how to speed up cin and cout
To speed up the input and output operations in C++, you can use the following techniques:
- Synchronization with C standard library: By default, the input and output streams in C++ (cin and cout) are synchronized with the C standard library functions (scanf and printf). This synchronization can be disabled to improve performance. To disable the synchronization, you can use the following line of code at the beginning of your program:
std::ios_base::sync_with_stdio(false);
- Avoid flushing output: Flushing the output stream (cout) after every output operation can be time-consuming. You can improve the performance by avoiding unnecessary flushes. For example, instead of using
endl
to insert a newline and flush the output, you can use'\n'
to insert a newline without flushing:
cout << "Hello World!" << '\n'; // faster than cout << "Hello World!" << endl;
- Buffering the output: By default, the output stream (cout) is line-buffered, which means the data is written to the output only when a newline character is encountered or when the buffer is full. You can improve the performance by manually flushing the output buffer using the
flush
function:
cout << "Hello World!" << flush; // flushes the output buffer
- Optimize input: The default behavior of the input stream (cin) involves synchronizing with the output stream (cout) before reading any input. This synchronization can be disabled to improve performance. To disable synchronization, you can use the following line of code at the beginning of your program:
std::cin.tie(nullptr);
- Use a faster input method: If you need to read a large amount of input, using the
std::ios::sync_with_stdio(false)
technique may not be sufficient. In such cases, you can consider using alternative input methods likefgets
orscanf
from the C library, which can be faster for large input sizes.
These techniques can help improve the performance of input and output operations in C++. You can choose the ones that best suit your specific requirements.