How can i embed NULL character inside string in C++?

Question

Can i use string in C++ which support embedded NULL character?

My issue is: Constructing string with embedded NULL and hence sent it to C++ DLL as an array of bytes.

    string inputStr("he\0llo", 6);
    int byteLength = 6;
    BYTE *inputByte = (BYTE*)(char*)inputStr.c_str();
    ApplyArabicMapping(inputByte , byteLength);

Answer 1

Yes, std::string supports storing NULL characters because it is not NULL-terminated. You can create one in many ways:

string str("he\0llo", 6);
str.append(1, '\0');
str.push_back('\0');
const char[] cstr = "hell\0o";
string str2(cstr, cstr + sizeof(cstr) - 1); // - 1 for the NULL

Answer 2

You can use counted strings, where the character buffer is stored alongside with its "content length"; this allows you to embed any character. std::string, for example, is a kind of counted string.

Obviously, you cannot pass such a string to a function that expects a classic C-string, because it will see the first null it encounters as the string terminator.