Copy, Translate, and Save Text File

[Michael Lester]

Question: How to copy user designated text file containing vocabulary list,translate its contents, and save the new file to the same directory as original file with a new file extension.

Details: I am new to programming. I have a compiler (Code-Blocks 12.11). Asan exercise, I would like help to write a program that will allow a student to enter a text file location and file name, and the desired output language. The program will then translate the text in the file into one of a dozen or more languages using a csv vocabulary file with the vocabulary words in rows and the translations in columns and save the new file as a text file to the same directory with a new file extension. The program knows the source language from the file extension of the source file.

Thanks,
Michael

Sample original text file [Vocab List - Animals.eng]

English Vocabulary List
Animals
Mrs. Howard
Language Lab
Summer 2013

Start
alligator
ant
bear
bee
bird
camel
cat
cheetah
chicken
chimpanzee
cow
crocodile
deer
....
End

*****

Sample output file [Vocab List - Animals.spa]

Spanish Vocabulary List
Animals
Mrs. Howard
Language Lab
Summer 2013

Start
Alligator
oso
aves
abeja
camello
cat
pollo
chimpancé
chita
vacacocodrilo
ciervos
....
End

 

[Stefan Ram]

Question: How to copy user designated text file containing
vocabulary list, translate its contents, and save the new
file to the same directory as original file with a new file
extension.

Someone who asks here how to save a text to a directory
cannot be technically capable to program a proper
translation of natural-language texts.

(The meaning of a word usually depends on the context,
the idea of a 1-to-1 mapping of words between natural
languages is false. A proper translation usually even
changes the number of words and the structure of phrases.

I'd suggest to modify the assignment so as to do something
that can be covered with the current capabilities of the
students, such as determining word frequencies.)

 

[Stefan Ram]

I'd suggest to modify the assignment so as to do something
that can be covered with the current capabilities of the
students, such as determining word frequencies.

Or, otherwise, to change the description of the task
from »translation« to »word replacements«, not claiming
that simplistic 1-by-1 word replacements were a »translation«.

 

[Michael Lester]

Question: How to copy user designated text file containing vocabulary list, translate its contents, and save the new file to the same directory as original file with a new file extension.

Okay, I need to take smaller bites.

I found some C source code that compiles in C++ and will copy a file to a new file with user input to locate the source file and declare the output file.

I also found some code that is supposed to find and replace text, but it only reads the text, and I don't know what I am doing wrong.

// print the content of a text file.
#include <iostream>
#include <fstream>
#include <string>
using namespace std;

int main () {

// This is where we'll put the stuff we read from file
char buffer[ 100 ];


// Fill the buffer with zeros (char strings must be null-terminated)
fill_n( buffer, 100, '\0' );



ifstream infile;

infile.open ("Test3.txt", ifstream::in);

while (infile.good())

// Read as many as 100 bytes (chars) from the file and stick them in our array
infile.read( buffer, 100 );

// Convert that char array into a STL string, and show the user what we got.
string g( buffer );


string str2="exit";
string str="t";


g.replace(g.find(str2), str2.length(), "str");

cout << buffer << " successfully read from file.\n";


infile.close();

return 0;
}

 

[Stefan Ram]

I don't know what I am doing wrong.

If you do not know the meaning of a single word of the
source file you have posted (supposedly after you had
obtained permission from their authors to do this), we can
answer. But if you do not know the meaning of many parts,
it's better to read a good book or take a course with a good
teacher.

For a book, you might try »Programming -- Principles and
Practice Using C++«.

http://www.stroustrup.com/Programming/

 

[Michael Lester]

Thank you very much for the help Paavo. I will spend some time working on implementing your suggestions and see if can work this out.

Sincerely,
Michael

 

[Michael Lester]

For the dictionary you will want to create and populate a std::map or
something like that for fast lookup of the words.

Sorry for the bad snip job...

Paavo has helped me understand more about how to do what I want to do, and I am hoping for some additional guidance.

I have code that will read the first line of my old file and write the sameline to my new file (Code 1). I also have separate code that will read user input and replace the input using a std::map database (Code 2). I would like to know how to integrate Code 1 and Code 2 into one project so that (a)the std:map (Code 2) will use the line read by Code 1 from the old file tofind the replacement text in the database instead of asking for user input, then (b) Code 1 will write the new text to the new file, and (c) the codewill repeat to the end of the file with a loop, or something.

