C++ Input / Output

🔁 C++ Input and Output – cout and cin Explained

Want to talk to your program and make it talk back? That’s where input and output come in! 💬💻

In C++, we use:

  • cout – to print/output things
  • cin – to get input from the user

🖨️ Output with cout

cout (short for “character output”) is used to display messages on the screen. It uses the insertion operator <<.

#include <iostream>
using namespace std;

int main() {
    cout << "Welcome to C++ I/O!" << endl;
    cout << "Let's learn how to print and take input." << endl;
    return 0;
}

Try It Now

⌨️ Input with cin

cin (short for “character input”) is used to get data from the user. It uses the extraction operator >>.

Let’s write a program that asks for your name and greets you:

#include <iostream>
using namespace std;

int main() {
    string name;
    cout << "Enter your name: ";
    cin >> name;
    cout << "Hello, " << name << "!" << endl;
    return 0;
}

Try It Now

🧠 Explanation

  • cout is used to display messages.
  • cin stores the user’s input into a variable.
  • string name; declares a variable to store a name.
  • endl is used to move to a new line (like hitting “Enter”).

⚠️ Note:

cin reads input only until the first space. For full line input, we use getline() (you’ll learn that soon!).