How to convert C style strings to std::string and vice versa?

Last Updated : 06 Jul, 2017

What are C style strings? These strings are array of characters terminating with a NULL character. C style strings can be declared in following ways:

Declaration and initialization

CPP

/* To demonstrate C style strings */
#include<iostream>
using namespace std;
int main()
{
    /* Null character has to be added explicitly */
    char str1[8] = {'H' , 'E' , 'L' , 'L' , 'O' ,
                     '-','1','\0' };
    
    /* Compiler implicitly adds Null character */
    char str2[] = "HELLO-2" ;  
 
    /* Compiler implicitly adds Null character. 
       Note that string literals are typically stored
       as read only */
    const char *str3 = "HELLO-3" ;

    cout << str1 << endl << str2 << endl << str3;
    return 0;
}

Output:

HELLO-1
HELLO-2
HELLO-3

C style strings are operated with very useful functions like strcpy(), strlen(), strpbrk(), strcat(), strstr() and many more!(All these functions are member functions of 'cstring' header ). What is a std::string? C++ standard library contains functions and classes. String is one of its classes. Here we deal with an object of string class. This std::string takes care of itself and manages its own memory.

Declaration and initialization

CPP

/* To demonstrate std::string */
#include<iostream>
#include<string>           

using namespace std;
int main()
{
    /* s becomes object of class string. */
    string s;  

    /* Initializing with a value. */           
    s = "HELLO";

    /* Printing the value */          
    cout << s; 
             
    return 0;
}

Output:

HELLO

Converting C-String to a std::string. But why do we need this transformation? From a C string to a std::string? It is because

Std::string manages its own space. So programmer don’t need to worry about memory , unlike C strings (Since they are array of characters)
They are easy to operate. ‘+’ operator for concatenation, '=' for assignment, can be compared using regular operators.
string::find() and many other functions can be implemented on std::string and not on C-Strings so this becomes handy.
Iterators can be used in std::string and not in C-strings.

And many more! Here is the code for it:-

CPP

/* To demonstrate C style string to std::string */
#include<bits/stdc++.h>

using namespace std;
int main()
{
    /*Initializing a C-String */
    const char *a = "Testing"; 
    cout << "This is a C-String : "<< a << endl;

    /* This is how std::string s is assigned
       though a  C string ‘a’ */
    string s(a);  
   
    /* Now s is a std::string and a is a C-String */
    cout << "This is a std::string : "<< s << endl;
    return 0;
}

Output:

This is a C-String : Testing
This is a std::string : Testing

The above conversion also works for character array.

        // Character array to std::string conversion 
	char a[] = "Testing"; 
	string s(a);

Converting a std::string to a C style string Why do we need this transformation? From std::string to a C string?

It is because there are several powerful functions in header that makes our work very much easier.
atoi() , itoa() , and many more functions work with C strings only.

You can think of other reasons too! Here is the code for conversion:-

CPP

/* To demonstrate std::string to  C style string */
#include<iostream>
#include<string> /* This header contains string class */
using namespace std;
int main()
{
    /* std::string initialized */
    string s = "Testing";  
    cout << "This is a std::string : "<< s << endl;

    /* Address of first character of std::string is 
       stored to char pointer a */
    char *a = &(s[0]); 

    /* Now 'a' has address of starting character
      of string */
    printf("%s\n", a);                 
    return 0;
}

Output:

This is a std::string : Testing
This is a C-String : Testing

std::string also has a function c_str() that can be used to get a null terminated character array.

CPP

/* To demonstrate std::string to C style string using
   c_str() */
#include<bits/stdc++.h>
using namespace std;

int main()
{
    /* std::string initialized */
    string s = "Testing";  
    cout << "This is a std::string : "<< s << endl;

    // c_str returns null terminated array of characters
    const char *a = s.c_str();

    /* Now 'a' has address of starting character
      of string */
    printf("%s\n", a);                 
    return 0;
}

Output:

This is a std::string : Testing
This is a C-String : Testing

Both C strings and std::strings have their own advantages. One should know conversion between them, to solve problems easily and effectively. Related articles: C++ string class and its applications | Set 1 C++ string class and its applications | Set 2