How do I convert a NSString into a std::string?

I have an NSString object and want to convert it into a std::string.

How do I do this in Objective-C++?

Solution 1:

NSString *foo = @"Foo";
std::string bar = std::string([foo UTF8String]);

Edit: After a few years, let me expand on this answer. As rightfully pointed out, you'll most likely want to use cStringUsingEncoding: with NSASCIIStringEncoding if you are going to end up using std::string. You can use UTF-8 with normal std::strings, but keep in mind that those operate on bytes and not on characters or even graphemes. For a good "getting started", check out this question and its answer.

Also note, if you have a string that can't be represented as ASCII but you still want it in an std::string and you don't want non-ASCII characters in there, you can use dataUsingEncoding:allowLossyConversion: to get an NSData representation of the string with lossy encoded ASCII content, and then throw that at your std::string

Solution 2:

As Ynau's suggested in the comment, in a general case it would be better to keep everything on the stack instead of heap (using new creates the string on the heap), hence (assuming UTF8 encoding):

NSString *foo = @"Foo";
std::string bar([foo UTF8String]);