Standard library header <fstream>

 

C++

Compiler support

Freestanding and hosted

Language

Standard library headers

Named requirements

Feature test macros (C++20)

Language support library

Concepts library (C++20)

Metaprogramming library (C++11)

Diagnostics library

General utilities library

Strings library

Containers library

Iterators library

Ranges library (C++20)

Algorithms library

Numerics library

Localizations library

Input/output library

Filesystem library (C++17)

Regular expressions library (C++11)

Concurrency support library (C++11)

Technical specifications

Symbols index

External libraries

 

Standard Library headers

Note: a slash '/' in a revision mark means that the header was deprecated and/or removed.

Language Support
<cstddef> <cstdlib> <version> (C++20) <limits> <climits>	<cfloat> <cstdint> (C++11) <new> <typeinfo>	<source_location> (C++20) <exception> <initializer_list> (C++11)   <compare> (C++20)	<coroutine> (C++20) <csignal> <csetjmp> <cstdarg>
Concepts
<concepts> (C++20)
Diagnostics
<stdexcept>	<cassert>	<cerrno>	<system_error> (C++11)
General utilities
<utility> <memory> <memory_resource> (C++17) <scoped_allocator> (C++11)   <expected> (C++23)	<bitset> <tuple> (C++11) <optional> (C++17) <any> (C++17)	<variant> (C++17) <type_traits> (C++11) <ratio> (C++11) <chrono> (C++11)	<typeindex> (C++11) <functional> <stacktrace> (C++23) <ctime>
Strings
<string> <string_view> (C++17) <cstring>	<charconv> (C++17) <format> (C++20)	<cctype> <cwctype>	<cwchar> <cuchar> (C++11)
Localization
<locale> <clocale>	<codecvt> (C++11/17)
Containers
<span> (C++20) <array> (C++11) <vector>	<deque> <forward_list> (C++11) <list>	<map> <set> <queue>	<unordered_map> (C++11) <unordered_set> (C++11) <stack>
Iterators
<iterator>
Ranges
<ranges> (C++20)
Algorithms
<algorithm>	<execution> (C++17)
Numerics
<complex> <random> (C++11)	<valarray> <numeric>	<bit> (C++20) <numbers> (C++20)	<cfenv> (C++11) <cmath>
Input/Output
<iosfwd> <ios> <iomanip> <streambuf>	<istream> <ostream> <iostream>	<syncstream> (C++20) <spanstream> (C++23) <sstream> <fstream>	<cstdio> <cinttypes> (C++11) <strstream> (C++98/)
Regular expressions
<regex> (C++11)
Filesystem support
<filesystem> (C++17)
Thread support
<thread> (C++11) <atomic> (C++11) <mutex> (C++11)	<shared_mutex> (C++14) <condition_variable> (C++11)   <future> (C++11)	<stop_token> (C++20) <semaphore> (C++20)	<latch> (C++20) <barrier> (C++20)
C compatibility
<cstdbool> (C++11/17/20) <ccomplex> (C++11/17/20)	<ctgmath> (C++11/17/20) <cstdalign> (C++11/17/20)	<ciso646> (until C++20) <stdatomic.h>

 

This header is part of the Input/Output library.

Classes
basic_filebuf	implements raw file device (class template)
basic_ifstream	implements high-level file stream input operations (class template)
basic_ofstream	implements high-level file stream output operations (class template)
basic_fstream	implements high-level file stream input/output operations (class template)
filebuf	std::basic_filebuf<char> (typedef)
wfilebuf	std::basic_filebuf<wchar_t> (typedef)
ifstream	std::basic_ifstream<char> (typedef)
wifstream	std::basic_ifstream<wchar_t> (typedef)
ofstream	std::basic_ofstream<char> (typedef)
wofstream	std::basic_ofstream<wchar_t> (typedef)
fstream	std::basic_fstream<char> (typedef)
wfstream	std::basic_fstream<wchar_t> (typedef)
Functions
std::swap(std::basic_filebuf) (C++11)	specializes the std::swap algorithm (function template)
std::swap(std::basic_ifstream) (C++11)	specializes the std::swap algorithm (function template)
std::swap(std::basic_ofstream) (C++11)	specializes the std::swap algorithm (function template)
std::swap(std::basic_fstream) (C++11)	specializes the std::swap algorithm (function template)

