array of strings...more confusion

[Amnesiac]

Just trying to do something very basic (and slightly pointless) with an array of strings...just to help with the learning process. Why won't the following work?

#include <iostream>
#include <cstring>
#include <string>
using namespace std;

int main()
{
    string str_list[5];
    string list[5] = {"one", "two", "three", "four", "five"};
    int i;

    for(i=0; i<10; i++)
    {
        strcpy(str_list[i], list[i]);
        cout << str_list[i] << endl;
    }

    return 0;
}

[Athar]

You can't use the C string functions with C++ strings.
Instead of calling strcpy, you should write str_list[i]=list[i];

[vlad from moscow]

You should write something as below

#include <iostream>
#include <string>
using namespace std;

int main()
{
    const int N = 5;
    string str_list[N];
    string list[N] = {"one", "two", "three", "four", "five"};
    int i;

    for(i=0; i<N; i++)
    {
        str_list[i] = list[i];
        cout << str_list[i] << endl;
    }

    return 0;
}

Or you can use standard algorithms

#include <iostream>
#include <string>
#include <algorithm>
using namespace std;

int main()
{
    const int N = 5;
    string str_list[N];
    string list[N] = {"one", "two", "three", "four", "five"};

    copy( list, list + N, str_list );

    for_each( str_list, str_list + N,
                    []( const string &s ) { cout << s << endl; } );
    return 0;
}

[Amnesiac]

I've tried that but it just outputs nonsense in the console window. Also, does that mean you have to use character arrays if you want to use the string functions?

[Moschops]

Maybe you tried something that looks like that but isn't the same.
http://ideone.com/o09U1

Also, does that mean you have to use character arrays if you want to use the string functions?

In C++, this is a string:
string someString;

This is a pointer to the first element in an array of char:
char* somePointer = "EggsOnToast";

strcpy does not operate on strings. You can check that by looking it up. It operates on char pointers. If you have a function that operates on char pointers, you must feed it char pointers. If you have a function that operates on strings, you must feed it strings.

In C, people often used the word "string" to refer to an array of char. Now that we have proper C++ string objects, you should take care not to get the two mixed up. This is what you did in your code above; you tried to feed a string to something that expected a char pointer.

[Amnesiac]

This is my code now:

#include <iostream>
#include <string>
using namespace std;

int main()
{
    string str_list[5];
    string list[5] = {"one", "two", "three", "four", "five"};
    int i;

    for(i=0; i<5; i++)
    {
        str_list[i] = list[i];
        cout << str_list[i] << endl;
    }

    return 0;
}

and this is what I get in the console window:

au-[0ub3Aub3A( c3AA
Process returned 0 (0x0) execution time: 0.017s
Press any key to continue. 

[vlad from moscow]

You have arrays of five elements but in the loop you are trying to deal with ten elements. Change from
for(i=0; i<10; i++)
to
for(i=0; i<5; i++)