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

1) "string constant" is a C string (const char *), converting it to const std::string& is run-time process, not necessarily simple or optimized. 2) fstream library uses c-style strings to pass file names.

My rule of thumb is to pass const std::string& if I am about to use the data as std::string anyway (say, when I store them in a vector), and const char * in other cases.