How to mimic scanf("%*c) and scanf(":") behavior using cin>>

Question

The first scanf in the code below matches and discards the next input stream character while the second scanf matches and discards the next input stream character if it is a colon. Is there any way to mimic this behavior using cin>> other than manually inspecting the value of the character it stores in variable ch?

scanf("%*c");
scanf(":");

char ch;
cin >> ch;

Answer 1

for single characters it is often easier to use get/peek/unget rather than >> .

cin.get();  // read a single character (discarding it)

if (cin.peek() == ':') cin.get();   // discard a ':'

if (cin.get() != ':') cin.unget();  // same thing

However, iostreams have no real built in "scanning" like scanf.