Assign char* to string without copying [duplicate]

Question

this is quite a simple question, however I'm finding it tricky. I want to treat a char* as if it were a std::string, for instance:

    char *p = ...; // read a huge chuck from a file

    std::string s(p); // this is not what I want

So, if I use the constructor, I get a copy of p, which is a waste of memory and time. Is it possible somehow to avoid this, and "assign" the std::string content to a pre-existing address?

Any other idea is more than welcome!

Thanks!

Answer 1

Is it possible somehow to avoid this, and "assign" the std::string content to a pre-existing address?

No.

However, you can assign it to a std::string_view. Going forward, all uses of std::string except to own memory should be replaced by std::string_view.