Serialization of STL Class

Question

is it possible serialize any STL class including std::string? I've a sets of std::strings and I'm trying to write them into file and load them back into std::set.

Answer 1

Yes, it's possible. With boost.serialization, for example.

For STL, read corresponding tutorial section

Answer 2

An example of using boost::serialization to serialize an STL type

#include <map>
#include <fstream>
#include <boost/archive/text_iarchive.hpp>
#include <boost/archive/text_oarchive.hpp>

#include <boost/serialization/map.hpp>

int main(int argc,char** argv) {
  std::ofstream s("tmp.oarchive");
  boost::archive::text_oarchive oa(s);
  std::map<int,int> m;
  m[1] = 100;
  m[2] = 200;
  oa << m;
}

Compile with

g++ -lboost_serialization myfile.cc

Note that

1. The #include <boost/archive/text_iarchive.hpp> must be before any other boost serialization includes.
2. You need to include a header for the STL type you want to archive.

Answer 3

If you just want to write a std::set<std::string> to a file and read it back out, and your project doesn't already use Boost, you might try something simple:

ofstream file("file.txt");
copy(theSet.begin, theSet.end(), ostream_iterator<string>(file, "\n"));

This will simply write the strings, one per line, into a text file. Then to read them:

ifstream file("file.txt");
string line;
while(getline(file, line))
    theSet.insert(line);