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std::basic_string<CharT,Traits,Allocator>::npos

From cppreference.com
< cpp‎ | string‎ | basic string
 
 
 
std::basic_string
 
staticconst size_type npos =-1;

This is a special value equal to the maximum value representable by the type size_type. The exact meaning depends on context, but it is generally used either as end of string indicator by the functions that expect a string index or as the error indicator by the functions that return a string index.

[edit]Note

Although the definition uses -1, size_type is an unsigned integer type, and the value of npos is the largest positive value it can hold, due to signed-to-unsigned implicit conversion. This is a portable way to specify the largest value of any unsigned type.

[edit]Example

#include <bitset>#include <iostream>#include <string>   int main(){// string search functions return npos if nothing is foundstd::string s ="test";if(s.find('a')== s.npos)std::cout<<"no 'a' in 'test'\n";   // functions that take string subsets as arguments // use npos as the "all the way to the end" indicatorstd::string s2(s, 2, std::string::npos);std::cout<< s2 <<'\n';   std::bitset<5> b("aaabb", std::string::npos, 'a', 'b');std::cout<< b <<'\n';}

Output:

no 'a' in 'test' st 00011

[edit]See also

[static]
special value. The exact meaning depends on the context
(public static member constant of std::basic_string_view<CharT,Traits>)[edit]
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