Think about it this way. A vector<string> an array of array of chars. So what you're really asking is similar to wanting to convert an entire spreadsheet into a single cell! So unless that two-dimensional grid only contains one lone value then it just doesn't make much sense. But if it did it would be as simple as v[r][c] where `v` is the vector, `r` is the row coordinate of the character and `c` the column.