Returning ifstream in a function

问题:

Here's probably a very noobish question for you: How (if at all possible) can I return an ifstream from a function?

Basically, I need to obtain the filename of a database from the user, and if the database with that filename does not exist, then I need to create that file for the user. I know how to do that, but only by asking the user to restart the program after creating the file. I wanted to avoid that inconvenience for the user if possible, but the function below does not compile in gcc:

ifstream getFile() {
    string fileName;
    cout << "Please enter in the name of the file you'd like to open: ";
    cin >> fileName;
    ifstream first(fileName.c_str());
    if(first.fail()) {
        cout << "File " << fileName << " not found.\n";
        first.close();
        ofstream second(fileName.c_str());
        cout << "File created.\n";
        second.close();
        ifstream third(fileName.c_str());
        return third; //compiler error here
    }
    else
        return first;
}

EDIT: sorry, forgot to tell you where and what the compiler error was:

main.cpp:45: note: synthesized method ‘std::basic_ifstream<char, std::char_traits<char> >::basic_ifstream(const std::basic_ifstream<char, std::char_traits<char> >&)’ first required here 

EDIT: I changed the function to return a pointer instead as Remus suggested, and changed the line in main() to "ifstream database = *getFile()"; now I get this error again, but this time in the line in main():

main.cpp:27: note: synthesized method ‘std::basic_ifstream<char, std::char_traits<char> >::basic_ifstream(const std::basic_ifstream<char, std::char_traits<char> >&)’ first required here

回答1:

bool checkFileExistence(const string& filename)
{
    ifstream f(filename.c_str());
    return f.is_open();
}

string getFileName()
{
    string filename;
    cout << "Please enter in the name of the file you'd like to open: ";
    cin >> filename;
    return filename;
}

void getFile(string filename, /*out*/ ifstream& file)
{
    const bool file_exists = checkFileExistence(filename);
    if (!file_exists) {
        cout << "File " << filename << " not found." << endl;
        filename = getFileName();  // poor style to reset input parameter though
        ofstream dummy(filename.c_str();
        if (!dummy.is_open()) {
            cerr << "Could not create file." << endl;
            return;
        }
        cout << "File created." << endl;
    }
    file.open(filename.c_str());
}

int main()
{
    // ...
    ifstream file;
    getFile("filename.ext", file);
    if (file.is_open()) {
        // do any stuff with file
    }
    // ...
}

回答2:

No, not really. ifstream doesn't have a copy constructor, and if you try to return one, that means copying the instance in your function out to wherever the return needs to go.

The usual workaround is to pass in a reference to one, and modify that reference in your function.

Edit: while that will allow your code to work, it won't fix the basic problem. Right now, you're mixing two rather different responsibilities into a single function: 1) obtain a file name, 2) open or create that file. I think if you separate those, the code will be simpler, and make it much easier to eliminate the source of the problem you're seeing.

Edit 2: Using a reference like this works perfectly well without an operator=. The general idea is something like:

int open_file(char const *name, fstream &stream) { 
    stream.open(name);
}

The assignment operator is neither necessary nor useful in this case -- we simply use the existing fstream via the reference. An operator= would be necessary if and only if we had to pass the argument to the ctor. With a stream, we can default construct a stream that doesn't connect to a file, and then use open to connect to the file after the fact.

回答3:

ifstream does not support copy construct semantics (that what the error message basically sais), so you cannot return an ifstream. Return an ifstream* instead, and pass to the caller the responsability to delete the allocate pointer.

回答4:

This comment may not answer your question, I just want to ask Mr. @Corwin about his answer: Just like his code, we have: getFileName block for requesting filename, I think we should code like this (This is my opinion only):

void getFile(/*out*/ ifstream& file){
    string filename = getFileName();
    const bool file_exist = checkFileExistence(filename);
    if (!file_exist){
       ....
    }
    ....
}

And in int main(), I think :

int main(){
    ifstream file;
    getFile(file);
    if (file.is_open()){
        //some stuff
    }
}

With this, you can get filename from user input at the console.

By the ways, thank Mr. @Corwin for the code its help me a lot.

回答5:

As an option, ifstream may be extended and custom constructor added to new class.

I've extended it to create test resource stream, encapsulating test resource lookup inside of it.

// test_utils.h
class TestResourceStream : public std::ifstream {
    public:
        TestResourceStream(const char* file_path);
};

// test_utils.cpp
namespace fs = std::filesystem;
fs::path test_resource_path(const char* file_path) {
    fs::path path{std::string{"tests/resources/"} + file_path};
    if (!fs::exists(path))
        throw std::runtime_error{std::string{"path "} + 
            fs::absolute(path).c_str() + " does not exist"};
    return path;
}
TestResourceStream::TestResourceStream(const char* file_path)
    :std::ifstream{test_resource_path(file_path).c_str()} {}

// usage in test
TEST_CASE("parse") {
    std::list<GosDump::Expertise> expertises;
    TestResourceStream stream("requests/page_response.json");
    GosDump::Json::parse(expertises, stream);
    REQUIRE(10 == expertises.size());
}