A string literal contains a sequence of characters or escape sequences enclosed in double quotation mark symbols. A string literal with the prefix L is a wide string literal. A string literal without the prefix L is an ordinary or narrow string literal.
The type of a narrow string literal is array of char. The type of a wide string literal is array of wchar_t.
The type of a narrow string literal is array of const char. The type of a wide string literal is array of const wchar_t. Both types have static storage duration.
A null ('\0') character is appended to each string. For a wide string literal, the value '\0' of type wchar_t is appended. By convention, programs recognize the end of a string by finding the null character.
String literal syntax .---------------------. V | >>-+---+--"----+-character-------+-+--"------------------------>< '-L-' '-escape_sequence-'
Multiple spaces contained within a string literal are retained.
Use the escape sequence \n to represent a new-line character as part of the string. Use the escape sequence \\ to represent a backslash character as part of the string. You can represent a single quotation mark symbol either by itself or with the escape sequence \'. You must use the escape sequence \" to represent a double quotation mark.
Outside of the basic source character set, the universal character names for letters and digits are allowed in C++.
The following are examples of string literals:
char titles[ ] = "Handel's \"Water Music\"";
char *temp_string = "abc" "def" "ghi"; /* *temp_string = "abcdefghi\0" */
wchar_t *wide_string = L"longstring";
This example illustrates escape sequences in string literals:
#include <iostream>
using namespace std;
int main () {
char *s ="Hi there! \n";
cout << s;
char *p = "The backslash character \\.";
cout << p << endl;
char *q = "The double quotation mark \".\n";
cout << q ;
}
This program produces the following output:
Hi there!
The backslash character \.
The double quotation mark ".
To continue a string on the next line, use the line continuation character (\ symbol) followed by optional whitespace and a new-line character (required). For example:
char *mail_addr = "Last Name First Name MI Street Address \
893 City Province Postal code ";
In the following example, the string literal second causes a compile-time error.
char *first = "This string continues onto the next\
line, where it ends."; /* compiles successfully. */
char *second = "The comment makes the \ /* continuation symbol
*/ invisible to the compiler."; /* compilation error. */
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