Would std::basic_string be preferable to std::wstring on Windows?

Question

As I understand it, Windows #defines TCHAR as the correct character type for your application based on the build - so it is wchar_t in UNICODE builds and char

Answer 1

One thing to keep in mind. If you decide to use std::wstring all the way in your program, you might still need to use std::string if you are communicating with other systems using UTF8.