Input conversion from char to int

[qwerty6523]

this is my code its only the beginning

#include <cstdlib>
#include <iostream>

using namespace std;

int main(int argc, char *argv[])
{
int a;
loop6:
cout << "what key do u wish to use: ";
cin >> a;
if (a == 1)
goto loop;
else if (a == 2)
goto loop2;
else if (a == 3)
goto loop3;
else if (a == 4)
goto loop4;
else if (a == 5)
goto loop5;
else
goto loop6;
loop:

loop2:

loop3:

loop4:

loop5:
system("PAUSE") ;
return EXIT_SUCCESS;
}

each key they go to will be a different code

what this program is supossed to do is when they type in a sentence it converts each letter to a number and each key will convert the letters to different numbers.
my problem is a dont know how to scan the sentence they type in for a certain letter.

thanks in advance

i hope you understand the question

[JosAH]

Please read about the switch statement and the while/for loop statement. If
Dijkstra would've still been alive he would've defenestrated your for using all
these goto statements: "Go To Considered Harmful".

kind regards,

Jos

[qwerty6523]

int main(int argc, char *argv[])
{
int a;
cout << "what key do u choose: ";
cin >> a;
do {

} while (a == 1);
do {

} while (a == 2);

do {

} while (a == 3);

do {

} while (a == 4);

do {

} while (a == 5);
do {

} while (a == 6);
system("PAUSE") ;
return EXIT_SUCCESS;
}
is this better

[ilikepython]

int main(int argc, char *argv[])
{
int a;
cout << "what key do u choose: ";
cin >> a;
do {

} while (a == 1);
do {

} while (a == 2);

do {

} while (a == 3);

do {

} while (a == 4);

do {

} while (a == 5);
do {

} while (a == 6);
system("PAUSE") ;
return EXIT_SUCCESS;
}
is this better

Well, if you just need to do something once depending on a then should replace the do while loops with if statements. Or you could use a switch:
[code=cpp]
switch (a)
{
case 1:
break;
case 2:
break
... and so on ...
[/code]
Also you can use a do while to make sure the input is what you want:
[code=cpp]
do {
cin << a;
} while (a != 1 && a != 2 && a != 3 && a != 4 && a != 5 && a != 6);
[/code]