How to convert UTF-8 std::string to UTF-16 std::wstring?

Question

If I have a UTF-8 std::string how do I convert it to a UTF-16 std::wstring? Actually, I want to compare two Persian words.

Answer 1

To convert between the 2 types, you should use: std::codecvt_utf8_utf16< wchar_t>
Note the string prefixes I use to define UTF16 (L) and UTF8 (u8).

#include 

#include 

int main()
{

    std::string original8 = u8"הלו";

    std::wstring original16 = L"הלו";

    //C++11 format converter
    std::wstring_convert> convert;

    //convert to UTF8 and std::string
    std::string utf8NativeString = convert.to_bytes(original16);

    std::wstring utf16NativeString = convert.from_bytes(original8);

    assert(utf8NativeString == original8);
    assert(utf16NativeString == original16);

    return 0;
}