Learning Objectives: String

Functions

Identify the functions and applications of the following

string functions:

find_first_of() & find_last_of()

push_back() & insert()
pop_back() & erase()
replace()
append()
toupper() & tolower()
Find First Of & Last Of

The find_first_of() Function

The find_first_of() function works similarly to how the find() function
does. However, the find_first_of() function will search for any matching
characters specified. For example, given the string "this is his string",
my_string.find_first_of("his") will return 1 because the character h
within his appears first at index number 1. Like the find() function, you
can optionally specify an index number to direct the system where to start
searching.

.guides/img/FindFirstOf

The find_last_of() function

You can use the find_last_of() function to search for a set of characters in
a string that occur last. Here is an example, given the string “this is his
string”, my_string.find_last_of(“his”) will return 15 because the i in his
occurs last at index 15. If you don’t want the system to search the whole
string, you can specify an index as a second parameter to direct the system
where to start searching.

string string1 = "The brown dog jumps over the lazy fox.";
string string2 = "brown";

cout << string1.find_first_of(string2) << endl;

 challenge

What happens if you:

Set string2 to "wornb"?
Change the cout statement to string1.find_first_of(string2,
14)?
Set string2 to "axe" and change the cout statement to
string1.find_first_of(string2, 34)?
Set string2 to "i" and change the cout statement to
string1.find_first_of(string2)?

Remember that 18446744073709551615 is equivalent to -1 which also

means not found.
Push Back & Insert

The push_back() Function

In a previous module, you were introduced to vectors. The push_back()
function works the same way in strings as it does in vectors. It adds a
specific character to the end of the string.

string my_string = "Today is Satur";

my_string.push_back('d');

cout << my_string << endl;

challenge

What happens if you:

add the code my_string.push_back("ay"); below
my_string.push_back('d');?
replace my_string.push_back("ay"); with
my_string.push_back('a');?
add the code my_string.push_back('y'); below
my_string.push_back('a');?

The insert() Function

Unfortunately, the push_back() function cannot add multiple characters
(string) to an existing string. However, the insert() function can. Unlike
many functions where specifying the starting index number is optional,
doing so is necessary for insert() to work.

Note that the index specification comes before the string you want the
system to add. For example, my_string.insert(0, "abc") will add the
string abc to the 0th index which is also the beginning of the string. To add
to the end of the string, you can use my_string.length(). Note that you do
not need to subtract 1 from my_string.length() because the system will
add characters starting at the index after the last character of the string.
string my_string = "Today is Satur";
my_string.insert(my_string.length(), "day");

cout << my_string << endl;

challenge

What happens if you:

replace my_string.insert(my_string.length(), "day"); with
my_string.insert(0, "day");?
change the code back to my_string.insert(my_string.length(),
"day"); and add my_string.insert(9, "a good "); below it?
Pop Back & Erase

The pop_back() Function

The pop_back() function removes a single character from the end of a
string. You do not include anything within parentheses ().

string my_string = "Today is my birthday!";

my_string.pop_back();

cout << my_string << endl;

The erase() Function

The erase() function can remove multiple characters from a string or the
entire string itself. To remove the whole string, leave the parentheses ()
empty. Alternatively, you can specify one index number to remove all
characters starting at that index to the end of the string. Specify two index
numbers to start at an index and erase a certain number of characters at
that index forward.

string my_string = "Today is my birthday!";

my_string.erase(my_string.length()-1);

cout << my_string << endl;

challenge

What happens if you:

Replace my_string.erase(my_string.length()-1); with
my_string.erase(12);?
Replace my_string.erase(12); in your current code with
my_string.erase(12, 5);?
Replace my_string.erase(12, 5); in your current code with
my_string.erase();

Why do I see Command was successfully executed.?

When Codio does not detect anything being printed to the console, you will
see the message Command was successfully executed. displayed. The
command my_string.erase() causes the entire string to become empty and
since an empty string has no output, you will see Command was successfully
executed. instead.
Replace

The replace() Function

The replace() function is really a combination of the erase() and insert()
functions. Let’s take a look at an example.

my_string.replace(1, 2, "3")

There are three parameters of interest within replace() above. The 1

represents the index at which we want to start erasing. The 2 tells the
system how many characters to erase starting at index 1. And the "3" is the
string that the system will insert into the string at index 1.

string string1 = "Hello world!";

string string2 = "Codio.";
string string3 = string1.replace(6, 5, string2);
// erase all characters from index 6 plus 5 chars to the right
in string1
// then insert string2 at index 6 within string1

cout << string3 << endl;

challenge

What happens if you:

Change string3 to string1.replace(6, 6, string2)?
Change string3 to string1.replace(2, 3, "y")?
Append

The append() function

An alternative way to concatenate or combine strings is to use the
append() function. The append() function works in the same way as adding
literal strings together using the + operator.

string a = "High";
string b = " Five";

cout << a.append(b) << endl;

challenge

What happens if you:

Change the cout statement to a.append(b + "!")?
Change the cout statement to a.append("Five" + "!")?
Change the cout statement to "High" + " Five" + "!"?
Change the cout statement to a + " Five" + "!"?
Change the cout statement back to a.append(b) and replace string
b = " Five"; with int b = 5;

important

IMPORTANT
NOTE that the append() function is exclusively for strings. Thus, you
cannot include other data types like ints when using append() unless
they are converted to strings first. Additionally, when using the +
operator to combine two strings together, make sure that at least one
of the strings is a string variable. Otherwise, the system will think you
are trying to manipulate a string literal, which is not allowed.
Uppercase & Lowercase

The toupper() Function

The toupper() function returns the uppercase form of a specified character.
Insert the character you wish to convert as a parameter.

Note that by default, toupper() returns the ASCII representation of the

uppercase letter. Thus, you’ll need char to convert the ASCII code into
alphabetical.

.guides/img/StringToUpper

string my_string = "the big brown dog";

cout << char(toupper(my_string.at(0))) << endl;

challenge

What happens if you:

Change the cout statement to
char(toupper(my_string.at(my_string.length()-1)))?
Change the cout statement to char(toupper('t'))?
Change the cout statement to char(toupper(my_string))?

The tolower() Function

The tolower() function returns the lowercase form of a specified character.
It has all of the technicalities that the toupper() function has.

string my_string = "THE BIG BROWN DOG";

cout << char(tolower(my_string.at(1))) << endl;

challenge

What happens if you:

Change the cout statement to
char(tolower(my_string.at(my_string.length()-1)))?
Change the cout statement to char(tolower('B'))?
Change the cout statement to char(tolower('%'))?
Formative Assessment 1
Formative Assessment 2