typedef unsigned int  uint;


inline void fileExists (const std::string& name) {
    if ( access( name.c_str(), F_OK ) == -1 ) {
        throw std::string("File does not exist!");
    }
}

size_t bimNCols(std::string fn) {
    try {
        fileExists(fn);
        std::ifstream in_file(fn);
        std::string tmpline;
        std::getline(in_file, tmpline);
        std::vector<std::string> strs;
        strs = boost::split(strs, tmpline, boost::is_any_of("t"), boost::token_compress_on);
        return strs.size();
    } catch (const std::string& e) {
        std::cerr << "n" << e << "n";
        exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
    }
}

typedef std::vector<std::string> vecStr;

vecStr bimReadCol(std::string fn, uint ncol_select) {
    try {
        size_t ncols = bimNCols(fn);
        if(ncol_select < 1 or ncol_select > ncols) {
            throw std::string("Your column selection is out of range!");
        }

        std::ifstream in_file(fn);
        std::string tmpword;
        vecStr colsel; // holds the column of strings
        while (in_file) {
            for(int i=1; i<ncol_select; i++) {
                in_file >> tmpword;
            }
            in_file >> tmpword;
            colsel.push_back(tmpword);
            in_file.ignore(std::numeric_limits<std::streamsize>::max(), 'n');
        }
        return colsel;

    } catch (const std::string& e) {
        std::cerr << "n" << e << "n";
        exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
    }
}

in_file.ignore(std::numeric_limits<std::streamsize>::max(), 'n');

a 1 b 2
a 1 b 2
a 1 b 2