Sample Program Using an Array of Strings

#include <iostream.h>   // cin/cout
#include <fstream.h>    // ifstream
#include <assert.h>     // assert()
#include <string.h>     // strcpy()

const int MAXWORDS = 20;   // max words in file
const int MAXLENGTH = 30;  // max length of a word

void main(void)
{
  char studentNames[MAXWORDS + 1][MAXLENGTH + 1];
  char name[MAXLENGTH + 1];
  int count = 0;
  ifstream inFile;
  
  // open input file
  inFile.open("students.dat", ios::in);
  assert( !inFile.fail() );

  // prime while loop (read one line from file)
  inFile.getline(name, MAXLENGTH);

  // while there is more data in the input file
  while ( !inFile.eof() )
  {
     // copy name into next string
     strcpy(studentNames[count], name);

     // increment our counter
     count++;

     // get another name from the file
     inFile.getline(name, MAXLENGTH);
  }

  inFile.close();    // close input file

  // print out the names in reverse
  for (int i = count - 1; i >= 0; i--)
    cout << studentNames[i] << endl;
}