Difference between string.empty and string[0] == '\0'

Question

Suppose we have a string

std::string str; // some value is assigned

What is the difference between str.empty() and str[0] =

Answer 1

You want to know the difference between str.empty() and str[0] == '\0'. Lets follow the example:

#include
#include
using namespace std;

int main(){
string str, str2; //both string is empty
str2 = "values"; //assigning a value to 'str2' string
str2[0] = '\0'; //assigning '\0' to str2[0], to make sure i have '\0' at 0 index

if(str.empty()) cout << "str is empty" << endl;
else cout << "str contains: " << str << endl;

if(str2.empty()) cout << "str2 is empty" << endl;
else cout << "str2 contains: " << str2 << endl;

return 0;
}

Output:

str is empty
str2 contains: alues

str.empty() will let you know the string is empty or not and str[0] == '\0' will let you know your strings 0 index contains '\0' or not. Your string variables 0 index contains '\0' doesn't mean that your string is empty. Yes, only once it can be possible when your string length is 1 and your string variables 0 index contains '\0'. That time you can say that, its an empty string.