std::basic_string::npos

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basic_string

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std::basic_string

Member functions basic_string::basic_string basic_string::operator= basic_string::assign basic_string::get_allocator Element access basic_string::at basic_string::operator[] basic_string::front (C++11) basic_string::back (C++11) basic_string::data basic_string::c_str basic_string::operator basic_string_view (C++17) Iterators basic_string::beginbasic_string::cbegin (C++11) basic_string::endbasic_string::cend (C++11) basic_string::rbeginbasic_string::crbegin (C++11) basic_string::rendbasic_string::crend (C++11) Capacity basic_string::empty basic_string::sizebasic_string::length basic_string::max_size basic_string::reserve basic_string::capacity basic_string::shrink_to_fit (C++11)

Operations basic_string::clear basic_string::insert basic_string::erase basic_string::push_back basic_string::pop_back (C++11) basic_string::append basic_string::operator+= basic_string::compare basic_string::starts_with (C++20) basic_string::ends_with (C++20) basic_string::replace basic_string::substr basic_string::copy basic_string::resize basic_string::swap Search basic_string::find basic_string::rfind basic_string::find_first_of basic_string::find_first_not_of basic_string::find_last_of basic_string::find_last_not_of Constants basic_string::npos

Non-member functions operator+ operator==operator!=operator<operator>operator<=operator>= swap(std::basic_string) operator<<operator>> getline stoistolstoll (C++11)(C++11)(C++11) stoulstoull (C++11)(C++11) stofstodstold (C++11)(C++11)(C++11) to_string (C++11) to_wstring (C++11) operator""s (C++14) Helper classes hash<std::string>hash<std::wstring>hash<std::u32string>hash<std::u16string> (C++11)(C++11)(C++11)(C++11) hash<std::pmr::string>hash<std::pmr::wstring>hash<std::pmr::u32string>hash<std::pmr::u16string> (C++20)(C++20)(C++20)(C++20) Deduction guides(C++17)

static const 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.

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.

Example

Run this code

#include <iostream>
#include <bitset>
#include <string>

int main()
{
    // string search functions return npos if nothing is found
    std::string s = "test";
    if(s.find('a') == std::string::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" indicator
    std::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