Thread: Inserting pair<string, const char*> into multimap

Hi,

My problem relates to the following code, which is part of a function in a chat bot program. The function takes the argument read_wd, which is a std::string. Basically this is just a word input by the user. All I'm trying to do is add the word into the known_words multimap, along with it's type (nouns, verbs etc.).

The problem is, the following doesn't work. If I later try to access the word in known_words by it's type, I can't find it in there.

Code:

char word_type1[10] = "";
cin >> word_type1;

known_words.insert ( pair<string, const char*>(read_wd, word_type1) );

On the other hand, if I do this:

Code:

known_words.insert ( pair<string, const char*>(read_wd, "nouns") );

Then it works OK. Does anyone know why the first bit of code doesn't work? I thought it was something to do with the length of what's in word_type1, but if I output word_type1 before trying to use it with the insert stuff, it comes out as "nouns". So I don't understand why it won't work in there.

Thanks for the help.

The first piece of code uses a local variable. You copy the pointer into the map, but when the scope ends, the local variable is destroyed. The second one works because constant string literals are stored in memory and their pointers stay constant, so when you access it again later it is fine.

If you're using anything other than compile-time constant strings, use the C++ string class instead of char*.