I would like to reference a post that has already been answered in hopes that it will help answer my question

Working with Files Link

Now, in that post, the member asks about using a file directory with the system() command

I would like to create a file in a specific directory: Heres what I have :



the <path to my desktop> is of course not actual code, but the actual path to my desktop.

now when I run the program nothing obvious goes wrong, no errors and whatnot. But when i inspect my desktop there is no file.bin....BUT if i go to the folder where my project is, I notice that there is a file there

(assume my desktops path is C:\Documents and Settings\MyDesktop\Desktop)

with the previous assumption I get the following:

CDocumentsandSettingsMyDesktopDesktopstack.bin

Not exactly what I wanted...Any suggestions?

This post has been edited by mattman059: 24 Nov, 2007 - 01:40 PM

in C and C++, the backslash (\) character is a special one which denotes an Escape sequence. An escape sequence is for special characters which don't have an ordinary representation (such as a tab, a new-line, etc). or that have a special meaning within C/C++ string literal grammar, such as a double-quote character (Which usually denotes a string literal on its own).

if you wish to include a backslash character in your code as part of a string, then you must use the escape sequence for the backslash character, which is a double backslash; \\

In short, your directory paths must look something like this
"C:\\MyFolder\\MySubFolder\\Myfile.txt"

In Windows, sometimes you have spaces in directory paths, which require you to use double-quotes as part of the path string. So, if you wish to use double-quote character within a string, you have the escape character for a double quote, which is \"

Have a look at this link for more escape sequences
http://www.cppreference.com/escape_sequences.html


edit - The alternative is to type your directory paths using the forward-slash character, a-la *nix. This often works in Windows too
"C:/MyFolder/MySubFolder/Myfile.txt"

This post has been edited by Bench: 24 Nov, 2007 - 02:53 PM

Thanks, That worked great for my XP machine, now i'm trying to use the same program on Vista, and i followed the same procedure as above but no luck...any idea how Vista uses escape sequences

escape sequences are part of C, and therefore are completely O/S independent. The problem will be something else - Double check that the file is where you expect it to be on your vista box (You could try to see if you can reach the file using the Vista command prompt. Anything that the command prompt can't do, your program won't be able to do either)

This post has been edited by Bench: 25 Nov, 2007 - 02:45 PM

Vista has that irritating "virtual store" which will cause problems. Basically it keeps your program from directly accessing the file structure...