cant overwrite file

[reddog]

instead of printing to screen
how can i overwrite my original file


#include <iostream>
#include <fstream>
#include <string>
#include <vector>
#include <iterator>

using namespace std;

int main()
{
vector <string> array;

std::ostream_iterator< string > output ( cout, "\n" );

ifstream read ( "letters3.txt" );
string line;
while ( getline ( read, line, '\n' ) )
{
array.push_back ( line );
}
read.close();
sort ( array.begin(), array.end() );

std::vector< string >::iterator endLocation;
endLocation = std::unique ( array.begin(), array.end() );

std::copy ( array.begin(), endLocation, output );


cin.get();
return 0;
}

[firedraco]

I believe ifstream automatically deletes the contents of the file for you when you open a file with it. If it doesn't, use ios::trunc to delete them (it is passed as the second parameter of the constructor)

[mrHappyPants]

ifstream does delete the contents of the file, unless the "app" flag is raised when opening the file.
ie:

ifstream newfile;
newfile.open("file.txt");

will clear the file when it opens it, whereas

ifstream newfile;
newfile.open("file.txt", ifsteam::app);

will keep the contents of the file and add to it

[edit] corrected the missing "i" in ifstream[/edit]