C++ converting char variable to string variable is returning ASCII value

Question

My function looks like this:

string toOriginal(char c)
{
    if (c == '$')
        return "car";
    else if (c == '#')
        return "cdr";
    else if (c == '@')
        return "cons";
    else
    {
        string t = to_string(c);
        return t;
    }
}

However, when my character c contains a value like 'r', I would like for it to return "r" as a string. However, it returns a string "114".

Answer 1

std::to_string does not have an overload that takes a char. It converts the char to an int and gives you the string representation of the int.

Use std::string's constructor.

string t(1, c);

Answer 2

You can also use alternative string constructor like this:

  ...
    else
    {
        return std::string(&c, 1);
    }