std::filesystem::path::string,std::filesystem::path::wstring,(3)

NAME
std::filesystem::path::string,std::filesystem::path::wstring, - std::filesystem::path::string,std::filesystem::path::wstring,

Synopsis
                        std::filesystem::path::u32string
   template< class CharT, class Traits =
   std::char_traits<CharT>,
                        (since
             class Alloc = std::allocator<CharT> > (1) C++17)
   std::basic_string<CharT,Traits,Alloc>
       string( const Alloc& a = Alloc() ) const;
   std::string string() const;
   std::wstring wstring() const;
   std::u16string u16string() const;
   std::u32string u32string() const;
                        (2) (since (since
   std::string u8string() const; C++17) C++17)
                        (3) (until
                        C++20)
   std::u8string u8string() const; (since
                        C++20)
   Returns the internal pathname in native pathname format, converted to specific
   string type. Conversion, if any, is performed as follows:
     * If path::value_type is char, conversion, if any, is system-dependent. This is
       the case on typical POSIX systems (such as Linux), where native encoding is
       UTF-8 and string() performs no conversion.
     * Otherwise, if path::value_type is wchar_t, conversion, if any, is unspecified.
       This is the case on Windows, where wchar_t is 16 bit and the native encoding is
       UTF-16.
     * Otherwise, if path::value_type is char16_t, native encoding is UTF-16 and the
       conversion method is unspecified.
     * Otherwise, if path::value_type is char32_t, native encoding is UTF-32 and the
       conversion method is unspecified.
     * Otherwise, if path::value_type is char8_t, native encoding is UTF-8 and the
       conversion method is unspecified.
   1) All memory allocations are performed by a.
   3) The result encoding in the case of u8string() is always UTF-8.

Parameters
   (none)

Return value
   The internal pathname in native pathname format, converted to specified string type.

Exceptions
   May throw implementation-defined exceptions.

Example
// Run this code
 #include <clocale>
 #include <cstdio>
 #include <filesystem>
 #include <fstream>
 #include <iostream>
 #include <locale>
 int main()
 {
     const char* const localeName = "ja_JP.utf-8";
     std::setlocale(LC_ALL, localeName);
     std::locale::global(std::locale(localeName));
     const std::filesystem::path p(u8"要らない.txt");
     std::ofstream(p) << "File contents";
     // native string representation can be used with OS APIs
     if (std::FILE* const f = std::fopen(p.string().c_str(), "r"))
     {
         for (int ch; (ch = std::fgetc(f)) != EOF;)
             std::putchar(ch);
         std::fclose(f);
     }
     // multibyte and wide representation can be used for output
     std::cout << "\nFile name in narrow multibyte encoding: " << p.string() << '\n';
     // wstring() will throw in stdlibc++ (as per gcc-12.1.0), see:
     // https://gcc.gnu.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=95048
     // https://gcc.gnu.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=102839
     // works with more recent gcc-12.2.1 (2023/02/01) and clang-10+
     std::wcout << "File name in wide encoding: " << p.wstring() << '\n';
     std::filesystem::remove(p);
 }

Possible output:
 File contents
 File name in narrow multibyte encoding: 要らない.txt
 File name in wide encoding: 要らない.txt

See also
   generic_string
   generic_wstring returns the path in generic pathname format converted to a string
   generic_u8string (public member function)
   generic_u16string
   generic_u32string

Category:
     * Uses of dcl rev begin with nonempty note