Chapter 12: Problem 11

What arguments do you pass to a file stream object's read member function?

Short Answer

Expert verified

Answer: The two arguments that need to be passed to a file stream object's read member function are: 1. A pointer to a character buffer or array where the contents of the file will be stored after reading. 2. An integer specifying the number of bytes (characters) to be read from the file.

Step by step solution

Understand the file stream object

A file stream object is typically used to handle input and output operations in a program. It allows you to read from or write to a file. The read member function is used to read a certain amount of data (characters) from a file.

read() function in file streams

The read() member function is a part of file streams in C++ and several other programming languages. It reads a specified number of bytes (characters) from a file and stores them in a buffer (an array, for instance). The function takes two arguments.

First argument: buffer pointer

The first argument is a pointer to a character buffer/array where the contents of the file will be stored after reading. This buffer will be large enough to hold the number of characters specified in the second argument. For example, in C++: ```cpp char buffer[20]; ifstream file("example.txt"); file.read(buffer, 20); ```

Second argument: number of bytes to read

The second argument of the read() function is an integer specifying the number of bytes (characters) to be read from the file. The function will read up to the specified number of bytes, or until the end of the file is reached, whichever comes first. For example, in C++: ```cpp char buffer[20]; ifstream file("example.txt"); file.read(buffer, 10); // Read only 10 bytes (characters) ``` In summary, when using the read member function of a file stream object, you need to pass two arguments: a pointer to a character buffer where the file contents will be stored, and the number of bytes (characters) to be read from the file.

Unlock Step-by-Step Solutions & Ace Your Exams!

Full Textbook Solutions
Get detailed explanations and key concepts
Unlimited Al creation
Al flashcards, explanations, exams and more...
Ads-free access
To over 500 millions flashcards
Money-back guarantee
We refund you if you fail your exam.

Start your free trial

Over 30 million students worldwide already upgrade their learning with Vaia!

Recommended explanations on Computer Science Textbooks

View all explanations

What do you think about this solution?

We value your feedback to improve our textbook solutions.

What arguments do you pass to a file stream object's read member function?

Short Answer

Step by step solution

Understand the file stream object

read() function in file streams

First argument: buffer pointer

Second argument: number of bytes to read

One App. One Place for Learning.

Most popular questions from this chapter

Recommended explanations on Computer Science Textbooks

Data Representation in Computer Science

Computer Network

Computer Systems

Functional Programming

Problem Solving Techniques

Algorithms in Computer Science

Study anywhere. Anytime. Across all devices.