C++ function returning const char *

Question

I've developed a small helper function for a unit test class, which takes my vector<unsigned char> and converts it back to a const char *. I wrote this so I can pass it to gtest's ASSERT_STREQ macro for simple comparisons. Here it is:

const char * convertVecToChar(std::vector<unsigned char>& source)
{
    std::vector<unsigned char>::size_type size = source.size();
    char* data = (char*)malloc(sizeof(char) * (size + 1)); 
    memcpy(data, &source[0], size);
    data[size] = 0;
    return data;
}

And here's an example of it being called:

ASSERT_STREQ("de", convertVecToChar(somevector));

I presume this is leaky however as I'm calling malloc, but without calling delete further down the road?

Is there a more elegant way to do this, which does not involve creating a separate const char * variable for every time I call ASSERT_STREQ within a test method?

Big thanks in advance for all responses.

Chris

Answer 1

Return a std::string instead of a char* (malloc(), or new, unrequired):

std::string convertVecToChar(std::vector<unsigned char>& source)
{
    return std::string(source.begin(), source.end());
}

and use:

ASSERT_STREQ("de", convertVecToChar(somevector).c_str());