How to convert a TCHAR array to std::string?

c++ string windows unicode tchar
ashmish2 picture ashmish2 · Jun 9, 2011 · Viewed 72.1k times · Source

How do I convert a TCHAR array to std::string (not to std::basic_string)?

Answer

Alok Save picture Alok Save · Jun 9, 2011

TCHAR is just a typedef that, depending on your compilation configuration, either defaults to char or wchar_t.

Standard Template Library supports both ASCII (with std::string) and wide character sets (with std::wstring). All you need to do is to typedef String as either std::string or std::wstring depending on your compilation configuration. To maintain flexibility you can use the following code:

#ifndef UNICODE  
  typedef std::string String; 
#else
  typedef std::wstring String; 
#endif

Now you may use String in your code and let the compiler handle the nasty parts. String will now have constructors that lets you convert TCHAR to std::string or std::wstring.

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