RWCString to char

[ami]

Hello,

Can someone please tell me whether there is a way to cast RWCString to char* ?

I have :-

RWCString name = "...";
char nnnnnnn[100] = "";

and I want to copy the contents of name to nnnnnnn.

I know I can do :-

char m_nnnnnnn[1000] = "";
strcpy(m_nnnnnnn, name);

but, I was hoping to do something nicer than that.

Any ideas please ?

Many thanks.

[jonnin]

an array of char requires moving the items into it using the limited ways that arrays support:

a loop
one by one copy: a[0] = b[0], a[1] = b[1], ... etc
a copy (strcpy, memcpy, etc)
or the like, all of which are crude.

If you want something better, you need an object, even if its just a wrapper around a char array to give it an assignment operator.

The cleanest way then is maybe

char* cp;
string str;
str = your_RWCString;
cp = & str[0];
... use cp as if it were a C-string if that is needed for some reason, such as a byte-array packet for network transmission?

Or, if you do not actually need the char array at all, just use the string?

[Danny]

IF you really have to use a char array, there's no escape from calling a function that will copy the buffer from name. Look at the std::copy algorithm or plain old strncpy().

[drkybelk]

Just use

RWCString rws = "Copy me";
// 1000 should be big enough, but of course you can also dynamically allocate and delete later
char buffer[1000] = {0};

strcpy(buffer,rws.data());

But you might not need to copy to a buffer at all. It depends on what you want to do with it.
if you only need a const char* (for example as the input of an API call) then you shouldn't even
bother copying, but just use the data() method of RWCString.