C++ Basic while loop with keystroke to exit

Question

I am new to programming and this is my second assignment. It is supposed to accept input from user until they enter the | to exit the program. What have I done wrong?

int main()

    int i = 0;
    char a = 0;
        while ( a != "|" ){  //has also told me this is an
                             // invalid operator
    int numeric;
    cout << "Give character: ";
    cin >> a ;
    cout << "Its ascii value is: " << (int) a << endl;
    ++i;

    }
}

Here is the error:

2   IntelliSense: operand types are incompatible ("char" and "const char *")    

Answer 1

Don't use "|" . Put '|' instead. You want to compare a char to a char , NOT compare a char to a char* .

Answer 2

You shall use while ( a != '|' ) instead

'|' is a character and "|" is a string which has only 1 character