using input files

[afg_91320]

im making a program where i have a txt file that has names of student

basically i have to pull out those names using c++ strings and set them in alphabetical order.

for that i will be using a while loop that will read the students and update as to who is first and who is last.

it should keep a count of how many students there are and use:

while (infile >> studentName) {loop body}

these are the c++ string variables that i will be using:
string fileName;
string studentName;
string firstStudent;
string lastStudent;

these are my instructions for my assignment, but im a bit shaky on file i/o (ive only done it once) i just need to know how should i approach this! this is kinda new for me~

any help would be great guys!!
thanks so much!!! you guys are lifesavers!!!

[Ancient Dragon]

you could do something like this, assuming you don't need to keep all the names in memory at the same time

int count = 0;
infil >> firstStudent;
while( infile >> lastStudent)
   count++;