DEV-C++ eof() decided not to work. Makes no sense. Please help

Thank you for your answer!

however after some testing I found out that if I call a getline function which reads less characters than there are available on the line in the file, the eof() dies.

ANSI txt file:

ex
am
pl
e
example
ex
am
pl
e

output:

ex
am
pl
e










...

This is one big mess. Can anyone explain this to me?
It's just that I would like to understand.

Thanks

Firstly, the buffer size includes the NULL termination character, so char txt[2]=""; can actually only store 1 character and the null terminator character as per MSDN[^]

Secondly, if there is not enough characters in the buffer to store the line of text, then the state is flagged wit the FAIL BIT. This bit needs to be cleared before any (not just getline) reading can continue.

#include <iostream>
#include <fstream>
using namespace std;
int main() {
    ifstream fin_sort("result.txt");
    char txt[3] = ""; //Allow space for 2 characters and a NULL terminator
    while (!fin_sort.eof()) {
        fin_sort.getline(txt, sizeof(txt)); //It is usually better to use sizeof() in case you change the size later
        cout << " -" << txt << "- " << endl;
        if (fin_sort.fail()) {
            cout << "Fail bit set. Clearing it for read to resume" << endl;
            fin_sort.clear(); //Clear the fail bit (Warning: this function can also clear the EOF bit if not used properley)
        }
    }
    fin_sort.close();
    return 0;
}

string fileName2;
cout << "Input a file to open: ";
cin >> fileName2;

ifstream fin2(fileName2.c_str());

if(fin2) //checking if file exists
{
	cout << "Current file contains:\n";
	
	while(fin2.get(ch))
	{
		cout << ch;
	}
	
	cout << "\n***End of File***\n\n";
}
else
{
	cout << "File does not exist! Therefore it was created\n\n";
}

That's one of the most trick thing of the C++ library, because of certain names, suggesting things that are not what they effectively are.

The eof function, according to the reference[^]
"returns true if the eofbit stream's error flag has been set by a previous i/o operation. This flag is set by all standard input operations when the End Of File is reached in the sequence associated with the stream"

The "End OF File", here, is not the "physical end", but a particular ASCII character (Ctrl+Z) that is supposed "to boldly be where all characters are before" (yes: Captain Kirk participate in the ASCII specs). But, since when the teletype world has been "superseeded" by computers, Ctrl+Z is just a byte like any other: it may have character after, and it may be even not present.

Instead of check for EOF, you shold check for "bad()", that returns the state of a bit that sets up when reading become impossible (either because there is nothing more to read or because what is read is not useful to fill re variable it is directed to).

This char is done by istream::operator void*(), by returning NULL if the stream is "bad". So that stream can be an exit condition for a loop.

In your case

while(finsort)
{ .... }

Should behave as expected.