Synopsis

namespace std {
  template<class charT, class traits = char_traits<charT>>
    class basic_filebuf;
  using filebuf  = basic_filebuf<char>;
  using wfilebuf = basic_filebuf<wchar_t>;
 
  template<class charT, class traits = char_traits<charT>>
    class basic_ifstream;
  using ifstream  = basic_ifstream<char>;
  using wifstream = basic_ifstream<wchar_t>;
 
  template<class charT, class traits = char_traits<charT>>
    class basic_ofstream;
  using ofstream  = basic_ofstream<char>;
  using wofstream = basic_ofstream<wchar_t>;
 
  template<class charT, class traits = char_traits<charT>>
    class basic_fstream;
  using fstream  = basic_fstream<char>;
  using wfstream = basic_fstream<wchar_t>;
}

Class template std::basic_filebuf

namespace std {
  template<class CharT, class Traits = char_traits<CharT>>
  class basic_filebuf : public basic_streambuf<CharT, Traits> {
  public:
    using char_type   = CharT;
    using int_type    = typename Traits::int_type;
    using pos_type    = typename Traits::pos_type;
    using off_type    = typename Traits::off_type;
    using traits_type = Traits;
 
    // constructors/destructor
    basic_filebuf();
    basic_filebuf(const basic_filebuf&) = delete;
    basic_filebuf(basic_filebuf&& rhs);
    virtual ~basic_filebuf();
 
    // assign and swap
    basic_filebuf& operator=(const basic_filebuf&) = delete;
    basic_filebuf& operator=(basic_filebuf&& rhs);
    void swap(basic_filebuf& rhs);
 
    // members
    bool is_open() const;
    basic_filebuf* open(const char* s, ios_base::openmode mode);
    basic_filebuf* open(const filesystem::path::value_type* s,
                        ios_base::openmode mode);   // wide systems only
    basic_filebuf* open(const string& s,
                        ios_base::openmode mode);
    basic_filebuf* open(const filesystem::path& s,
                        ios_base::openmode mode);
    basic_filebuf* close();
 
  protected:
    // overridden virtual functions
    streamsize showmanyc() override;
    int_type underflow() override;
    int_type uflow() override;
    int_type pbackfail(int_type c = Traits::eof()) override;
    int_type overflow (int_type c = Traits::eof()) override;
 
    basic_streambuf<CharT, Traits>* setbuf(char_type* s,
                                           streamsize n) override;
    pos_type seekoff(off_type off, ios_base::seekdir way,
                     ios_base::openmode which
                      = ios_base::in | ios_base::out) override;
    pos_type seekpos(pos_type sp,
                     ios_base::openmode which
                      = ios_base::in | ios_base::out) override;
    int      sync() override;
    void     imbue(const locale& loc) override;
  };
 
  template<class CharT, class Traits>
    void swap(basic_filebuf<CharT, Traits>& x,
              basic_filebuf<CharT, Traits>& y);
}

Class template std::basic_ifstream

namespace std {
  template<class CharT, class Traits = char_traits<CharT>>
  class basic_ifstream : public basic_istream<CharT, Traits> {
  public:
    using char_type   = CharT;
    using int_type    = typename Traits::int_type;
    using pos_type    = typename Traits::pos_type;
    using off_type    = typename Traits::off_type;
    using traits_type = Traits;
 
    // constructors
    basic_ifstream();
    explicit basic_ifstream(const char* s,
                            ios_base::openmode mode = ios_base::in);
    explicit basic_ifstream(const filesystem::path::value_type* s,
                            ios_base::openmode mode = ios_base::in);// wide systems only
    explicit basic_ifstream(const string& s,
                            ios_base::openmode mode = ios_base::in);
    explicit basic_ifstream(const filesystem::path& s,
                            ios_base::openmode mode = ios_base::in);
    basic_ifstream(const basic_ifstream&) = delete;
    basic_ifstream(basic_ifstream&& rhs);
 
    // assign and swap
    basic_ifstream& operator=(const basic_ifstream&) = delete;
    basic_ifstream& operator=(basic_ifstream&& rhs);
    void swap(basic_ifstream& rhs);
 
