1.5 — Introduction to iostream: cout, cin, and endl

In this lesson, we’ll talk more about std::cout, which we used in our Hello world! program to output the text Hello world! to the console. We’ll also explore how to get input from the user, which we will use to make our programs more interactive.

The input/output library

The input/output library (io library) is part of the C++ standard library that deals with basic input and output. We’ll use the functionality in this library to get input from the keyboard and output data to the console. The io part of iostream stands for input/output.

To use the functionality defined within the iostream library, we need to include the iostream header at the top of any code file that uses the content defined in iostream, like so:

#include <iostream>

// rest of code that uses iostream functionality here

std::cout

The iostream library contains a few predefined variables for us to use. One of the most useful is std::cout, which allows us to send data to the console to be printed as text. cout stands for “character output”.

As a reminder, here’s our Hello world program:

#include <iostream> // for std::cout

int main()
{
    std::cout << "Hello world!"; // print Hello world! to console

    return 0;
}

In this program, we have included iostream so that we have access to std::cout. Inside our main function, we use std::cout, along with the insertion operator (<<), to send the text Hello world! to the console to be printed.

std::cout can not only print text, it can also print numbers:

#include <iostream> // for std::cout

int main()
{
    std::cout << 4; // print 4 to console

    return 0;
}

This produces the result:

4

It can also be used to print the value of variables:

#include <iostream> // for std::cout

int main()
{
    int x{ 5 }; // define integer variable x, initialized with value 5
    std::cout << x; // print value of x (5) to console
    return 0;
}

This produces the result:

5

To print more than one thing on the same line, the insertion operator (<<) can be used multiple times in a single statement to concatenate (link together) multiple pieces of output. For example:

#include <iostream> // for std::cout

int main()
{
    std::cout << "Hello" << " world!";
    return 0;
}

This program prints:

Hello world!

Here’s another example where we print both text and the value of a variable in the same statement:

#include <iostream> // for std::cout

int main()
{
    int x{ 5 };
    std::cout << "x is equal to: " << x;
    return 0;
}

This program prints:

x is equal to: 5

std::endl

What would you expect this program to print?

#include <iostream> // for std::cout

int main()
{
    std::cout << "Hi!";
    std::cout << "My name is Alex.";
    return 0;
}

You might be surprised at the result:

Hi!My name is Alex.

Separate output statements don’t result in separate lines of output on the console.

If we want to print separate lines of output to the console, we need to tell the console when to move the cursor to the next line.

One way to do that is to use std::endl. When output with std::cout, std::endl prints a newline character to the console (causing the cursor to go to the start of the next line). In this context, endl stands for “end line”.

For example:

#include <iostream> // for std::cout and std::endl

int main()
{
    std::cout << "Hi!" << std::endl; // std::endl will cause the cursor to move to the next line of the console
    std::cout << "My name is Alex." << std::endl;

    return 0;
}

This prints:

Hi!
My name is Alex.

std::cout is buffered

Consider a rollercoaster ride at your favorite amusement park. Passengers show up (at some variable rate) and get in line. Periodically, a train arrives and boards passengers (up to the maximum capacity of the train). When the train is full, or when enough time has passed, the train departs with a batch of passengers, and the ride commences. Any passengers unable to board the current train wait for the next one.

This analogy is similar to how output sent to std::cout is typically processed in C++. Statements in our program request that output be sent to the console. However, that output is typically not sent to the console immediately. Instead, the requested output “gets in line”, and is stored in a region of memory set aside to collect such requests (called a buffer). Periodically, the buffer is flushed, meaning all of the data collected in the buffer is transferred to its destination (in this case, the console).

This also means that if your program crashes, aborts, or is paused (e.g. for debugging purposes) before the buffer is flushed, any output still waiting in the buffer will not be displayed.

std::endl vs ‘\n’

Using std::endl can be a bit inefficient, as it actually does two jobs: it moves the cursor to the next line of the console, and it flushes the buffer. When writing text to the console, we typically don’t need to flush the buffer at the end of each line. It’s more efficient to let the system flush itself periodically (which it has been designed to do efficiently).

