How to get the line number from a file in C++?

Question

What would be the best way to get the line number of the current line in a file that I have opened with a ifstream? So I am reading in the data and I need to store the line number that it is on so that I can display it later if the data doesn't match the specifications.

Answer 1

If you don't want to limit yourself to std::getline, then you could use class derived from std::streambuf, and which keeps track of the current line number:

class CountingStreamBuffer : public std::streambuf { /* see below */ };

// open file
std::ifstream file("somefile.txt");

// "pipe" through counting stream buffer
CountingStreamBuffer cntstreambuf(file.rdbuf());
std::istream is(&cntstreambuf);

// sample usage
is >> x >> y >> z;
cout << "At line " << cntstreambuf.lineNumber();
std::getline(is, str);
cout << "At line " << cntstreambuf.lineNumber();

---

Here is a sample implementation of CountingStreamBuffer:

#include <streambuf>

class CountingStreamBuffer : public std::streambuf
{
public:
    // constructor
    CountingStreamBuffer(std::streambuf* sbuf) : 
        streamBuf_(sbuf), 
        lineNumber_(1),
        lastLineNumber_(1),
        column_(0),
        prevColumn_(static_cast<unsigned int>(-1)),
        filePos_(0) 
    {
    }

    // Get current line number
    unsigned int        lineNumber() const  { return lineNumber_; }

    // Get line number of previously read character
    unsigned int        prevLineNumber() const { return lastLineNumber_; }

    // Get current column
    unsigned int        column() const   { return column_; }

    // Get file position
    std::streamsize     filepos() const { return filePos_; }

protected:
    CountingStreamBuffer(const CountingStreamBuffer&);
    CountingStreamBuffer& operator=(const CountingStreamBuffer&);

    // extract next character from stream w/o advancing read pos
    std::streambuf::int_type underflow() 
    { 
        return streamBuf_->sgetc(); 
    }

    // extract next character from stream
    std::streambuf::int_type uflow()
    {
        int_type rc = streamBuf_->sbumpc();

        lastLineNumber_ = lineNumber_;
        if (traits_type::eq_int_type(rc, traits_type::to_int_type('\n'))) 
        {
            ++lineNumber_;
            prevColumn_ = column_ + 1;
            column_ = static_cast<unsigned int>(-1);
        }

        ++column_;
        ++filePos_;
        return rc;
    }

    // put back last character
    std::streambuf::int_type pbackfail(std::streambuf::int_type c)
    {
        if (traits_type::eq_int_type(c, traits_type::to_int_type('\n'))) 
        {
            --lineNumber_;
            lastLineNumber_ = lineNumber_;
            column_ = prevColumn_;
            prevColumn_ = 0;
        }

        --column_;
        --filePos_;

        if (c != traits_type::eof())
            return streamBuf_->sputbackc(traits_type::to_char_type(c));  
        else 
            return streamBuf_->sungetc();
    }

    // change position by offset, according to way and mode  
    virtual std::ios::pos_type seekoff(std::ios::off_type pos, 
                                  std::ios_base::seekdir dir, 
                                  std::ios_base::openmode mode)
    {
        if (dir == std::ios_base::beg 
         && pos == static_cast<std::ios::off_type>(0))
        {
            lastLineNumber_ = 1;
            lineNumber_ = 1;
            column_ = 0;
            prevColumn_ = static_cast<unsigned int>(-1);
            filePos_ = 0;

            return streamBuf_->pubseekoff(pos, dir, mode);
        }
        else
            return std::streambuf::seekoff(pos, dir, mode);
    }

    // change to specified position, according to mode
    virtual std::ios::pos_type seekpos(std::ios::pos_type pos,
                                  std::ios_base::openmode mode)
    {   
        if (pos == static_cast<std::ios::pos_type>(0))
        {
            lastLineNumber_ = 1;
            lineNumber_ = 1;
            column_ = 0;
            prevColumn_ = static_cast<unsigned int>(-1);
            filePos_ = 0;

            return streamBuf_->pubseekpos(pos, mode);
        }
        else
            return std::streambuf::seekpos(pos, mode);
    }


private:
    std::streambuf*     streamBuf_;     // hosted streambuffer
    unsigned int        lineNumber_;    // current line number
    unsigned int        lastLineNumber_;// line number of last read character
    unsigned int        column_;        // current column
    unsigned int        prevColumn_;    // previous column
    std::streamsize     filePos_;       // file position
};

Answer 2

From an ifstream point of view there is no line number. If you read in the file line by line, then you just have to keep track of it yourself.