ programmer much simpler. And [Why is iostream::eof inside a loop condition (i.e. `while (!stream.eof())`) considered wrong?](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/5605125/why-is-iostreameof-inside-a-loop-condition-i-e-while-stream-eof-cons) — Some programmer dude, Aug 10 '22 at 10:25
fwiw, your current issue is a symptom of doing too much at once. Writing to the file is irrelevant. If you had tested and debugged `customer` before writing it to a file, the problem would be much simpler to diagnose and fix — 463035818_is_not_an_ai, Aug 10 '22 at 10:49

score 1 · Accepted Answer · edited Oct 11 '22 at 17:27

There are big mistakes in your code that guys pointed out.

You are not writing to the file, you are reading it.
You cannot store a full name in a single character.

Actually, if you want to store this data, you should use character array or std::string.

So your struct will be like this :

struct customer {
   int ID;
   char name[100];
   char phone_number[15];
   char address[1500];
   
   /*
   OR
   int ID;
   std::string name;
   std::string phone_number;
   std::string address;
   
   in this case it's better to use std::string instead of using 1500 characters for address

   */
}

Also, getline is not for writing to the file (as you said you want to write in file) , it is used for reading from the file.

So your customerData function will look like this:

//  saving in file 
ofstream ofs(Customer.txt);

//  check if file is created
if(ofs.is_open(){
ofs << name << '\n';
ofs << address << '\n';
ofs << phone_number << '\n';
ofs << id << '\n';

//  This is a simple way to store data in a file.
//  There are other ways to store data in a file.. 
//  I used this because you can use getline to read them and get the data as lines.

}

Thx for the answer i understand getline much better now. – Lukas F Aug 11 '22 at 11:37 — Lukas F, Aug 11 '22 at 11:37

I'm trying to write a char into a .txt file by using the ifstream getline function. But i get an Error Message

1 Answers1