How to get the character at certain index of a string using pointers?

Question

I'm trying to make a function which performs some operations on strings. From my understanding, strings are character arrays. So by writing:

cout << name[0];

we print the first character written of an assumed string called 'name'.

In my function, I have to use pointers to perform all functions. My current approach is to make a pointer:

string *str=&name;

but when I try to print the character at specified index by writing:

cout << *str[0];

It doesn't compile, I'm not sure what is the problem. One solution would be to make a dynamic character array but I wanted to know if it is possible to get the character at certain indexes of strings using pointers?

"print an index" not sure i understand what exactly do you mean (given your example). — Raxvan
– Raxvan, Commented May 10, 2018 at 14:26
@Raxvan Say string name="abcd"; cout << name[0]; prints 'a'. How to do the same but using pointers? — Idaisa
– Idaisa, Commented May 10, 2018 at 14:28
@Raxvan It seems OP wants print the char at specified index. — songyuanyao
– songyuanyao, Commented May 10, 2018 at 14:32

songyuanyao · Accepted Answer · 2021-12-06 14:05:38Z

4

operator[] has higher precedence than operator*, so *str[0] is same as *(str[0]). str[0] returns a std::string, and calling operator* on std::string doesn't make sense.

Change it to (*str)[0].

edited Dec 6, 2021 at 14:05

answered May 10, 2018 at 14:29

songyuanyao

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