Using << operator to write to both a file and cout

Question

I\'d like to overload << operator to write the value it takes to a file and cout. I have tried to do it with following code, but couldn\'t succeed it. It just writes t

Answer 1

To implement a full stream interface you should build a stream buffer and a stream:

#include 
#include 
#include 
#include 

// BasicMultiStreamBuffer
// ============================================================================

template, class Allocator = std::allocator >
class BasicMultiStreamBuffer : public std::basic_stringbuf
{
    // Types
    // =====

    private:
    typedef typename std::basic_stringbuf Base;

    public:
    typedef typename std::basic_streambuf buffer_type;
    typedef typename buffer_type::char_type char_type;
    typedef typename buffer_type::traits_type traits_type;
    typedef typename buffer_type::int_type int_type;
    typedef typename buffer_type::pos_type pos_type;
    typedef typename buffer_type::off_type off_type;

    private:
    typedef typename std::vector container_type;

    public:
    typedef typename container_type::size_type size_type;
    typedef typename container_type::value_type value_type;
    typedef typename container_type::reference reference;
    typedef typename container_type::const_reference const_reference;
    typedef typename container_type::iterator iterator;
    typedef typename container_type::const_iterator const_iterator;


    // Construction/Destructiion
    // =========================

    public:
    BasicMultiStreamBuffer()
    {}

    BasicMultiStreamBuffer(buffer_type* a) {
        if(a) {
            m_buffers.reserve(1);
            m_buffers.push_back(a);
        }
    }

    template 
    BasicMultiStreamBuffer(Iterator first, Iterator last)
    :   m_buffers(first, last)
    {}

    ~BasicMultiStreamBuffer() {
        sync();
    }


    private:
    BasicMultiStreamBuffer(BasicMultiStreamBuffer const&); // No Copy.
    BasicMultiStreamBuffer& operator=(BasicMultiStreamBuffer const&); // No Copy.


    // Capacity
    // ========

    public:
    bool empty() const { return m_buffers.empty(); }
    size_type size() const { return m_buffers.size(); }


    // Iterator
    // ========

    public:
    iterator begin() { return m_buffers.begin(); }
    const_iterator begin() const { return m_buffers.end(); }
    iterator end() { return m_buffers.end(); }
    const_iterator end() const { return m_buffers.end(); }


    // Modifiers
    // =========

    public:
    void insert(buffer_type* buffer) {
        if(buffer) m_buffers.push_back(buffer);
    }

    void erase(buffer_type* buffer) {
        iterator pos = this->begin();
        for( ; pos != this->end(); ++pos) {
            if(*pos == buffer) {
                m_buffers.erase(pos);
                break;
            }
        }
    }


    // Synchronization
    // ===============

    protected:
    virtual int sync() {
        int result = 0;
        if( ! m_buffers.empty()) {
            char_type* p = this->pbase();
            std::streamsize n = this->pptr() - p;
            if(n) {
                const_iterator pos = m_buffers.begin();
                for( ; pos != m_buffers.end(); ++pos) {
                    std::streamoff offset = 0;
                    while(offset < n) {
                        int k = (*pos)->sputn(p + offset, n - offset);
                        if(0 <= k) offset += k;
                        else {
                            result = -1;
                            break;
                        }
                    }
                    if((*pos)->pubsync() == -1) result = -1;
                }
                this->setp(this->pbase(), this->epptr());
            }
        }
        if(Base::sync() == -1) result = -1;
        return result;
    }

    private:
    container_type m_buffers;
};

typedef BasicMultiStreamBuffer OStreamBuffers;


// BasicMultiStream
// ============================================================================

template, class Allocator = std::allocator >
class BasicMultiStream : public std::basic_ostream
{
    // Types
    // =====

    private:
    typedef std::basic_ostream Base;

    public:
    typedef BasicMultiStreamBuffer multi_buffer;
    typedef std::basic_ostream stream_type;

    typedef typename multi_buffer::buffer_type buffer_type;
    typedef typename multi_buffer::char_type char_type;
    typedef typename multi_buffer::traits_type traits_type;
    typedef typename multi_buffer::int_type int_type;
    typedef typename multi_buffer::pos_type pos_type;
    typedef typename multi_buffer::off_type off_type;

    typedef typename multi_buffer::size_type size_type;
    typedef typename multi_buffer::value_type value_type;
    typedef typename multi_buffer::reference reference;
    typedef typename multi_buffer::const_reference const_reference;
    typedef typename multi_buffer::iterator iterator;
    typedef typename multi_buffer::const_iterator const_iterator;


    // Construction
    // ============

    public:
    BasicMultiStream()
    :   Base(&m_buffer)
    {}
    BasicMultiStream(stream_type& stream)
    :   Base(&m_buffer), m_buffer(stream.rdbuf())
    {}

    template 
    BasicMultiStream(StreamIterator& first, StreamIterator& last)
    :   Base(&m_buffer)
    {
        while(first != last) insert(*first++);
    }

    private:
    BasicMultiStream(const BasicMultiStream&); // No copy.
    const BasicMultiStream& operator = (const BasicMultiStream&); // No copy.

    // Capacity
    // ========

    public:
    bool empty() const { return m_buffer.empty(); }
    size_type size() const { return m_buffer.size(); }


    // Iterator
    // ========

    public:
    iterator begin() { return m_buffer.begin(); }
    const_iterator begin() const { return m_buffer.end(); }
    iterator end() { return m_buffer.end(); }
    const_iterator end() const { return m_buffer.end(); }


    // Modifiers
    // =========

    public:
    void insert(stream_type& stream) { m_buffer.insert(stream.rdbuf()); }
    void erase(stream_type& stream) { m_buffer.erase(stream.rdbuf()); }

    private:
    multi_buffer m_buffer;
};

typedef BasicMultiStream MultiStream;


// Test
// =============================================================================

#include 
int main() {
    MultiStream out;
    out.insert(std::cout);
    out.insert(std::clog);
    out << "Hello\n";
}

Here, the output is buffered in a string stream buffer and synchronized to the destination streams.