What is the difference between cout, cerr, clog of iostream header in c++? When to use which one?
I tried researching the difference between cout, cerr and clog on the internet but couldn't find a perfect answer. I still am not clear on when to use which. Can anyone explain to me, through simple programs and illustrate a perfect situation on when to use which one?
I visited this site which shows a small program on cerr and clog, but the output obtained over there can also be obtained using cout. So, I'm confused over each one's exact use.
Answer
Generally you use std::cout for normal output, std::cerr for errors, and std::clog for "logging" (which can mean whatever you want it to mean).
The major difference is that std::cerr is not buffered like the other two.
In relation to the old C stdout and stderr, std::cout corresponds to stdout, while std::cerr and std::clog both corresponds to stderr (except that std::clog is buffered).