Because of this, use of the ‘\n’ character is typically preferred instead. The ‘\n’ character moves the cursor to the next line of the console, but doesn’t request a flush, so it will often perform better. The ‘\n’ character is also more concise since it’s both shorter and can be embedded into existing text.

Here’s an example that uses ‘\n’ in two different ways:

#include <iostream> // for std::cout

int main()
{
    int x{ 5 };
    std::cout << "x is equal to: " << x << '\n'; // Using '\n' standalone
    std::cout << "And that's all, folks!\n"; // Using '\n' embedded into a double-quoted piece of text (note: no single quotes when used this way)
    return 0;
}

This prints:

x is equal to: 5
And that's all, folks!

When ‘\n’ is used by itself to move the cursor to the next line of the console, it should be single quoted. When embedded into text that is already double-quoted, additional quotes aren’t needed.

We’ll cover what ‘\n’ is in more detail when we get to the lesson on chars (4.11 -- Chars).

std::cin

std::cin is another predefined variable that is defined in the iostream library. Whereas std::cout prints data to the console using the insertion operator (<<), std::cin (which stands for “character input”) reads input from keyboard using the extraction operator (>>). The input must be stored in a variable to be used.

#include <iostream>  // for std::cout and std::cin

int main()
{
    std::cout << "Enter a number: "; // ask user for a number

    int x{};       // define variable x to hold user input (and value-initialize it)
    std::cin >> x; // get number from keyboard and store it in variable x

    std::cout << "You entered " << x << '\n';
    return 0;
}

Try compiling this program and running it for yourself. When you run the program, line 5 will print “Enter a number: “. When the code gets to line 8, your program will wait for you to enter input. Once you enter a number (and press enter), the number you enter will be assigned to variable x. Finally, on line 10, the program will print “You entered ” followed by the number you just entered.

For example (I entered 4):

Enter a number: 4
You entered 4

This is an easy way to get keyboard input from the user, and we will use it in many of our examples going forward. Note that you don’t need to use ‘\n’ when accepting input, as the user will need to press the enter key to have their input accepted, and this will move the cursor to the next line of the console.

If your screen closes immediately after entering a number, please see lesson 0.8 -- A few common C++ problems for a solution.

Just like it is possible to output more than one bit of text in a single line, it is also possible to input more than one value on a single line:

#include <iostream>  // for std::cout and std::cin

int main()
{
    std::cout << "Enter two numbers separated by a space: ";

    int x{}; // define variable x to hold user input (and value-initialize it)
    int y{}; // define variable y to hold user input (and value-initialize it)
    std::cin >> x >> y; // get two numbers and store in variable x and y respectively

    std::cout << "You entered " << x << " and " << y << '\n';

    return 0;
}

This produces the output:

Enter two numbers separated by a space: 5 6
You entered 5 and 6

We’ll discuss how std::cin handles invalid input in a future lesson (8.17 -- std::cin and handling invalid input). For now, it’s enough to know that std::cin will extract as much as it can, and any input characters that could not be extracted are left for a later extraction attempt.

Summary

New programmers often mix up std::cin, std::cout, the insertion operator (<<) and the extraction operator (>>). Here’s an easy way to remember:

• std::cin and std::cout always go on the left-hand side of the statement.
• std::cout is used to output a value (cout = character output)
• std::cin is used to get an input value (cin = character input)
• << is used with std::cout, and shows the direction that data is moving (if std::cout represents the console, the output data is moving from the variable to the console). std::cout << 4 moves the value of 4 to the console
• >> is used with std::cin, and shows the direction that data is moving (if std::cin represents the keyboard, the input data is moving from the keyboard to the variable). std::cin >> x moves the value the user entered from the keyboard into x

We’ll talk more about operators in lesson 1.9 -- Introduction to literals and operators.

Quiz time

#include <iostream>  // for std::cout and std::cin

int main()
{
    std::cout << "Enter a number: "; // ask user for a number
    int x{}; // define variable x to hold user input
    std::cin >> x; // get number from keyboard and store it in variable x
    std::cout << "You entered " << x << '\n';
    return 0;
}