title: istream::getline return type
body: <p>What does the <code>istream::getline</code> method return?</p>
  
  <p>I am asking because I have seen that to loop through a file, it should be done like this:</p>
  
  <pre><code>while ( file.getline( char*, int ) )
  {
      // handle input
  }
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>What is being returned?</p>