Streams

Reading and Writing Text Files

Older implementations of the stream library may require a second parameter to open a file.
```
datafile.open("employee.dat", ios::in | ios::out).
```

The file name that you give the open command may be a string constant

input_data.open("input.dat");

or a string variable that contains a file name.

string input_name =
   cwin.get_string("Please enter the file name:");
ifstream input_data;
input_data.open(input_name);

Many compilers don't support string parameters for the open function, so you must use the c_str function to convert the parameter to a character array.
```
input_data.open(input_name.c_str());
```
File names can contain directory path information, but you must supply the escape character for a backslash.
```
input_data.open("c:\\homework\\input.dat");
```
Always pass streams by reference!!