Detect a newline character with getline or istringstream

Question

In my program, I'm asking the user for input via getline, and then in a separate class, splitting the string into three different strings which I will then check via a list of pre-determined values.

The way it works now, if someone enters an invalid command, I display "INVALID"

The problem I'm having is with a string containing only spaces or only a single newline character.

Here is what I'm trying to do:

std::string command; // command user enters
getline(std::cin, command); // user input here

std::string tempCheck; // if we have a value in here other than empty, invalid
// use istringstream to grab the words, max of 3
std::istringstream parse{fullCommand}; // parse command into words

if(fullCommand.empty()){ // nothing has been input
    std::cout << "INVALID" << std::endl;
    return;
}

parse >> command; // stores first word (the command)
parse >> actionOne; // stores second word as parameter
parse >> actionTwo; // stores third word as parameter
parse >> tempCheck;

if(!tempCheck.empty()) {
    std::cout << "INVALID" << std::endl;
    return;
}

The variable tempCheck basically means that if it goes over three words (the limit I want for commands), then it is INVALID. I also thought that having an empty string would work, but it just ends up in an infinite loop when nothing is input, but I just hit enter.

Here is what I expect my input to be doing (bold is output):

CREATE username password
**CREATED**
      LOGIN          username password
**SUCCEEDED**
ASDF lol lol
**INVALID**

**INVALID**
REMOVE username
**REMOVED**

**INVALID**
QUIT
**GOODBYE**

Here is what is happening:

CREATE username password
**CREATED**
 // newline entered here

And it goes into a seemingly infinite loop. I can still type things, however, they don't actually affect anything. For example typing QUIT does nothing. But, if I restart my program and just type "QUIT" without trying to only use a newline character or only use a space, I get the expected output:

QUIT
**GOODBYE**

So, how do I tell either getline, or my istringstream, that if a user just enters a bunch of spaces and then hits enter, OR if the user just hits enter, display invalid and return? And is there anyway to do this with just getline or istringstream?

Answer 1

Alex, the following code may be helpful:

std::string strip(std::string const& s, std::string const& white=" \t\n")
{
    std::string::size_type const first = s.find_first_not_of(white);
    return (first == std::string::npos)
        ? std::string()
        : s.substr(first, s.find_last_not_of(white)-first+1);
}

You may apply it before creating the istringstream:

std::istringstream parse{strip(fullCommand)};

The above code was borrowed and slightly modified from the old well-known technique.