Hey AD, in your post (#3) you forgot a bracket on this line:
while( fin.read( iobuffer, sizeof(iobuffer) )

When I actually tried it I had the same problem. I used a command prompt and found out that the two files were just a few bytes different.

well, the code I posted almost works. The problem is that the last few bytes does not get read/written

C++ Syntax (Toggle Plain Text)

int main(int argc, char* argv[])
{
    char iobuf[255];
    size_t total = 0;
    size_t sz = 0;
    ifstream fin("file1.doc", ios::binary);
    if( !fin.is_open() )
    {
        cout << "Can't open the file\n";
        return 1;
    }
    ofstream fout( "copy.doc", ios::binary);
    while( fin.read(iobuf, sizeof(iobuf) ))
    {
        sz = fin.gcount();
        total += sz;
        fout.write(iobuf, sz);
        sz = 0;
    }
    sz = fin.gcount();
    if( sz > 0)
    {
        cout << "sz = " << sz << "\n";
        total += sz;
        fout.write(iobuf, sz);
    }
    fin.close();
    fout.close();
    cout << "Total = " << total << "\n";
	return 0;
}

int main(int argc, char* argv[]) { char iobuf[255]; size_t total = 0; size_t sz = 0; ifstream fin("file1.doc", ios::binary); if( !fin.is_open() ) { cout << "Can't open the file\n"; return 1; } ofstream fout( "copy.doc", ios::binary); while( fin.read(iobuf, sizeof(iobuf) )) { sz = fin.gcount(); total += sz; fout.write(iobuf, sz); sz = 0; } sz = fin.gcount(); if( sz > 0) { cout << "sz = " << sz << "\n"; total += sz; fout.write(iobuf, sz); } fin.close(); fout.close(); cout << "Total = " << total << "\n"; return 0; }

II have written code that can successfully read and write a microsoft word doc - that is if the word doc contains plain text only

. If there are any headings and different fonts used, these are not copied successfully. Which brings me back to my original question - when copying word docs does one need to manipulate the non-ascii chars? And how is this done?

That isn't a microsoft word doc, but a normal text file.



See the code I already posted and which you quoted. If all you want to do is copy the file then the answer to your question is NO.

The microsoft word doc is copied successfully - byte per byte. Copied file is same size as original. However, when I try and use microsoft word to open the copied file, the copied file contents which have non-ascii text are not readable. The ascii text is readable. So the copied file is worthless to the end user if he/she cannot see the non-ascii parts. So I want to be able to copy the file AND open it and read it successfully using ms-word.

When I actually tried it I had the same problem. I used a command prompt and found out that the two files were just a few bytes different.

well, the code I posted almost works. The problem is that the last few bytes does not get read/written

C++ Syntax (Toggle Plain Text)

int main(int argc, char* argv[])
{
    char iobuf[255];
    size_t total = 0;
    size_t sz = 0;
    ifstream fin("file1.doc", ios::binary);
    if( !fin.is_open() )
    {
        cout << "Can't open the file\n";
        return 1;
    }
    ofstream fout( "copy.doc", ios::binary);
    while( fin.read(iobuf, sizeof(iobuf) ))
    {
        sz = fin.gcount();
        total += sz;
        fout.write(iobuf, sz);
        sz = 0;
    }
    sz = fin.gcount();
    if( sz > 0)
    {
        cout << "sz = " << sz << "\n";
        total += sz;
        fout.write(iobuf, sz);
    }
    fin.close();
    fout.close();
    cout << "Total = " << total << "\n";
	return 0;
}

int main(int argc, char* argv[]) { char iobuf[255]; size_t total = 0; size_t sz = 0; ifstream fin("file1.doc", ios::binary); if( !fin.is_open() ) { cout << "Can't open the file\n"; return 1; } ofstream fout( "copy.doc", ios::binary); while( fin.read(iobuf, sizeof(iobuf) )) { sz = fin.gcount(); total += sz; fout.write(iobuf, sz); sz = 0; } sz = fin.gcount(); if( sz > 0) { cout << "sz = " << sz << "\n"; total += sz; fout.write(iobuf, sz); } fin.close(); fout.close(); cout << "Total = " << total << "\n"; return 0; }

I can confirm AD's code works correctly.
(Also tested it on a couple of Word files, playing a bit with the formatting)
The file is loading correctly after copying.

To the OP:
Ensure that you're copying a file which isn't corrupted, before copying you should check whether the file you want to copy loads correctly in MS Word, otherwise you've already missed the boat before the copying process starts.