Reading directly from an std::istream into an std::string

Question

Is there anyway to read a known number of bytes, directly into an std::string, without creating a temporary buffer to do so?

eg currently I can do it by

Answer 1

std::string has a resize function you could use, or a constructor that'll do the same:

boost::uint16_t len;
is.read((char*)&len, 2);

std::string str(len, '\0');
is.read(&str[0], len);

This is untested, and I don't know if strings are mandated to have contiguous storage.