RE: [Dev-C++] Newbie Q " /n " or " endl" ?

[Abhijit S. <mu...@gm...>]

Hello, Graham.

> My book defines   "/n"       as    new line.
> And defines          " endl "  as    end line.
> But gives me no clue as to what the difference is or when to use which.
> can anyone explain the difference to me ?

Two differences you should know:

  '\n' is new-line to C, and to Unix, but may not be new-line to your OS.
For example, for Windows, "\r\n" is new-line. IIRC, for macs, it's just
'\r'. endl takes care of these platform specific thingies for you (as a
matter of fact, so does '\n' in files opened in text mode in STDIO, but endl
is a more graceful and conformant solution.

  Next, endl makes sure that the text that you've written is flushed. Most
streams have a buffer, so that when you write to them, the connected device
or file is not updated instantly, but the results are stored in memory (this
is for reasons of speed). endl makes sure that they (the files or devices)
are updated.

  If in doubt, use endl. If you're working with raw data (binary files or
such), then you will have to use '\n'. When you start working with binary
files, you should be able to tell the difference anyway, if your book is any
good.

Hope this helps.

--
Abhijit Shylanath
Homepage: http://mudeth.tripod.com/