We already know how to output the data with the object cout and operator <<. However, sometimes we need to get values directly from the user. To enable this operation use cin in combination with the extraction operator >>.

cin >> x; // Get the value for the variable x

For example, here we want to get the value for the variable a and output it:

01   #include <iostream>
02   using namespace std;
03   
04   int main() {
05       // Declare the variable
06       int a;
07
08       // Print the message for user to get the value
09       cout << "Print a number: ";
10
11       // Get user input
12       cin >> a;
13
14       // Display the input of the user
15       cout << "Your number is: " << a;
16 
17       return 0;
18   }

In the line #12 the user print the value which will be stored in the variable a.