Using files and keyboard input
Overview
SLI's input/output fascilities differ from those of PostScript and are close to the stream concept of C++. However, for compatibility some PostScript output commands are implemented.
Like in C++, files are represented as streams, which can be put on the stack. All i/o commands leave their stream argument on the stack, so that operations can be chained.
Example
Print Hello World to the standard output.
SLI ] cout (Hello World) <- endl
Hello World
SLI [1] ;
SLI ]
cout
is the standard output of SLI. The command <-
takes the role of C++'s <<
output operator and prints the ASCII representation of the object at stack level 0 to the stream at level 1. After this, the object is removed and the stream remains at level 0.
The command endl
corresponds to the C++ manipulator of the same name. It prints an end of line character to the stream at level 0. Again, it leaves the stream argument on the stack.
Now, the abbreviated form of pop
, i.e. the command ;
, is used to remove the stream object from the stack.
Standard streams
The standard streams of a UNIX program are mapped to the following names. Note that these streams should not be closed by a SLI program, since the result is undefined.
Name Description cin
Standart input stream. cout
Standart output stream. cerr
Standart error output stream.
Opening and closing a stream
Streams are objects which handle the input and output of data to or from some external target. The target of a stream can be a file, a string, a devide, or another process.
Command Description (name) (r) file
Open file for reading. (name) ifstream
Open file for reading. (name) (w) file
Open file for writing. (name) ofstream
Open file for writing. (string) istrstream
Open string-stream for reading. (string) ostrstream
Open string-stream for writing. strstream
Extract a string from a string-stream. stream close
Close the stream.
Writing to streams
Command Description stream obj <-
Print ASCII representation of obj
to stream
. stream obj <--
Print detailed ASCII representation of obj
to stream
. stream obj =
Print ASCII representation of obj
to cout
. stream obj ==
Print detailed ASCII representation of obj
to cout
.
Example
Print Hello World to a text file.
SLI ] (test.txt) (w) file
SLI [1] (Hello World!) <-
SLI [1] endl
SLI [1] ;
Manipulators
Manipulators are used to manipulate the state of a stream object. Such changes can, for instance, affect the precision with which numbers are printed.
Manipulators take one or more arguments. In general, the manipulator leaves the stream object at the top of the stack and removes all other arguments.
Manipulator Description ofstream flush
Write contents of buffer to file. ofstream endl
Line terminator. osstream ends
char[] string terminator. ifstream ws
Eat white-spaces. ofstream boolalpha
Prints bool as true/false. ofstream noboolalpha
Opposite. fstream n setw
Set width of input/output fields to n
. stream (c) setfill
Defines a fill symbol c
for the field. ostream left
Allign to left of the field. ostream right
Allign to right of the field. ostream internal
Sign left and number right. ostream showpos
Print positive sign. ostream noshowpos
Opposite. stream uppercase
ostream nouppercase
ostream oct
Switch to octal notation. ostream dec
Switch to decimal notation. ostream hex
Switch to hexadecimal notation. ostream showbase
Show base according to use of oct/dec/hex. ostream noshowbase
Don't show base according to use of oct/dec/hex. ostream showpoint
Decimal point is always printed. ostream noshowpoint
Decimal point is never printed. ostream n setprecision
Set number of decimal places to n
. ostream fixed
Use fixed point notation. ostream scientific
Use scientific notation.