I/O Redirection in C++
In C, we can use the freopen() function for redirection purposes. Using this function, we can
redirect existing FILE pointer to another stream. The syntax of the freopen is like below:
FILE *freopen(const char* filename, const char* mode, FILE *stream)
In C++ also, we can do the redirection. In C++, the streams are used. Here we can use our own
stream, and also redirect system streams. In C++, there are three types of streams.
- istream : Stream, that can support input only
- ostream : Stream, that can support output only
- iostream : These can be used for input and output.
These classes, and file stream classes are derived from the ios and stream-buf class. So the
filestream and IO stream objects behave similarly.
C++ allows to set the stream buffer to any stream. So we can simply change the stream
buffer associated with the stream for redirecting. For an example, if there are two streams A
and B, and we want to redirect Stream A to Stream B, we need to follow these steps:
- Get the stream buffer A, and store it
- Set stream buffer A to another stream buffer B
- Reset the stream buffer A to its previous position (Optional)
Example Code
#include <fstream>
#include <iostream>
#include <string>
using namespace std;
int main() {
fstream fs;
fs.open("abcd.txt", ios::out);
string lin;
// Make a backup of stream buffer
streambuf* sb_cout = cout.rdbuf();
streambuf* sb_cin = cin.rdbuf();
// Get the file stream buffer
streambuf* sb_file = fs.rdbuf();
// Now cout will point to file
cout.rdbuf(sb_file);
cout << "This string will be stored into the File" << endl;
//get the previous buffer from backup
cout.rdbuf(sb_cout);
cout << "Again in Cout buffer for console" << endl;
fs.close();
}Output
Again in Cout buffer for console
abcd.txt
This string will be stored into the File
Published on 28-May-2019 16:24:14
