std::istreambuf_iterator<char> eos; std::string s(std::istreambuf_iterator<char>(stream), eos);
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
(could be a one-liner if not for MVP)
post-2011 edit, this approach is now spelled
std::string s(std::istreambuf_iterator<char>(stream), {});
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
I'm late to the party, but here is a fairly efficient solution:
std::string gulp(std::istream &in)
{
std::string ret;
char buffer[4096];
while (in.read(buffer, sizeof(buffer)))
ret.append(buffer, sizeof(buffer));
ret.append(buffer, in.gcount());
return ret;
}
I did some benchmarking, and it turns out that the std::istreambuf_iterator
technique (used by the accepted answer) is actually much slower. On gcc 4.4.5 with -O3
, it's about a 4.5x difference on my machine, and the gap becomes wider with lower optimization settings.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
You can try using something from algorithms. I have to get ready for work but here's a very quick stab at things (there's got to be a better way):
copy( istreambuf_iterator<char>(stream), istreambuf_iterator<char>(), back_inserter(s) );
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
You could do
std::string s;
std::ostringstream os;
os<<stream.rdbuf();
s=os.str();
but I don't know if it's more efficient.
Alternative version:
std::string s;
std::ostringstream os;
stream>>os.rdbuf();
s=os.str();
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Well, if you are looking for a simple and 'readable' way to do it. I would recomend add/use some high level framework on your project. For that I's always use Poco and Boost on all my projects. In this case, with Poco:
string text;
FileStream fstream(TEXT_FILE_PATH);
StreamCopier::copyToString(fstream, text);
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Perhaps this 1 line C++11 solution:
std::vector<char> s{std::istreambuf_iterator<char>{in},{}};