http://i33.tinypic.com/ftf39h.jpg

Theres what I have, but I'm having a bit of a blonde moment.

Basically I have a chunk of code at the top of a file (the variable "plyFile" in the image which is defined earlier in the code). I need to loop through it and look for a couple keywords. I either need the number that comes in "element face (number)" or "element vertex (number)" in a variable to be used later. The rest is garbage data and can be disposed of. I can stop looping when I reach "end_header".

The example my teacher gave us involves going line by line like
PlyFile >> garbage >> garbage >> garbage;
PlyFile >> garbage >> int;
However, that only applied to one example and didn't allow files with different headers to be used. Mine needs to work regardless of whats in the header (incase there are things like extra comments).

So you can see my logic...
Do-while loop until I reach "end_header".
Take the string. If it's "element" and the next is "vertex", put the next one in a variable as an int.
If it's "element" and the next is "face" , put the next in another variable.
Then, it doesn't matter if it hits the next keywords on the way by again, as the important ones are already saved in another variable, and they can just be overwritten from the garbage variable.

However, I'm a little worried that doing it like this, I'm going to get stuck in an endless loop. With my way, is it going to move onto the next string each time through the loop, or is it just going to keep testing the first word? (in most cases there are 3-4 words on a line).
If I need some sort of statement at the start or end of the do-while to move on to the next word... what do you suggest?

(if anyone is wondering and hasn't figured it out.. I'm building a ply loader for Direct X.. I can't test it yet because I have a massive amount of work left before any of this is going to work)

Help?! (I'll be at this all night if anyone's lookin' to make a couple bucks ;)