Simple Chatbot in C++

Welcome to this tutorial on building a simple chatbot using C++. In this tutorial, we will create a basic chatbot program that responds to user input with pre-defined responses. The chatbot will interact with users, providing answers to specific queries.

Objective

The objective of this program is to demonstrate how to create a basic chatbot using C++. The program will:

• Receive input from the user.
• Respond with a predefined set of responses based on the input.
• Exit the chat when the user types “exit”.

Code for Simple Chatbot in C++

#include 
#include 
using namespace std;

int main() {
    string user_input;

    cout << "Hello! I am your chatbot. Type 'exit' to end the conversation.\n";
    cout << "How can I help you today?\n";

    // Start the conversation loop
    while (true) {
        cout << "> ";
        getline(cin, user_input); // Get user input
        
        // Check if user wants to exit the conversation
        if (user_input == "exit") {
            cout << "Goodbye! Have a great day!\n";
            break;
        }
        
        // Respond to user input
        if (user_input == "hello") {
            cout << "Hi there! How can I assist you?\n";
        } else if (user_input == "how are you") {
            cout << "I'm doing great, thank you for asking! How about you?\n";
        } else if (user_input == "your name") {
            cout << "I am a chatbot created to assist you!\n";
        } else {
            cout << "Sorry, I didn't understand that. Can you ask something else?\n";
        }
    }

    return 0;
}
    

Explanation of the Program Structure

The chatbot program is simple and consists of the following key parts:

1. Header Files: We include the necessary header files #include <iostream> for input and output, and #include <string> to use the string data type.
2. Main Function: The main() function is where the execution of the program begins.
3. User Input: We use getline(cin, user_input) to capture the entire line of text entered by the user.
4. While Loop: The program runs in a loop that continues to prompt the user for input until they type “exit”.
5. Conditional Statements: Using if-else statements, the program matches the user’s input to a predefined set of responses. If the input doesn’t match any predefined command, it asks the user to rephrase their question.
6. Exit Condition: If the user types “exit”, the program will print a goodbye message and break out of the loop, ending the conversation.

How to Run the Program

g++ -o chatbot chatbot.cpp

./chatbot