getline()

In C++, the getline() function converts user input into a character-delimited string and stores them in a variable. If a delimiting character is not specified, then the entire input will be stored.

Syntax

The getline() function is defined in the <string> header.

#include <string>

getline(cin, string, delim)

• getline() is part of the <string> header, so it is included at the top of the file.
• cin is the object in the stream, which would be the user input.
• string refers to the variable the user input is set to.
• delim refers to a character that the user’s input is stored up to.

Although not recommended in C++, since it deals with C strings, getline() can be called on the cin object as a member function like this:

cin.getline(string, length, delim)

• length is the expected size of the character array.

Example 1

#include <iostream>
#include <string>

using namespace std;

int main() {
  string my_str;

  cout << "Enter a pet name: ";
  getline(cin, my_str);

  cout << "My pet's name is " + my_str + "!";
}

This will output:

Enter a pet name:

If the user then inputs the string "Nimbus", this will be the final output:

My pet's name is Nimbus!

Example 2

In the example above, the user will be prompted to enter a pet name. Then, the getline() function will take the input and set it to the my_str variable. my_str can then be used in the following operations.

The same example of getline(), but called upon the cin object, would look like this:

#include <iostream>

using namespace std;

int main() {
  char my_char_array[20];

  cout << "Enter a pet name: ";
  // Input: Nimbus
  cin.getline(my_char_array, 20);

  cout << "My pet's name is " << my_char_array << "!";
  // Output: My pet's name is Nimbus!
}

Codebyte Example

Run the following codebyte to understand how the getline() function works:

us
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In the above example, using traditional cin >> myString would result in only capturing the first word, “Codeacademy.” This is because cin >> reads input until it encounters a space or newline. To read an entire line, including spaces and tabs, we use getline(cin, myString), which captures the full input line as a single string.