Empty Character Constant in C++

I copied this code from a tutorial to play around with, however I kept on getting an error that stated that I can't have any empty character constants. the tutorial was in VS 2008, and I am using VS 2013, so perhaps this is no longer valid, but I can't find any fix. here is the code:

#include "stdafx.h"
#include <iostream>

class MyString
{
private:
    char *m_pchString;
    int m_nLength;

public:
MyString(const char *pchString="")
{
    // Find the length of the string
    // Plus one character for a terminator
    m_nLength = strlen(pchString) + 1;

    // Allocate a buffer equal to this length
    m_pchString = new char[m_nLength];

    // Copy the parameter into our internal buffer
    strncpy(m_pchString, pchString, m_nLength);

    // Make sure the string is terminated
    //this is where the error occurs
    m_pchString[m_nLength-1] = '';
}

~MyString() // destructor
{
    // We need to deallocate our buffer
    delete[] m_pchString;

    // Set m_pchString to null just in case
    m_pchString = 0;
}

    char* GetString() { return m_pchString; }
    int GetLength() { return m_nLength; }
};

int main()
{
    MyString cMyName("Alex");
    std::cout << "My name is: " << cMyName.GetString() << std::endl;
    return 0;
} 

The error I get is the following:

Error   1   error C2137: empty character constant       

Any help will be greatly appreciated

Thanks again.

4

3 Answers

This line:

m_pchString[m_nLength-1] = '';

What you probably mean is:

m_pchString[m_nLength-1] = '\0';

Or even:

m_pchString[m_nLength-1] = 0;

Strings are zero terminated, which is written as a plain 0 or the null character '\0'. For double quote strings "" the zero termintation character is implicitly added to the end, but since you explicitly set a single character you must specify which.

9

what do you think about null-terminated string? Yes, you are right, such strings must be terminated with null:

m_pchString[m_nLength-1] = 0;

1

You've said that you "get an error stating that strncpy is unsafe to use if i use the null terminator," but you use strlen, which simply does not work if the string isn't null terminated. From cplusplus:

The length of a C string is determined by the terminating null-character

My suggestion to you would be to use null or 0 like others are suggesting and then just use strcpy instead of strncpy as you copy the whole string every time anyways.

0

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Elena Rostova

Elena Rostova

Lead Health, Wellness & Medical Journalist

Elena Rostova holds a Master's degree in Public Health Journalism. She covers groundbreaking medical research, holistic wellness trends, mental health awareness, and nutritional science.

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