Why use c strings in c++?

Question

Is there any good reason to use C-strings in C++ nowadays? My textbook uses them in examples at some points, and I really feel like it would be easier just to use a std::string

Answer 1

Some posts mention memory concerns. That might be a good reason to shun std::string, but char* probably is not the best replacement. It's still an OO language. Your own string class is probably better than a char*. It may even be more efficient - you can apply the Small String Optimization, for instance.

In my case, I was trying to get about 1GB worth of strings out of a 2GB file, stuff them in records with about 60 fields and then sort them 7 times of different fields. My predecessors code took 25 hours with char*, my code ran in 1 hour.