How can I check if a string has special characters in C++ effectively?

Question

I am trying to find if there is better way to check if the string has special characters. In my case, anything other than alphanumeric and a \'_\' is considered a special charac

Answer 1

Using

    s.erase(std::remove_if(s.begin(), s.end(), my_predicate), s.end());

    bool my_predicate(char c)
    {
     return !(isalpha(c) || c=='_');
    }

will get you a clean string s.

Erase will strip it off all the special characters and is highly customisable with the my_predicate function.