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4 | <TITLE>The Boost Iostreams library</TITLE> |
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8 | <BODY> |
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9 | |
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10 | <!-- Begin Banner --> |
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11 | |
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12 | <H1 CLASS="title">The Boost Iostreams Library</H1> |
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13 | <HR CLASS="banner"> |
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14 | |
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15 | <!-- End Banner --> |
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16 | |
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17 | <DL CLASS="page-index"> |
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18 | <DT><A href="#purpose">Purpose</A></DT> |
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19 | <DT><A href="#overview">Overview</A></DT> |
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20 | <DT><A href="#documentation">How to Read the Iostreams Documentation</A></DT> |
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21 | <DT><A href="#conventions">Conventions</A></DT> |
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22 | </DL> |
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23 | |
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24 | <HR> |
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25 | |
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26 | <!-- Core Components --> |
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27 | |
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28 | <A NAME="purpose"></A> |
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29 | <H2>Purpose</H2> |
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30 | |
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31 | <P> |
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32 | Boost.Iostreams has three aims: |
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33 | </P> |
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34 | <UL> |
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35 | <LI CLASS="square"> |
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36 | To make it easy to create standard C++ streams and stream buffers for accessing new <A HREF="concepts/source.html">Sources</A> and <A HREF="concepts/sink.html">Sinks</A>. |
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37 | </LI> |
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38 | <LI CLASS="square"> |
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39 | To provide a framework for defining <A HREF="concepts/filter.html">Filters</A> and attaching them to standard streams and stream buffers. |
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40 | </LI> |
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41 | <LI CLASS="square"> |
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42 | To provide a collection of ready-to-use Filters, Sources and Sinks. |
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43 | </LI> |
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44 | </UL> |
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45 | |
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46 | <P> |
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47 | For example, Boost.Iostreams can be used to create streams to access TCP connections or as a framework for cryptography and data compression. The library includes components for accessing <A HREF="classes/mapped_file.html">memory-mapped files</A>, for file access using operating system <A HREF="classes/file_descriptor.html">file descriptors</A>, for <A HREF="guide/code_conversion.html">code conversion</A>, for text filtering with <A HREF="classes/regex_filter.html">regular expressions</A>, for <A HREF="classes/newline_filter.html">line-ending conversion</A> and for compression and decompression in the <A HREF="classes/zlib.html">zlib</A>, <A HREF="classes/gzip.html">gzip</A> and <A HREF="classes/bzip2.html">bzip2</A> formats. |
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48 | </P> |
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49 | |
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50 | <A NAME="overview"></A> |
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51 | <H2>Overview</H2> |
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52 | |
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53 | <P> |
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54 | At the heart of Boost.Iostreams are a collection of <A HREF="../../../more/generic_programming.html#concept" TARGET="_top">concepts</A> and set of templates which turn models of these concepts into C++ standard library streams and stream buffers. |
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55 | </P> |
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56 | |
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57 | <H3>Concepts</H3> |
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58 | |
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59 | <P> |
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60 | The fundamental building blocks of the library are the concepts of a <A HREF="concepts/source.html">Source</A>, which provides read access to a sequence of characters, a <A HREF="concepts/sink.html">Sink</A>, which provides write access to a sequence of characters, an <A HREF="concepts/input_filter.html">InputFilter</A>, which filters input read from a Source, and an <A HREF="concepts/output_filter.html">OutputFilter</A>, which filters output written to a Sink. Sources, Sinks and their refinements are called <A HREF="concepts/device.html">Devices</A>. InputFilters, OutputFilters and their refinements are called <A HREF="concepts/filter.html">Filters</A>. |
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61 | </P> |
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62 | |
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63 | <H3>Generic Streams and Stream Buffers</H3> |
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64 | |
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65 | <P> |
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66 | The class templates <A HREF="guide/generic_streams.html#stream_buffer"><CODE>stream_buffer</CODE></A> and <A HREF="guide/generic_streams.html#stream"><CODE>stream</CODE></A> implement standard stream buffers and streams which perform i/o by delegating to a contained <A HREF="concepts/device.html">Device</A>. The Device is accessed using member functions <CODE>open</CODE>, <CODE>is_open</CODE> and <CODE>close</CODE>, providing an interface similar to the standard file-based streams and stream buffers. |
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67 | </P> |
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68 | |
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69 | <H3>Filtering Streams and Stream Buffers</H3> |
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70 | |
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71 | <P> |
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72 | For filtering, Boost.Iostreams provides the templates <A HREF="classes/filtering_streambuf.html"><CODE>filtering_streambuf</CODE></A> and <A HREF="classes/filtering_stream.html"><CODE>filtering_stream</CODE></A>. Instances of <CODE>filtering_streambuf</CODE> or <CODE>filtering_stream</CODE> contain <A HREF="classes/chain.html"><CODE>chains</CODE></A> of Filters and Devices accessed with an interface similar to that of <CODE>std::stack</CODE>. |
