Create an array of char from string array - c++

Question

(language : C++)
I have this array:
string myArray[] = {"Apple", "Ball", "Cat"};
Is it possible to store each element in the above array to a new array? Something like this.
char word1[] = myArray[0];
char word2[] = myArray[1];
char word3[] = myArray[2];
I checked the above code, it would throw an error. How would I get this functionality? I cannot use two-dimensional array because I don't know the length of my word in my actual program. A file has the list of words, I would have to read it into the array and get the above string array.

Answer 1

As per the example that you have posted, this is what you are looking for:
#include <iostream>
#include <string>
#include <cstring>
using namespace std;
int main() {
string myArray[] = {"Apple", "Ball", "Cat"};
char test0[myArray[0].length()];
strcpy(test0, myArray[0].c_str());
char test1[myArray[1].length()];
strcpy(test1, myArray[1].c_str());
char test2[myArray[2].length()];
strcpy(test2, myArray[2].c_str());
int i=0;
for(i=0; i<(sizeof(test0)/sizeof(*test0)); i++)
cout<<test0[i]<<" ";
cout<<"\n";
for(i=0; i<(sizeof(test1)/sizeof(*test1)); i++)
cout<<test1[i]<<" ";
cout<<"\n";
for(i=0; i<(sizeof(test2)/sizeof(*test2)); i++)
cout<<test2[i]<<" ";
cout<<"\n";
return 0;
}
In the above code, I have created character arrays test0[], test1[] and test2[] of length equal to the corresponding string in myArray[]. Then I used strcpy() to copy the corresponding string from myArray[] to the character array (test0[], etc). Finally, I just printed these new character arrays.
Working code here.
Note: I am assuming that you are using GCC, since it supports VLAs. If not, then you can use an array of particular length (or better yet, a vector).
Hope this is helpful.

Answer 2

Old style (c++98/c++03):
#include <string>
#include <iostream>
int main()
{
std::string myArray[] = { "Apple", "Ball", "Cat" };
char *firstString = new char[myArray[0].length() + 1];
char *secondString = new char[myArray[1].length() + 1];
char *thirdString = new char[myArray[2].length() + 1];
strcpy(firstString, myArray[0].c_str());
strcpy(secondString, myArray[1].c_str());
strcpy(thirdString, myArray[2].c_str());
std::cout << "firstString = " << firstString << std::endl;
std::cout << "secondString = " << secondString << std::endl;
std::cout << "thirdString = " << thirdString << std::endl;
delete firstString;
delete secondString;
delete thirdString;
return 0;
}
New style (c++11/14):
#include <string>
#include <iostream>
#include <memory>
int main()
{
std::string myArray[] = { "Apple", "Ball", "Cat" };
std::unique_ptr<char> firstString{ new char[myArray[0].length() + 1] };
std::unique_ptr<char> secondString{ new char[myArray[1].length() + 1]};
std::unique_ptr<char> thirdString{ new char[myArray[2].length() + 1]};
strcpy(firstString.get(), myArray[0].c_str());
strcpy(secondString.get(), myArray[1].c_str());
strcpy(thirdString.get(), myArray[2].c_str());
std::cout << "firstString = " << firstString.get() << std::endl;
std::cout << "secondString = " << secondString.get() << std::endl;
std::cout << "thirdString = " << thirdString.get() << std::endl;
return 0;
}