The easiest solution is probably to create a local header file called iostream.h which just includes < iostream > and imports the namespace std. Then, in order for the compiler to allow #include you add the local path to your include file search path. For g++, this works: g++ -I local_folder [other flags] … Incidentally, your remark about … the deprecated " #include iostream.h " isn’t quite correct: this isn’t deprecated because it has never been legal C++. Including < iostream > behaves as if it defines a static storage duration object of type std::ios_base::Init, whose constructor initializes the standard stream objects if it is the first std::ios_base::Init object to be constructed, and whose destructor flushes those objects (except for cin and wcin) if it is the last std::ios_base::Init object to be destroyed. Example explained Line 1: # include < iostream > is a header file library that lets us work with input and output objects, such as cout (used in line 5). Header files add functionality to C++ programs. Line 2: using namespace std means that we can use names for objects and variables from the standard library. Declares objects that control reading from and writing to the standard streams. This include is often the only header you need to do input and output from a C++ program.
