// A program that lets you name "n" films.

#include <iostream>
#include <string>
#include <sstream>
using namespace std;

int main ()
{
    int n, i;
    string quant;

    cout << "How many favourite films do you have?" << endl;
    cin >> quant;
    stringstream(quant) >> n;
    cout << "What are your " << n << " favourite films?" << endl;
    string n_movie[n];

    for (i = 0; i < n; i ++)
    {
        getline(cin, n_movie[i]);
        cout << "Movie " << i << " is: " << n_movie[i] << endl;
    }


    return 0;
}

Short answer: change cin >> quant; to getline(cin, quant);. Using >> to extract from the stream leaves a carriage return hanging around in the stream that the first getline() tries to read as the first movie title.

Short answer: change cin >> quant; to getline(cin, quant);. Using >> to extract from the stream leaves a carriage return hanging around in the stream that the first getline() tries to read as the first movie title.

And it works! Thanks, although I'm not to sure what's changed, I think I need to look further into what streams are before I move on.

This documentation/tutorial can be a good read to refresh on the basic knowledge of what is happening: http://www.cplusplus.com/doc/tutorial/basic_io/

Basically what is happen is that cin>> extraction stops as soon as it finds a carriage return or even a blank space. That is left inside the stream. Then the next time you get input getline will see that still in the stream. So it reads it in.

So the program is technically doing what it is "supposed" to do. Just not what you expected it to do. It does go through the for loop properly. It just so happens that there is something left in the input stream the first time through.

In languages like C/C++, I/O is always one of the hairier things to mess with. It's always worthwhile to check the nuances of the particular functions you're using in that area.

This must be a common issue... I had the same problem with C#'s Console.Read() method...

cin>>

reads <b>UP TO</b> the first enter/return, leaving the return itself in the input stream, to be read by your next input function.

getLine()

reads <b>and includes</b>the first enter/return, removing it from the input stream, so your next input function will have an empty input stream.

string n_movie[n];

Or perhaps.....

vector<string> n_movie;

n_movie.resize(n);

??

string n_movie[n];

Or perhaps.....

vector<string> n_movie;
n_movie.resize(n);

??

He's probably trying to indicate that initializing an array with local storage with a non-const array extent is not legal standard C++. It would be easier to tell if he employed the communication device commonly known as the complete sentence.