Here are the two codes I have:

Code 1

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

int main () {
string line;
ifstream myfile ("Test.old");
if (myfile.is_open())
{

{
getline (myfile,line);
cout << line << endl;
}
myfile.close();
}

else cout << "Unable to open file";


ofstream mynewfile ("Test.new");
if (mynewfile.is_open())
{
mynewfile << line;

mynewfile.close();
}
else cout << "Unable to open file";

return 0;
}

Code 2

#include <iostream>
#include <map>
#include <string>

int main()
{
std::map<std::string, std::string> database;

database["ABCDEFGHI"] = "1234";
database["BCDEFGHIJ"] = "2345";
database["CDEFGHIJK"] = "3456";
std::cout << "What word do want to find?\nAvailable: ";

for (std::map<std::string, std::string>::const_iterator ci = database.begin();
ci != database.end();
++ci
)
std::cout << (*ci).first << ' ';

std::cout << std::endl;

std::string name;

std::getline(std::cin, name);

if (database.count(name) == 0)
std::cout << "Sorry, `" << name << "' not in database.";
else
std::cout << name << ": " << (*database.find(name)).second;

std::cout << std::endl;
}

 

[Michael Lester]

Michael Lester wrote >> >



Seems you already have all the pieces, you should just merge them together.
The final program should be something like:

populate map
open old and new files
while(getline(...)) {
process line and write to the new file

hth
Paavo

Hi, Paavo,

I am almost there, I think! Thank you for your help to get me this far.

The following code appears to read all lines from my input file, but only outputs the last line to my output file. I want to populate the output file with all the values for which there are keys in the input file, not just the last value.

Will you help me a little more, please?

Thanks,
Michael

#include <iostream>
#include <map>
#include <string>
#include <fstream>
using namespace std;
int main()
{
std::map<std::string, std::string> move_list;

move_list["AAAAAAAAA"] = "aaaa";
move_list["BBBBBBBBB"] = "bbbb";
move_list["CCCCCCCCC"] = "cccc";

for (std::map<std::string, std::string>::const_iterator ci = long_word.begin();
ci != long_word.end();
ci++

)
std::cout << (*ci).first << ' ';

std::cout << std::endl;

std::string XYZ;


std::ifstream myfile ("Test.XYZ");
if (myfile.is_open())
{

{
while (getline (myfile,XYZ));
std::cout << XYZ << std::endl;
}
myfile.close();
}

else std::cout << "Unable to open file";



if (long_word.count(XYZ) == 0)
std::cout << "Sorry, `" << XYZ << "' not in long_word.";
else
{

std:fstream mynewfile ("Test.ABC", ios::app);
if (mynewfile.is_open())
{
mynewfile << (*long_word.find(XYZ)).second;

mynewfile.close();
}
else std::cout << "Unable to open file";

std::cout << std::endl;

}
}

 

[Michael Lester]

Michael Lester wrote >> >



Seems you already have all the pieces, you should just merge them together.
The final program should be something like:

populate map
open old and new files
while(getline(...)) {
process line and write to the new file

hth
Paavo

Hi, Paavo,

I am almost there, I think! Thank you for your help to get me this far.

The following code appears to read all lines from my input file, but only outputs the last line to my output file. I want to populate the output file with all the values for which there are keys in the input file, not just the last value.

Will you help me a little more, please?

Thanks,
Michael

#include <iostream>
#include <map>
#include <string>
#include <fstream>
using namespace std;
int main()
{
std::map<std::string, std::string> move_list;

long_word["AAAAAAAAA"] = "aaaa";
long_word["BBBBBBBBB"] = "bbbb";
long_word["CCCCCCCCC"] = "cccc";

for (std::map<std::string, std::string>::const_iterator ci = long_word.begin();
ci != long_word.end();
ci++

)
std::cout << (*ci).first << ' ';

std::cout << std::endl;

std::string XYZ;


std::ifstream myfile ("Test.XYZ");
if (myfile.is_open())
{

{
while (getline (myfile,XYZ));
std::cout << XYZ << std::endl;
}
myfile.close();
}

else std::cout << "Unable to open file";



if (long_word.count(XYZ) == 0)
std::cout << "Sorry, `" << XYZ << "' not in long_word.";
else
{

std:fstream mynewfile ("Test.ABC", ios::app);
if (mynewfile.is_open())
{
mynewfile << (*long_word.find(XYZ)).second;

mynewfile.close();
}
else std::cout << "Unable to open file";

std::cout << std::endl;

}
}

 

[?? Tiib]

The following code appears to read all lines from my input file,
but only outputs the last line to my output file.

That is exactly what your program does:

[...]
while (getline (myfile,XYZ));
std::cout << XYZ << std::endl;
[...]

Putting ';' after while is dangerous because it is often hard to
notice and reader (even yourself few months later) may misunderstand
your original intentions. Use syntax like:

while (getline (myfile,XYZ))
{ }

As I understand you just want to remove that semicolon to output
all lines read not only last line.

 

[Michael Lester]

The following code appears to read all lines from my input file,
but only outputs the last line to my output file.

That is exactly what your program does:

[...]
while (getline (myfile,XYZ));
std::cout << XYZ << std::endl;
[...]

Putting ';' after while is dangerous because it is often hard to
notice and reader (even yourself few months later) may misunderstand
your original intentions. Use syntax like:

while (getline (myfile,XYZ))
{ }

As I understand you just want to remove that semicolon to output
all lines read not only last line.

