🧵 C++ Strings

🔤 What Is a String?

A string is a sequence of characters, like words or sentences. In C++, you can handle strings in two ways:

• Using character arrays (char[]) — old-school, C-style

• Using the C++ string class (std::string) — easier and more powerful

In this series, we’ll focus on std::string, as it’s beginner-friendly and more versatile.

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📦 Including the String Library

To use stringYou must include its header:

#include <string>

Also include:

#include <iostream>
using namespace std;

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✨ Declaring and Initializing Strings

string name = "Soumik";
string greeting;
greeting = "Hello!";

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🧠 String Input and Output

📥 Input using cin (word only):

string name;
cin >> name;  // Reads until the first space

📥 Input using getline() (full line):

string fullName;
getline(cin, fullName);  // Reads the full line including spaces

📤 Output using cout:

cout << "Your name is " << name << endl;

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🛠️ Common String Operations

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🧪 Code Example

#include <iostream>
#include <string>
using namespace std;

int main() {
    string name;
    cout << "Enter your full name: ";
    getline(cin, name);

    cout << "Hi, " << name << "!" << endl;
    cout << "Your name has " << name.length() << " characters." << endl;
    return 0;
}

🖨️ Sample Output:

Enter your full name: Soumik Dastidar
Hi, Soumik Dastidar!
Your name has 16 characters.

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🚫 Common Mistakes

❌ Using cin For full names:

cin >> fullName;  // Only captures up to first space

❌ Forgetting to include <string>:

string name = "Test";  // Error if <string> not included

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✅ Best Practices

• Prefer getline() for any input that might contain spaces.

• Use meaningful string names like userName, not just s.

• Avoid mixing cin and getline() directly one after another—clear the buffer first.

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💼 Task for You

🔧 Task:
Ask the user for their favorite quote. Then:

• Print the quote.

• Print the number of characters.

• Print the first word of the quote using substr() and find().

💡 Hint: Use quote.substr(0, quote.find(" ")) to extract the first word.

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🎯 What’s Next?

Now that you know how to work with strings, it's time to move into conditions and decision-making, like if, else, and switch.

📍Next up: Part 7 – Conditional Statements in C++

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✨ Follow the Series

This post is part of the C++ Zero to Hero blog series — your guide to mastering C++ from scratch. Whether you're learning for fun, school, or career prep, we've got your back—line by line, concept by concept.