Can't use printf, have to use cout?

[rambleberry]

Why can't I store text in a string and use printf() to output whatever is stored in there?
I'm only doing this, because I'm trying to pass strings to another function, and printf doesn't let me output strings. Not even simple strings like "Hello world"

cout works just fine though, but aparently uses more system resources than printf() does.
What should I do?

Does not work

#include <iostream>
using namespace std;

int main()
{
	string tempText;

	tempText = "\nMenu:\n  n - New Game\n  l - Load Game\n  o - Options\n  c - Credits\n  q - Quit\n\n";
	printf("", tempText);
}

Works as expected.

#include <iostream>
using namespace std;

int main()
{
	string tempText;

	tempText = "\nMenu:\n  n - New Game\n  l - Load Game\n  o - Options\n  c - Credits\n  q - Quit\n\n";
	cout << tempText;
}

[rocketboy9000]

Printf uses a format string, and takes a c string as an argument.
printf("%s", tempText.c_str);

[rambleberry]

I tried doing what you suggested and got this error on output

1>.\Game.cpp(81) : error C3867: 'std::basic_string<_Elem,_Traits,_Ax>::c_str': function call missing argument list; use '&std::basic_string<_Elem,_Traits,_Ax>::c_str' to create a pointer to member
1>        with
1>        [
1>            _Elem=char,
1>            _Traits=std::char_traits<char>,
1>            _Ax=std::allocator<char>
1>        ]

EDIT: apologies, I didn't realise .c_str was a function and needed parenthesis, thanks a lot rocketboy.

[wing913]

Should be like this:
printf("%s", tempText.c_str());

[rocketboy9000]

whoops, I have a hard time remembering which things are functions and which variables.

[chrisname]

You need to #include <cstdio> to use printf() by the way.

Also, don't worry about the speed of printf() vs. that of std::cout. If there is a difference, it will be small, and not worth sacrificing the extra safety that using C++ strings over C strings gets you. Also, printf() is not typesafe.

[Duthomhas]

http://www.parashift.com/c++-faq-lite/input-output.html#faq-15.1
http://www.cplusplus.com/forum/general/31527/
bah, enough.