Re: std::transform with std::use_facet<std::ctype<char> >(std::locale()).toupper()

From:
"Tom Widmer [VC++ MVP]" <tom_usenet@hotmail.com>
Newsgroups:
microsoft.public.vc.language
Date:
Tue, 12 Dec 2006 17:49:20 +0000
Message-ID:
<OqIfbXhHHHA.4068@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl>
Paul wrote:

This works all right:
---------------------
#include <string>
#include <algorithm>
#include <cctype>

std::string s("something");
std::transform(s.begin(), s.end(), s.begin(), std::toupper);
---------------------
(other than a compiler warning about assigning int to char -
std::toupper()'s return value is int)


That won't compile if you #include <locale> (since then toupper is
overloaded). In addition, it has undefined behaviour if s has any
negative characters in it (the domain of toupper is 0-UCHAR_MAX and EOF).

A locale-based replacement for std::toupper - and the one operating on
char's rather than int's - is std::use_facet<std::ctype<char>
 >(std::locale()).toupper() as in this example:
---------------------
for (std::string::iterator p = s.begin(); p != s.end(); ++p)
  *p = .toupper(*p);


I'd pull the facet creation out of the loop. e.g.
std::ctype<char> const& ct =
    std::use_facet<std::ctype<char> >(std::locale());
for (std::string::iterator p = s.begin(); p != s.end(); ++p)
    *p = ct.toupper(*p);

---------------------
which I tried to incorporate into std::transform() as in the first example
but could not make it. Can this be done?


//need target type since toupper is overloaded.
char (std::ctype<char>::*fptr)(char) const = &std::ctype<char>::toupper;
std::transform(
    s.begin(),
    s.end(),
    s.begin(),
    std::bind1st(
        std::mem_fun(fptr),
        &std::use_facet<std::ctype<char> >(std::locale())
    )
);

However, it may well run slower than the loop, if it fails to inline the
member function calls. It's also less clear than the loop. Finally,
there is also a non-member function in <locale>
char toupper(char, std::locale const&); //actually, it's templated IIRC

However, I'd generally avoid these machinations and instead use the
boost string library: http://www.boost.org/doc/html/string_algo.html

Also, both

int main(int argc, char* argv[]);

and

VOID WINAPI ServiceMain(DWORD dwArgc, LPTSTR* lpszArgv);

take non-constant arguments (char* and LPTSTR*, respectively). Is this all
right to use the above routine to convert them to upper case?


I think so.

  Obviously, I

am not altering them in any other way and do not "extend" them - just
perform upper-case conversion. I know it works and have so far had no
problems but just in case.


It is explicitly defined as legal to modify the argv strings in the C
standard, though the C++ standard doesn't say anything about whether you
can modify them.

Tom

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