The role of std::ws (whitespace) when reading data

Question

Data saved in my file is (white spaces added at both beginning and end on purpose for this test):

1 2 3

Loading the data using the code below with or without "std::ws" does not cause any difference. So I am confused by the role of "std::ws" as I have seen code using it. Can someone explain a little bit? Thanks!

void main ()
{
ifstream inf; 
inf.open ("test.txt"); 

double x=0, y=0, z=0;
string line;

getline(inf, line);
istringstream iss(line);
//Using "std::ws" here does NOT cause any difference
if (!(iss >> std::ws >> x >> y >> z >> std::ws))
{
    cout << "Format error in the line" << endl;
}
else
{
    cout << x << y << z << endl;
}
iss.str(std::string ());
iss.clear();

cin.get();

}

Answer 1

The primary use of std::ws is when switching between formatted and unformatted input:

• formatted input, i.e., the usual input operators using `in >> value, skip leading whitespace and stop whenever the format is filled
• unformatted input, e.g., std::getline(in, value) does not skip leading whitespace

For example, when reading an age and a fullname you might be tempted to read it like this:

 int         age(0);
 std::string fullname;
 if (std::cin >> age && std::getline(std::cin, fullname)) { // BEWARE: this is NOT a Good Idea!
     std::cout << "age=" << age << "  fullname='" << fullname << "'\n";
 }

However, if I'd enter this information using

47
Dietmar Kühl

It would print something like this

age=47 fullname=''

The problem is that the newline following the 47 is still present and immediately fills the std::getine() request. As a result you'd rather use this statement to read the data

if (std::cin >> age && std::getline(std::cin >> std::ws, fullname)) {
    ...
}

The use of std::cin >> std::ws skips the whitespace, in particular the newline, and carries on reading where the actual content is entered.