I'll give an example because i don't really know how to word it.

cout << "Input a filename :";

cin >> file;

I would like to print

Input a filename :autosave.txt_<cursor here>
autosave.txt can be backspaced on and edited.

I'd like to put some stuff in cins buffer before i ask and have it displayed and be editable.

i can only think of platform specific ways of achieving something similar.

Simulating key presses or rolling your input function that pops data off on backspace, pushes chars in, and sets the cursor position accordingly.

I know, iostreams let you hack around at a pretty low level with them so i assume this possible some how. Maybe?

You can edit the last line by using '\r' in the printf() function.

like this :

const int NumDots = 65;
char s[100];
int xpos = 0;

sprintf_s(s, "X.......................................................................");

while(true){  

if(xpos>NumDots){
s[xpos] = '.'; 
xpos = 0;
s[xpos] = 'X';
 
} else {
xpos++;
s[xpos] = 'X';
s[xpos-1] = '.';
}
 Sleep(50);
                 
printf("%s\r", s);		//updates last line
}