    // members
    basic_filebuf<CharT, Traits>* rdbuf() const;
 
    bool is_open() const;
    void open(const char* s, ios_base::openmode mode = ios_base::in);
    void open(const filesystem::path::value_type* s,
              ios_base::openmode mode = ios_base::in);  // wide systems only
    void open(const string& s, ios_base::openmode mode = ios_base::in);
    void open(const filesystem::path& s, ios_base::openmode mode = ios_base::in);
    void close();
  private:
    basic_filebuf<CharT, Traits> sb;    // exposition only
  };
 
  template<class CharT, class Traits>
    void swap(basic_ifstream<CharT, Traits>& x,
              basic_ifstream<CharT, Traits>& y);
}

Class template std::basic_ofstream

namespace std {
  template<class CharT, class Traits = char_traits<CharT>>
  class basic_ofstream : public basic_ostream<CharT, Traits> {
  public:
    using char_type   = CharT;
    using int_type    = typename Traits::int_type;
    using pos_type    = typename Traits::pos_type;
    using off_type    = typename Traits::off_type;
    using traits_type = Traits;
 
    // constructors
    basic_ofstream();
    explicit basic_ofstream(const char* s,
                            ios_base::openmode mode = ios_base::out);
    explicit basic_ofstream(const filesystem::path::value_type* s,  // wide systems only
                            ios_base::openmode mode = ios_base::out);
    explicit basic_ofstream(const string& s,
                            ios_base::openmode mode = ios_base::out);
    explicit basic_ofstream(const filesystem::path& s,
                            ios_base::openmode mode = ios_base::out);
    basic_ofstream(const basic_ofstream&) = delete;
    basic_ofstream(basic_ofstream&& rhs);
 
    // assign and swap
    basic_ofstream& operator=(const basic_ofstream&) = delete;
    basic_ofstream& operator=(basic_ofstream&& rhs);
    void swap(basic_ofstream& rhs);
 
    // members
    basic_filebuf<CharT, Traits>* rdbuf() const;
 
    bool is_open() const;
    void open(const char* s, ios_base::openmode mode = ios_base::out);
    void open(const filesystem::path::value_type* s,
              ios_base::openmode mode = ios_base::out);     // wide systems only
    void open(const string& s, ios_base::openmode mode = ios_base::out);
    void open(const filesystem::path& s, ios_base::openmode mode = ios_base::out);
    void close();
  private:
    basic_filebuf<CharT, Traits> sb;    // exposition only
  };
 
  template<class CharT, class Traits>
    void swap(basic_ofstream<CharT, Traits>& x,
              basic_ofstream<CharT, Traits>& y);
}

Class template std::basic_fstream

namespace std {
  template<class CharT, class Traits = char_traits<CharT>>
  class basic_fstream : public basic_iostream<CharT, Traits> {
  public:
    using char_type   = CharT;
    using int_type    = typename Traits::int_type;
    using pos_type    = typename Traits::pos_type;
    using off_type    = typename Traits::off_type;
    using traits_type = Traits;
 
    // constructors
    basic_fstream();
    explicit basic_fstream(
      const char* s,
      ios_base::openmode mode = ios_base::in | ios_base::out);
    explicit basic_fstream(
      const filesystem::path::value_type* s,
      ios_base::openmode mode = ios_base::in | ios_base::out);    // wide systems only
    explicit basic_fstream(
      const string& s,
      ios_base::openmode mode = ios_base::in | ios_base::out);
    explicit basic_fstream(
      const filesystem::path& s,
      ios_base::openmode mode = ios_base::in | ios_base::out);
    basic_fstream(const basic_fstream&) = delete;
    basic_fstream(basic_fstream&& rhs);
 
    // assign and swap
    basic_fstream& operator=(const basic_fstream&) = delete;
    basic_fstream& operator=(basic_fstream&& rhs);
    void swap(basic_fstream& rhs);
 
    // members
    basic_filebuf<CharT, Traits>* rdbuf() const;
    bool is_open() const;
    void open(
      const char* s,
      ios_base::openmode mode = ios_base::in | ios_base::out);
    void open(
      const filesystem::path::value_type* s,
      ios_base::openmode mode = ios_base::in | ios_base::out);    // wide systems only
    void open(
      const string& s,
      ios_base::openmode mode = ios_base::in | ios_base::out);
    void open(
      const filesystem::path& s,
      ios_base::openmode mode = ios_base::in | ios_base::out);
    void close();
 
  private:
    basic_filebuf<CharT, Traits> sb;    // exposition only
  };
 
  template<class CharT, class Traits>
    void swap(basic_fstream<CharT, Traits>& x,
              basic_fstream<CharT, Traits>& y);
}