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c++stringc++11curly-braces

c++11 - initialize std::string from char* directly with {} constructor


I have a function which accepts a std::string&:

void f(std::string& s) { ... }

I have a const char* which should be the input parameter for that function. This works:

const char* s1 = "test";
std::string s2{s};
f(s2);

This doesn't:

const char* s1 = "test";
f({s1});

Why isn't this possible? The funny thing is that CLion IDE is not complaining, but the compiler is:

no known conversion for argument 1 from ‘<brace-enclosed initializer list>’ to ‘std::basic_string<char>&’

Solution

  • This has nothing to do with constructing std::string from char const*.

    f expects a lvalue to a string, and by creating a temporary instance on the spot, you're providing an rvalue, which cannot be bound to a non-const lvalue reference. f(string{}) is just as invalid.