What exactly does stringstream do?

Question

I am trying to learn C++ since yesterday and I am using this document:http://www.cplusplus.com/files/tutorial.pdf (page 32) . I found a code in the document and I ran it. I

Answer 1

To answer the question. stringstream basically allows you to treat a string object like a stream, and use all stream functions and operators on it.

I saw it used mainly for the formatted output/input goodness.

One good example would be c++ implementation of converting number to stream object.

Possible example:

template 
string num2str(const T& num, unsigned int prec = 12) {
    string ret;
    stringstream ss;
    ios_base::fmtflags ff = ss.flags();
    ff |= ios_base::floatfield;
    ff |= ios_base::fixed;
    ss.flags(ff);
    ss.precision(prec);
    ss << num;
    ret = ss.str();
    return ret;
};

Maybe it's a bit complicated but it is quite complex. You create stringstream object ss, modify its flags, put a number into it with operator<<, and extract it via str(). I guess that operator>> could be used.

Also in this example the string buffer is hidden and not used explicitly. But it would be too long of a post to write about every possible aspect and use-case.

Note: I probably stole it from someone on SO and refined, but I don't have original author noted.