Chapter 12: Problem 56

T F A file stream object’s fail member function may be used to determine if the file was successfully opened.

Short Answer

Expert verified

The fail() member function of a file stream object in C++ can indeed be used to determine if a file was successfully opened. It does this by returning a boolean value that indicates if the internal state of the stream has a failure flag set. When opening a file, if fail() returns true, then the file was not opened successfully, whereas a false value indicates a successful opening.

Step by step solution

File Stream Objects

A file stream object is an instance of the fstream, ifstream, or ofstream class, which are defined in the header file in C++. These objects are used to work with files, allowing reading, writing, and manipulation operations.

Opening a File

To open a file using a file stream object, you need to call the "open" member function providing the filename and the operation mode (read, write, etc.) as arguments. Here's a simple example: ```cpp #include #include using namespace std; int main() { ifstream inFile; inFile.open("example.txt"); // Perform operations with the file inFile.close(); return 0; } ```

fail() Member Function

The fail() member function is a part of the iostream class (base class for file stream classes) and returns a boolean value. This function checks if the internal state of the stream has a failure flag set. The internal state can be altered when some error occurs during input/output operations or when calling a member function like open().

Using fail() to Check if a File Was Successfully Opened

You can use the fail() member function of the file stream object to check if the file has been opened successfully. Here's a modified version of the previous example, now with the fail() member function to check for file opening: ```cpp #include #include using namespace std; int main() { ifstream inFile; inFile.open("example.txt"); if (inFile.fail()) { cout << "Failed to open the file."; return 1; // Exit the program with an error code } else { cout << "File opened successfully."; // Perform operations with the file inFile.close(); } return 0; } ``` In this example, we check if the fail() member function returns true, indicating a failure (file not opened successfully). Otherwise, the file was opened successfully.

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T F A file stream object’s fail member function may be used to determine if the file was successfully opened.

Short Answer

Step by step solution

File Stream Objects

Opening a File

fail() Member Function

Using fail() to Check if a File Was Successfully Opened

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