Sorting Names In Alphabetic Order - Help.

[Peril]

Hello. This is a program I've been working on for a while, but now I got stuck into one thing. I want to sort my product names for example (Bed) for product 1, (Quilt) for product 2.. etc.. I want to sort them according to alphabetic order.
I want it to output it as:
Bed
Quilt

but since I am reading them from a file they are written as:
Quilt
Bed

Does anyone know how to order them? I have tried using character arrays but I failed to solve it. Here's my attempt:

void salesperson::sortProducts()
{
    string test;

    char a[10];
    int i , j;
    // test = Quilt;
    a[0] = 'A';
   for(i=0; i<10; i++) // it doesnt matter how many times it runs actually
    {
    productSold[i].getProductNumber(test);

    //cout<<test<<endl;  <--- this was to check if the output is correct, and it is, just not in alphabetic order.

        for(j=i; j<10; j++)
        {
              if (test > a[i])
              {
                  cout<<test<<endl; // -----> this causes a syntax error.. I know it's wrong but had to put something to show what I was trying.
              }
        }
    }

}

[rabster]

I'm not sure if you meant to but you created two posts asking the same question? http://www.cplusplus.com/forum/general/200367/

Anyways here is a program that sorts items in alphabetical.

I added some comments to explain the sort part.

#include <iostream>
#include <string>
#include <array>
#include <algorithm> //Bunch of algorithms, but in particular will we be using std::sort.

int main()
{
    std::array<std::string, 5U> items;
    std::cout << "Enter five strings:\n";
    for (auto& item : items) {
        std::cin >> item;
    }
    
    std::cout << "Here are the strings in sorted order: ";
    //We use the function std::sort to sort the items.
    //To which we use the version with an overload for a function, in this case a lambda for us.
    std::sort(items.begin(), items.end(), [&](const std::string& left, const std::string& right) {
        std::size_t leftIter = 0, rightIter = 0; //create some iterators.
        std::size_t leftSize = left.size(), rightSize = right.size(); //get the sizes.
        //loop so long as the iters have reached their size limits.
        while (leftIter != leftSize && rightIter != rightSize) {
            //Check if the leftiter doesn't equal the rightIter 
            if (left[leftIter] != right[rightIter]) { 
                //return whether or not the left string index is less than the current right string index.
                return left[leftIter] < right[rightIter];
            }
            ++leftIter;
            ++rightIter;
        }
        //otherwise swap if the size is bigger you can change this if you want to.
        return leftSize < rightSize;
    });
    for (const auto& item : items) {
        std::cout << item << '\n';
    }
    
    std::cin.get();
    return 0;
}

[gunnerfunner]

OP: And here's my 2 cents, particularly looking at reading from file. Like @rabster, my code uses range loops, so make sure your compiler is C++11 compliant or use iterators:

My text file looks like this: (not in alphabetical order and some lines can have >1 string)

Quilt
Curtains
Bed
Lamps Duvets
Drapes

#include<iostream>
#include<vector>
#include<fstream>
#include<sstream>
#include<algorithm>
using namespace std;

int main(){

ifstream File;
vector<string>v;

File.open("F:\\test.txt");
if(File.is_open()){
        string line;
        while(getline(File, line)){
            stringstream stream(line);
            string word;
                while(stream>>word){
                    v.push_back(word);
        }
    }
}
sort(v.begin(), v.end());
for(auto&itr : v){
    cout<< itr<<endl;
    }
File.close();
}

Program Output

Bed
Curtains
Drapes
Duvets
Lamps
Quilt

[Peril]

Problem is I cannot use vectors, because I am not allowed to (based on the rules of the assignment project). Also, what are Iters? I am guessing this is something I didn't take so I can't use that as well. Actually my text file looks like this:

Bed BB01 430 4 12
Mattress BM03 210 5 10
Quilt BQ02 130 3 7
Pillow BP01 25 8 5


And I am reading the name from another class that is not inherited hence why I used productSold[i].