Take 3: /** * A class providing a combination of an input stream * and an input iterator. * I use for convenience when processing a part-ascii, * part-binary stream. */ template class basic_istringtraverser : public std::basic_istringstream { public: basic_istringtraverser(std::basic_string<charT> s) : std::basic_istringstream(s) {} charT operator*() {return (charT)(rdbuf()->sgetc());} basic_istringtraverser& operator++() { rdbuf()->sbumpc(); return *this; } }; /** Specialization for char type. */ typedef basic_istringtraverser<char> istringtraverser;