C++ strings vs vector<char> [duplicate]

Question

It's known to everyone of us that we should prefer string class in C++ for all string applications due to the many special functions they perform & their ability to grow & reduce dynamically. What string is for characters, vector is for other data types & classes because it shows great performance.

However is there any situation where we would need to prefer vector<char> (which I see seldom) over string ?

Answer 1

I'd use vector<char> only if I explicitly intent to store an array of char values, which is not a string. E.g. if for some reason I'd collect all the characters used somewhere in a specific text, the result might be a vector<char>.

To be clear: it is all about expressing the intent.