string literal

 

C++

Language

Standard library headers

Concepts

Utilities library

Strings library

Containers library

Algorithms library

Iterators library

Numerics library

Input/output library

Localizations library

Regular expressions library (C++11)

Atomic operations library (C++11)

Thread support library (C++11)

 

C++ language

General topics
Preprocessor Comments Keywords	ASCII chart Escape sequences History of C++
Flow control
Conditional execution statements
if statement	switch statement
Iteration statements
for loop range-for loop (C++11)	while loop do-while loop
Jump statements
continue statement break statement	goto statement return statement
Functions
function declaration
lambda function declaration
function template
inline specifier
exception specifications (deprecated)
noexcept specifier (C++11)
Exceptions
throw expression	try-catch block
Namespaces
namespace declaration	namespace aliases
Types
fundamental types compound types enumeration types	union types function types
decltype specifier (C++11)
Specifiers
cv specifiers
storage duration specifiers
constexpr specifier (C++11)
auto specifier (C++11)
alignas specifier (C++11)
Initialization
default initialization value initialization zero initialization copy initialization direct initialization	aggregate initialization list initialization (C++11) constant initialization reference initialization

Literals
integer literals character literals floating-point literals string literals	boolean literals nullptr (C++11) user-defined (C++11)
Expressions
value categories order of evaluation	operators operator precedence
alternative representations
Utilities
Types
typedef declaration
type alias declaration (C++11)
attributes (C++11)
Casts
implicit conversions
const_cast conversion
static_cast conversion
dynamic_cast conversion
reinterpret_cast conversion
C-style and functional cast
Memory allocation
new expression	delete expression
Classes
class declaration this pointer access specifiers	friend specifier initializer lists
Class-specific function properties
virtual function override specifier (C++11) final specifier (C++11)	explicit (C++11) static
Special member functions
default constructor copy constructor move constructor (C++11)	copy assignment move assignment (C++11) destructor
Templates
class template
function template
template specialization
parameter packs (C++11)
Miscellaneous
Inline assembly

 

Syntax

" (unescaped_character|escaped_character)* "	(1)
L " (unescaped_character|escaped_character)* "	(2)
u8 " (unescaped_character|escaped_character)* "	(3)	(since C++11)
u " (unescaped_character|escaped_character)* "	(4)	(since C++11)
U " (unescaped_character|escaped_character)* "	(5)	(since C++11)
prefix(optional) R "delimiter( raw_character* )delimiter"	(6)	(since C++11)

Explanation

unescaped_character	-	Any valid character
escaped_character	-	See escape sequences
prefix	-	One of L, u8, u, U
delimiter	-	A string made of any source character but parentheses, backslash and spaces (can be empty)
raw_character	-	Must not contain the closing sequence )delimiter"

1) Narrow multibyte string literal. The type of an unprefixed string literal is const char[]

2) Wide string literal. The type of a L"..." string literal is const wchar_t[]

3) UTF-8 encoded string literal. The type of a u8"..." string literal is const char[]

4) UTF-16 encoded string literal. The type of a u"..." string literal is const char16_t[]

5) UTF-32 encoded string literal. The type of a U"..." string literal is const char32_t[]

6) Raw string literal. Used to avoid escaping of any character, anything between the delimiters becomes part of the string, if prefix is present has the same meaning as described above.

Notes

• String literals can be concatenated
• The null character ('\0', L'\0', char16_t(), etc) is always appended to the string literal: thus, a string literal "Hello" is a const char[6] holding the characters 'H', 'e', 'l', 'l', 'o', and '\0'.
• String literals can be used to initialize character arrays.

Example

run this code

char array[] = "Foo" "bar";
// same as
char array[] = { 'F', 'o', 'o', 'b', 'a', 'r', '\0' };
 
const char* s1 = R"foo(
Hello
World
)foo";
//same as
const char s2 = "\nHello\nWorld\n";