Cursor remains at the end when I try to give user input in getline

Question

The following is the the code for asking a name and then returning a statement which has your name in it.

#include <iostream>
#include <string>

int main(){
    std::string name;

    std::cout << "What is your name:\n";
    std::getline(std::cin, name);

    std::cout << "Your name is " << name << ".\n";

    return 0;
}

When I run this program and type the name, sometimes you type the input in wrong manner and hence you use the arrow keys to go left or right. However, when I use the left arrow key, instead of the cursor going to the left, ^[[D is printed. And when I use the right arrow key, ^[[C is printed.

My question is how can I avoid this and actually move the cursor to the right or left. I use Vim text editor on Linux.

Answer 1

The usual way to handle this sort of thing is the use the editline or GNU readline linrary (which is a C libary):

#include <stdio.h>
#include <editline/readline.h>
#include <editline/history.h>

int main() {
    const char *name = readline("What is your name:");
    printf("Your name is %s.\n", name);
    return 0;
}

You need the libray installed, and you link your program with -leditline,