Thank you, ?? Tiib!
Thanks to Paavo, and the others who helped me, too.

With this last change (and moving my "output to file" routine up to replace
std::cout << XYZ << std::endl;
the program now seems to work as intended.

I will have to deal with replacing the headers in the input file now to getthe new headers into the new file, but I will spend some time fooling around with that myself to see what I can figure out.

 

[Michael Lester]

the program now seems to work as intended.

I will have to deal with replacing the headers in the input file now to get the new headers into the new file, but I will spend some time fooling around with that myself to see what I can figure out.

I have tried for the past five hours to figure out how to output the user selected input text file to a new text file. I will use the copy to manipulate the data (a multi-line header and a long list of nine character words). I will need to remove the first five characters of each word, but that willbe my next challenge.

I have written a test program which outputs the entire contents of the input file to the console as intended, and creates the new file, but does not put any data in the new file. I have pasted 40 lines of code below. If I getit working, I will attempt to integrate it into the code I posted here previously.

I would very much appreciate any help you are willing to give.

Sincerely, Michael

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

int main () {
string line;
ifstream myfile;
ofstream mynewfile;

cout << "Please enter the input file name and location> " << flush;
while (true)
{
myfile.close();
myfile.clear();
string myfilename;
getline( cin, myfilename );
myfile.open( myfilename.c_str() );
if (myfile) break;
cout << "Invalid file. Please enter a valid input file name and location> " << flush;
}

if (myfile.is_open())
{
while ( myfile.good() )
{
getline (myfile,line);
cout << line << endl;
ofstream mynewfile ("Outputfile.txt");
if (mynewfile.is_open())
{
mynewfile << line << endl;
}
}

myfile.close();
}

else cout << "Unable to open file";
return 0;
}

 

[Ike Naar]

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

int main () {
string line;
ifstream myfile;
ofstream mynewfile;

cout << "Please enter the input file name and location> " << flush;
while (true)
{
myfile.close();

In the first iteration of the while loop, myfile is not associated
with an open file. Closing it is an error.

myfile.clear();
string myfilename;
getline( cin, myfilename );
myfile.open( myfilename.c_str() );
if (myfile) break;
cout << "Invalid file. Please enter a valid input file name and location> " << flush;
}

if (myfile.is_open())
{
while ( myfile.good() )
{
getline (myfile,line);
cout << line << endl;
ofstream mynewfile ("Outputfile.txt");

Why is mynewfile re-opened for every line in myfile?

 

[Michael Lester]

Thank you for your help Ike, and the others who have helped me make progress on this.

The attached code (without the indented code in the middle - see below) works to read a user-entered text file and then output values from the map to a new text file. However, I need to make a copy of the user input file first, because I want to modify its contents, and I don't want to risk damagingthe original file. (I want to remove the first five characters from each line of nine characters in the input file before testing them against the map. I also have to deal with a header in the input file, but that is too much for me right now.)

When I added the code to copy the file (indented in middle of code attachedbelow), it copied the file to a new file as intended, but then the map routine, which worked fine without the new code, returned the error "Sorry '' Not in move list." How can I fix the code so that both parts work to (1) copy the input file to a new file, and (2) return the map values to the output file?

Thanks for your help.

#include <iostream>
#include <map>
#include <string>
#include <fstream>
using namespace std;
int main()

{
std::map<std::string, std::string> move_list;

move_list["XXXXXXXXX"] = "ABCD";
move_list["YYYYYYYYY"] = "EFGH";
move_list["ZZZZZZZZZ"] = "IJKL";

for (std::map<std::string, std::string>::const_iterator ci = move_list.begin();
ci != move_list.end();
ci++

)
std::cout << (*ci).first << ' ';

std::cout << std::endl;

std::string TXT;

//New code to ask user for file name
ifstream myfile;
string line;
ofstream copyfile ("Outputfile.txt");

cout << "Please enter the input file name and location> " << flush;
while (true)
{
myfile.close();
myfile.clear();
string myfilename;
getline( cin, myfilename );
myfile.open( myfilename.c_str() );
if (myfile) break;
cout << "Invalid file. Please enter a valid input file name and location> " << flush;
}

if (myfile.is_open())
//New code to copy input file to new file
{
while ( myfile.good() )
{
getline (myfile,line);
cout << line << endl;

{
copyfile << line << endl;
}
}

}

else cout << "Unable to open file";

//end of new code to copy input file
{
while(getline (myfile,TXT))

{

std:fstream mynewfile ("Testing.TXT", ios::app);
if (mynewfile.is_open())
{
mynewfile << (*move_list.find(TXT)).second <<std::endl;
mynewfile.close();
}
else std::cout << "Unable to open file";

}

myfile.close();
}

else std::cout << "Unable to open file";

if (move_list.count(TXT) == 0)
std::cout << "Sorry, `" << TXT << "' not in move_list.";
else

std::cout << std::endl;

}