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73 | </P> |
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74 | |
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75 | <A NAME="documentation"></A> |
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76 | <H2>How to Read the Iostreams Documentation</H2> |
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77 | |
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78 | <P> |
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79 | If you haven't used a pre-release version of the library, start by reading the <A HREF="tutorial/tutorial.html">Tutorial</A>. Read the entire section on writing <A HREF="concepts/device.html">Devices</A>, and at least the first few sections on writing <A HREF="concepts/filter.html">Filters</A>. Even if you've used the library before, you might want to check out the Tutorial, since the library interface has been modified to accommodate <A HREF="guide/asynchronous.html">Asynchronous and Non-Blocking I/O</A>. |
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80 | </P> |
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81 | |
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82 | <P> |
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83 | Next, take a glance at the <A HREF="quick_reference.html">Quick Reference</A> to get an overview of Boost.Iostream's major components. |
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84 | </P> |
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85 | |
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86 | <P> |
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87 | Finally, consult the <A HREF="guide/guide.html">User's Guide</A>, the <A HREF="reference.html">Reference</A> and the <A HREF="faq.html">FAQ</A> when you have questions not answered by the other sections. The <A HREF="guide/guide.html">User's Guide</A> consists of a collection of short essays, which are mostly independent of each other. The <A HREF="reference.html">Reference</A> contains detailed documentation of each public component of Boost.Iostreams. |
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88 | </P> |
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89 | |
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90 | <A NAME="conventions"></A> |
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91 | <H2>Conventions</H2> |
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92 | |
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93 | <P> |
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94 | All classes, functions and templates introduced in the documentation are in the |
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95 | namespace <CODE>boost::iostreams</CODE>, unless otherwise indicated. Namespace qualification is usually omitted. |
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96 | </P> |
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97 | <P> |
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98 | Specializations of <CODE>std::basic_istream</CODE> will be referred to as |
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99 | <SPAN CLASS="term">standard input streams</SPAN>, specializations of <CODE>std::basic_ostream</CODE> |
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100 | as <SPAN CLASS="term">standard output streams</SPAN>, specializations of <CODE>std::basic_iostream</CODE> |
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101 | as <SPAN CLASS="term">standard i/o streams</SPAN>, and specializations of <CODE>std::basic_streambuf</CODE> |
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102 | as <SPAN CLASS="term">standard stream buffers</SPAN>. Together, standard input streams, standard output streams and standard i/o streams will be referred to as <SPAN CLASS="term">standard streams</SPAN>. Sometimes the qualifier <I>standard</I> will be omitted. |
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103 | </P> |
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104 | |
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105 | <!-- <UL> |
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106 | <LI CLASS="square"> |
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107 | All classes, functions and templates introduced in the documentation are in the namespace <CODE>boost::iostreams</CODE> unless otherwise indicated. Namespace qualification will usually be omitted. |
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108 | </LI> |
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109 | <LI CLASS="square"> |
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110 | Specializations of <CODE>std::basic_istream</CODE> will be referred to as |
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111 | <SPAN CLASS="term">standard input streams</SPAN>, specializations of <CODE>std::basic_ostream</CODE> |
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112 | as <SPAN CLASS="term">standard output streams</SPAN>, specializations of <CODE>std::basic_iostream</CODE> |
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113 | as <SPAN CLASS="term">standard i/o streams</SPAN>, and specializations of <CODE>std::basic_streambuf</CODE> |
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114 | as <SPAN CLASS="term">standard stream buffers</SPAN>. Together, standard input streams, standard output streams and standard i/o streams will be referred to as <SPAN CLASS="term">standard streams</SPAN>. The qualifier <I>standard</I> will usually be omitted. |
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115 | </LI> |
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116 | </UL> --> |
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117 | |
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118 | <!-- Begin Footer --> |
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119 | |
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120 | <HR> |
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121 | |
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122 | <P CLASS="copyright">Revised |
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123 | <!--webbot bot="Timestamp" S-Type="EDITED" S-Format="%d %B, %Y" startspan --> |
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124 | 20 May, 2004 |
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125 | <!--webbot bot="Timestamp" endspan i-checksum="38504" --> |
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126 | </P> |
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127 | |
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128 | <P CLASS="copyright">© Copyright <A HREF="http://www.kangaroologic.com" TARGET="_top">Jonathan Turkanis</A>, 2004</P> |
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129 | <P CLASS="copyright"> |
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130 | Distributed under the Boost Software License, Version 1.0. (See accompanying file LICENSE_1_0.txt or copy at <A HREF="http://www.boost.org/LICENSE_1_0.txt">http://www.boost.org/LICENSE_1_0.txt</A>) |
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131 | </P> |
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132 | <!-- End Footer --> |
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