How to cout the value of a string variable stored in another string variable [duplicate]

Question

I'm new to c++. I'm trying to change the color of some text based on what is read in from a config file.

The config file contains:

RED=DEFCOLOR

RED is defined in a header file:

static const std::string RED="\x1b[31m";

The code snippet in main()

while( std::getline(cfgin, cfgline)) {
    std::stringstream stream(cfgline);
    if( cfgline.find("DEFCOLOR") != string::npos) {
        std::stringstream stream(cfgline);
        getline(stream, DEFCOLOR, '=');
    }
}

DEFCOLOR now contains the text: RED.

Is there a way to actually use DEFCOLOR directly as if it were the value of RED defined in the header file so that executing:

cout << DEFCOLOR << "\n";

would be the equivalent of:

cout << RED << "\n";

which actually works? The former currently prints out the text: RED . I can get it to work by using a series of if statements to check the color:

if( DEFCOLOR == "RED") 
{
    cout << RED << "\n";
}

but there must be an better way.

Max · Accepted Answer · 2018-09-21 19:56:58Z

1

Use a map:

#include <map>

static const std::map<std::string, std::string> colors = {
    { "RED", "\x1b[31m" },
    { "BLUE", "..." },
    { "GREEN", "..." }
};

Then:

std::cout << colors[DEFCOLOR] << "\n";

answered Sep 21, 2018 at 19:56

Max

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1 Comment

Art Over a year ago

Thanks Max! That worked well.

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