for loop not executing properly?

Question

OK, I have this assignment and I have to prompt the user for data about 5 separate basketball players. My question prompts are in a for loop, the loop executes the first time for the first player fine, but when the second players info needs to be entered the first two question prompts are together on the same line, I have fiddled with this and just cannot figure it out, I am sure it is something small that I am apparently missing, thanks for any suggestions on how to fix this.

Here is the output:

Enter the name, number, and points scored for each of the 5 players.
Enter the name of player # 1: Michael Jordan
Enter the number of player # 1: 23
Enter points scored for player # 1: 64
Enter the name of player # 2: Enter the number of player # 2: <------- * questions 1 and 2 *

Here is my code:

#include <iostream>
#include <string>
#include <iomanip>
using namespace std;


//struct of Basketball Player info
struct BasketballPlayerInfo
{
    string name; //player name

    int playerNum, //player number
        pointsScored; //points scored

};

int main()
{
    int index; //loop count
    const int numPlayers = 5; //nuymber of players
    BasketballPlayerInfo players[numPlayers]; //Array of players

    //ask user for Basketball Player Info
    cout << "Enter the name, number, and points scored for each of the 5 players.\n";

    for (index = 0; index < numPlayers; index++)
    {
        //collect player name
        cout << "Enter the name of player # " << (index + 1);
        cout << ": ";
        getline(cin, players[index].name);

        //collect players number
        cout << "Enter the number of player # " << (index + 1);
        cout << ": ";
        cin >> players[index].playerNum;

        //collect points scored
        cout << "Enter points scored for player # " << (index + 1);
        cout << ": ";
        cin >> players[index].pointsScored;
    }

 system("pause");
return 0;

}

Jerry Coffin · Accepted Answer · 2012-04-07 16:17:58Z

5

After you read a number (e.g., int), there's still a new-line left in the input buffer that you haven't read. When you read another number, that skips across any white-space (including new-lines to find a number. When you read a string, however, the new-line in the input buffer is read as an empty string.

To make it work, you need to get the new-line out of the input buffer before you try to read the string.

answered Apr 7, 2012 at 16:17

Jerry Coffin

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6 Comments

Neil Over a year ago

Alternatively, you could simply use cin all three times and be done with it. getline always was a little buggy in my opinion.

Jerry Coffin Over a year ago

@Neil: Presumably you mean using operator >> with cin. In that case, it won't work -- it will only read one word, so (using his example) when the user enters "Michael Jordan", it would read "Michael", but leave "Jordan" in the input buffer, which the program would then try to read as the player number (and obviously fail).

Neil Over a year ago

You're obviously right, it has been a while since I programmed basic input in C++.

Gmenfan83 Over a year ago

I am not sure if adding a cin.ignore() at the end of the for loop and now the loop executes properly, not sure if thats the best method but it works. I am a bit confused on the input buffer etc., I need to do some more reading of the documentation.

user1309389 Over a year ago

Yes, that's what Jerry meant. ignore() when called without arguments ignores one character, namely the \n. (And only if it exists).

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