Formatted input in C++ . like this ---> x : y : z

Question

I want to take inputs in this format (x : y : z) in C++ language. in the input section the input formation will be like this:

x : y : z

where, x,y and z are three separate integer type inputs.

Answer 1

You can simply read it from any stream like this

#include <iostream>

int main() {

    int x, y, z;
    char colon;

    if (std::cin >> x >> colon >> y >> colon >> z) {

        std::cout << "\nYou entered:\t" << x << "\t" << y << "\t" << z;
    }
    else {
        std::cerr << "\nError: Wrong input format\n";
    }
    return 0;
}

---

EDIT: Based on the comment of Alan Birtles I will add input validation. Although, I could not read that in the question.

And before people want to generalize the question, I will also answer that.

But first. You can also use:

 if ((std::cin >> x >> colon) && (colon ==':') && (std::cin >> y >> colon) && (colon == ':') && (std::cin >> z)) {

---

I do not think that anybody cares about that, but, just to be complete . . .

---

For the general case. You should maybe better use std::getline to read a complete line of input and then split it.

You never need boost for such a task.

See some common patterns for splitting a string:

Splitting a string into tokens is a very old task. There are many many solutions available. All have different properties. Some are difficult to understand, some are hard to develop, some are more complex, slower or faster or more flexible or not.

Alternatives

1. Handcrafted, many variants, using pointers or iterators, maybe hard to develop and error prone.
2. Using old style std::strtok function. Maybe unsafe. Maybe should not be used any longer
3. std::getline. Most used implementation. But actually a "misuse" and not so flexible
4. Using dedicated modern function, specifically developed for this purpose, most flexible and good fitting into the STL environment and algortithm landscape. But slower.

Please see 4 examples in one piece of code.

#include <iostream>
#include <fstream>
#include <sstream>
#include <string>
#include <regex>
#include <algorithm>
#include <iterator>
#include <cstring>
#include <forward_list>
#include <deque>

using Container = std::vector<std::string>;
std::regex delimiter{ "," };


int main() {

    // Some function to print the contents of an STL container
    auto print = [](const auto& container) -> void { std::copy(container.begin(), container.end(),
        std::ostream_iterator<std::decay<decltype(*container.begin())>::type>(std::cout, " ")); std::cout << '\n'; };

    // Example 1:   Handcrafted -------------------------------------------------------------------------
    {
        // Our string that we want to split
        std::string stringToSplit{ "aaa,bbb,ccc,ddd" };
        Container c{};

        // Search for comma, then take the part and add to the result
        for (size_t i{ 0U }, startpos{ 0U }; i <= stringToSplit.size(); ++i) {

            // So, if there is a comma or the end of the string
            if ((stringToSplit[i] == ',') || (i == (stringToSplit.size()))) {

                // Copy substring
                c.push_back(stringToSplit.substr(startpos, i - startpos));
                startpos = i + 1;
            }
        }
        print(c);
    }

    // Example 2:   Using very old strtok function ----------------------------------------------------------
    {
        // Our string that we want to split
        std::string stringToSplit{ "aaa,bbb,ccc,ddd" };
        Container c{};

        // Split string into parts in a simple for loop
#pragma warning(suppress : 4996)
        for (char* token = std::strtok(const_cast<char*>(stringToSplit.data()), ","); token != nullptr; token = std::strtok(nullptr, ",")) {
            c.push_back(token);
        }

        print(c);
    }

    // Example 3:   Very often used std::getline with additional istringstream ------------------------------------------------
    {
        // Our string that we want to split
        std::string stringToSplit{ "aaa,bbb,ccc,ddd" };
        Container c{};

        // Put string in an std::istringstream
        std::istringstream iss{ stringToSplit };

        // Extract string parts in simple for loop
        for (std::string part{}; std::getline(iss, part, ','); c.push_back(part))
            ;

        print(c);
    }

    // Example 4:   Most flexible iterator solution  ------------------------------------------------

    {
        // Our string that we want to split
        std::string stringToSplit{ "aaa,bbb,ccc,ddd" };


        Container c(std::sregex_token_iterator(stringToSplit.begin(), stringToSplit.end(), delimiter, -1), {});
        //
        // Everything done already with range constructor. No additional code needed.
        //

        print(c);


        // Works also with other containers in the same way
        std::forward_list<std::string> c2(std::sregex_token_iterator(stringToSplit.begin(), stringToSplit.end(), delimiter, -1), {});

        print(c2);

        // And works with algorithms
        std::deque<std::string> c3{};
        std::copy(std::sregex_token_iterator(stringToSplit.begin(), stringToSplit.end(), delimiter, -1), {}, std::back_inserter(c3));

        print(c3);
    }
    return 0;
}