Problem: How to convert CString into const char * in C++ MFC

Question

How do I convert CString into const char *? I have tried everything found on the internet but I still cant convert them.

Please help.

Thank you.

Solution 1

CString casts to const char * directly

CString temp;
temp = "Wow";
const char * foo = (LPCSTR) temp;
printf("%s", foo);

will print 'foo'

Newer version of MFC also support the GetString() method:

CString temp;
temp = "Wow";
const char * foo = temp.GetString();
printf("%s", foo);

Solution 2

Short answer: Use the CT2CA macro (see ATL and MFC String Conversion Macros). This will work regardless of your project's 'Character Set' setting.

Long answer:

• If you have the UNICODE preprocessor symbol defined (i.e., if TCHAR is wchar_t), use the CT2CA or CW2CA macro.
• If you don't (i.e., if TCHAR is char), CString already has an operator to convert to char const* implicitly (see CSimpleStringT::operator PCXSTR).

Comments

[user2568374]

error C2440: 'type cast': cannot convert from 'ATL::CString' to 'LPCSTR'