Program skips second cin

Question

I'm making a C++ Mind Reader program, which is nearly complete. However, it feels the need to skip the second cin. I've searched and I'm not exactly sure what's wrong. I've examined the code and I bet I've done something stupid, but I am still baffled about it. The skipped cin is on line 32, here's my code:

#include <iostream>
#include <string>
#include <cstdlib>

using namespace std;

int main()
{
    //declaring variables to be used later
    string name;
    string country;
    int age;

    //header goes below
    cout << "                     @@@@@@@@@@@@-MIND READER-@@@@@@@@@@@@\n\n";

    //asks if the user would like to continue and in not, terminates
    cout << "Would like you to have your mind read? Enter y for yes and n for no." << endl;
    cout << "If you do not choose to proceed, this program will terminate." << endl;
    string exitOrNot;
    //receives user's input
    cin >> exitOrNot;
    //deals with input if it is 'y'
    if (exitOrNot == "y"){
        cout << "Okay, first you will need to sync your mind with this program. You will have to answer the following questions to synchronise.\n\n";

        //asks questions
        cout << "Firstly, please enter your full name, with correct capitalisation:\n\n";
        cin >> name;

        cout << "Now please enter the country you are in at the moment:\n\n";
        cin >> country; //<------ Line 32

        cout << "This will be the final question; please provide your age:\n\n";
        cin >> age;

        //asks the user to start the sync
        cout << "There is enough information to start synchronisation. Enter p to start the sync...\n\n";
        string proceed;
        cin >> proceed;
        //checks to see if to proceed and does so
        if (proceed == "p"){
            //provides results of mind read
            cout << "Sync complete." << endl;
            cout << "Your mind has been synced and read.\n\n";
            cout << "However, due to too much interference, only limited data was aquired from your mind." << endl;
            cout << "Here is what was read from your mind:\n\n";

            //puts variables in sentence
            cout << "Your name is " << name << " and you are " << age << " years old. You are based in " << country << "." << endl << "\n\n";

            cout << "Thanks for using Mind Reader, have a nice day. Enter e to exit." << endl;
            //terminates the program the program
            string terminate;
            cin >> terminate;
            if (terminate == "e"){
                exit(0);
            }

        }

    }
    //terminates the program if the input is 'n'
    if (exitOrNot == "n"){
        exit(0);
    }

    return 0;
}

EDIT: Here is what happens when I run it:

                     @@@@@@@@@@@@-MIND READER-@@@@@@@@@@@@

Would like you to have your mind read? Enter y for yes and n for no.
If you do not choose to proceed, this program will terminate.
y
Okay, first you will need to sync your mind with this program. You will have to
answer the following questions to synchronise.

Firstly, please enter your full name, with correct capitalisation:

John Smith
Now please enter the country you are in at the moment:

This will be the final question; please provide your age:

13
There is enough information to start synchronisation. Enter p to start the sync.
..

p
Sync complete.
Your mind has been synced and read.

However, due to too much interference, only limited data was aquired from your m
ind.
Here is what was read from your mind:

Your name is John and you are 13 years old. You are based in Smith.


Thanks for using Mind Reader, have a nice day. Enter e to exit.
e

Process returned 0 (0x0)   execution time : 78.220 s
Press any key to continue.

And here is a screenshot to make it clearer: http://puu.sh/4QZb3.png I can't attach it in this post cos I don't enough rep.

It's also worth noting how it uses the user's last name as a country. I believe the problem is something to do with the input not being an integer.

Thanks.

Solution 1

The problem was that you were using: cin >> to get a string from the user. If the user inputs more than 1 word, it will cause lines in your code to skip over one another. To solve this problem, we would use: getLine(cin,yourStringHere) to get a string from the user. Here is your code all fixed up:

#include <iostream>
#include <string>
#include <cstdlib>

using namespace std;

int main()
{
    string name;
    string country;
    int age;
    cout << "                     @@@@@@@@@@@@-MIND READER-@@@@@@@@@@@@\n\n";

    cout << "Would like you to have your mind read? Enter y for yes and n for no." << endl;
    cout << "If you do not choose to proceed, this program will terminate." << endl;
    string exitOrNot;
    getline (cin,exitOrNot); /*<-----Changed from cin to getLine*/
    if (exitOrNot == "y"){
        cout << "Okay, first you will need to sync your mind with this program. You will have to answer the following questions to synchronise.\n\n";

        cout << "Firstly, please enter your full name, with correct capitalisation:\n\n";
        getline(cin,name); /*<--Another string*/

        cout << "Now please enter the country you are in at the moment:\n\n";
        getline(cin,country); /*<--Another string*/

        cout << "This will be the final question; please provide your age:\n\n";
        cin >> age;

        cout << "There is enough information to start synchronisation. Enter p to start the sync...\n\n";
        string proceed;
        cin >> proceed;
        if (proceed == "p"){
            cout << "Sync complete." << endl;
            cout << "Your mind has been synced and read.\n\n";
            cout << "However, due to too much interference, only limited data was aquired from your mind." << endl;
            cout << "Here is what was read from your mind:\n\n";

            cout << "Your name is " << name << " and you are " << age << " years old. You are based in " << country << "." << endl << "\n\n";

            cout << "Thanks for using Mind Reader, have a nice day. Enter e to exit." << endl;
            string terminate;
            cin >> terminate;
            if (terminate == "e"){
                exit(0);
            }

        }

    }
    if (exitOrNot == "n"){
        exit(0);
    }

    return 0;
}

Solution 2

You can only input one word into a cin. Instead, use getline(cin, string name); If it still doesn't work, add a cin.ignore(); before your getline(cin, string name);, like this:

string country;
cout << "Now please enter the country you are in at the moment:\n\n";
cin.ignore();
getline(cin, country);

This will now definitely work.

Comments

[LihO]

How do you observe this "skipping" ?

[chris]

Turn up your warning level. You're not letting your compiler speak.

[jrok]

operator>> overload for std::string tokenizes the input on spaces. If you enter "Irshad AM", it'll only read "Irsham" and leave "AM" for the second cin to read it.

[jrok]

If you want names with space characters, use getline function and be vary of this.

[IrshadAM]

Hm. Well I've updated my post if it helps. I'll read the documentation for getline and experiment with it. Thanks.

[IrshadAM]

Well, looks like I won't be able to use getline yet. Syntax is a bit too confusing for me. I guess I'll have to abandon this project and then continue through the videos. Thanks for all the help.

[user1618143]

FYI, answers aren't listed in the order they were posted, so you shouldn't say things like "the above user".

[IrshadAM]

Hey man, thanks. Makes a lot of sense to me now. I'll figure out a way to make this the best answer.