JK> I used to program in C and used an array of chars for strings, Now I'm
 JK> using C++ and find that strings are now a class with shinny new
 JK> operations to preform on them.  However I have a few questions about
 JK> using the old  C style strings in C++.
 JK> For various reasons there are times when I need to use an array of
 JK> chars for a string.  Can I safely use cin on it? for example, is cin <<
 JK> somestring; safe? 
 
 Somewhat.  You do need to make sure that the buffer you've allocated
 is large enough.  
 
 
 JK> By safe I mean that The array has to have a null char
 JK> in it to terminate it. 
 
 If you've got enough space allocated, you'll get a zero byte tacked
 on.
 
 JK> If the char array is 5 elemets and someone types
 JK> in a huge string what will happen?  
 
 Almost anything.
 
 JK> I'm assuming since cin doesnt know
 JK> the size of my array that it will just write all thoese bytes over
 JK> whatever happens to be in memory after the array of chars.
 Correct.
 JK> Also, I need a bit of a refresher course with char array strings, One
 JK> point I can't quite remember is the max length of a string that can be
 JK> entered into an arary of a given size, is it size-1? For example, if an
 JK> array has 3 elements (0-3) I cannot store "the" as there will be no
 JK> null character, but "hi" is ok as it would be "Hi"+nullch (3 elements)
 Since you are defining 'string' to include the zero terminating byte,
 you've got it exactly right.  The string 'the' requires 4 bytes of
 storage.  If you try to stuff it into 3 bytes, the 'the' gets stored
 and where the zero has gone is anyone's guess.
---
 þ Blue Wave/QWK v2.12 þ
---------------