<string.h> or <string>?

Question

Which is the best way to include the standard header string.h in a C++ project? Using the [dot]h at the end, like this:

#include <string.h>

or just writing

#include <string>

Or, maybe, using another way that I don't know?

Thanks!

Answer 1

Those are two different headers.

• <string> is for c++ std::string class
• <string.h> is for c string functions (like strlen(), etc.), which should be <cstring> for c++ project (this is the third, you didn't know of).

Answer 2

its quite different!

<string.h> this library for C-style strings

<string> for C++ strings

by standard in C++ you should use <cstring> instead <string.h>

Answer 3

Wiki says:

The C++ Standard Library also incorporates 18 headers of the ISO C90 C standard library ending with ".h", but their use is deprecated. All other headers in the C++ Standard Library DO NOT end in ".h".

Each header from the C Standard Library is included in the C++ Standard Library under a different name, generated by removing the .h, and adding a 'c' at the start; for example, 'time.h' becomes 'ctime'.