Parse (split) a string in C++ using string delimiter (standard C++)

Question

I am parsing a string in C++ using the following:

using namespace std;

string parsed,input=\"text to be parsed\";
stringstream input_stringstream(input);

i         


        

Answer 1

Since this is the top-rated Stack Overflow Google search result for C++ split string or similar, I'll post a complete, copy/paste runnable example that shows both methods.

splitString uses stringstream (probably the better and easier option in most cases)

splitString2 uses find and substr (a more manual approach)

// SplitString.cpp

#include 
#include 
#include 
#include 

// function prototypes
std::vector splitString(const std::string& str, char delim);
std::vector splitString2(const std::string& str, char delim);
std::string getSubstring(const std::string& str, int leftIdx, int rightIdx);


int main(void)
{
  // Test cases - all will pass
  
  std::string str = "ab,cd,ef";
  //std::string str = "abcdef";
  //std::string str = "";
  //std::string str = ",cd,ef";
  //std::string str = "ab,cd,";   // behavior of splitString and splitString2 is different for this final case only, if this case matters to you choose which one you need as applicable
  
  
  std::vector tokens = splitString(str, ',');
  
  std::cout << "tokens: " << "\n";
  
  if (tokens.empty())
  {
    std::cout << "(tokens is empty)" << "\n";
  }
  else
  {
    for (auto& token : tokens)
    {
      if (token == "") std::cout << "(empty string)" << "\n";
      else std::cout << token << "\n";
    }
  }
    
  return 0;
}

std::vector splitString(const std::string& str, char delim)
{
  std::vector tokens;
  
  if (str == "") return tokens;
  
  std::string currentToken;
  
  std::stringstream ss(str);
  
  while (std::getline(ss, currentToken, delim))
  {
    tokens.push_back(currentToken);
  }
  
  return tokens;
}

std::vector splitString2(const std::string& str, char delim)
{
  std::vector tokens;
  
  if (str == "") return tokens;
  
  int leftIdx = 0;
  
  int delimIdx = str.find(delim);
  
  int rightIdx;
  
  while (delimIdx != std::string::npos)
  {
    rightIdx = delimIdx - 1;
    
    std::string token = getSubstring(str, leftIdx, rightIdx);
    tokens.push_back(token);
    
    // prep for next time around
    leftIdx = delimIdx + 1;
    
    delimIdx = str.find(delim, delimIdx + 1);
  }
  
  rightIdx = str.size() - 1;
  
  std::string token = getSubstring(str, leftIdx, rightIdx);
  tokens.push_back(token);
  
  return tokens;
}

std::string getSubstring(const std::string& str, int leftIdx, int rightIdx)
{
  return str.substr(leftIdx, rightIdx - leftIdx + 1);
}