std::basic_string<CharT,Traits,Allocator>::reserve

 

C++

Compiler support

Freestanding and hosted

Language

Standard library

Standard library headers

Named requirements

Feature test macros (C++20)

Language support library

Concepts library (C++20)

Metaprogramming library (C++11)

Diagnostics library

General utilities library

Strings library

Containers library

Iterators library

Ranges library (C++20)

Algorithms library

Numerics library

Localizations library

Input/output library

Filesystem library (C++17)

Regular expressions library (C++11)

Concurrency support library (C++11)

Technical specifications

Symbols index

External libraries

 

Strings library

Null-terminated strings

Byte strings

Multibyte strings

Wide strings

Classes

basic_string

basic_string_view (C++17)

char_traits

 

std::basic_string

Member functions basic_string::basic_string basic_string::~basic_string basic_string::operator= basic_string::assign basic_string::assign_range (C++23) basic_string::get_allocator Element access basic_string::at basic_string::operator[] basic_string::front (DR*) basic_string::back (DR*) basic_string::data basic_string::c_str basic_string::operator  basic_string_view (C++17) Iterators basic_string::beginbasic_string::cbegin (DR*) basic_string::endbasic_string::cend (DR*) basic_string::rbeginbasic_string::crbegin (DR*) basic_string::rendbasic_string::crend (DR*) Capacity basic_string::empty basic_string::sizebasic_string::length basic_string::max_size basic_string::reserve basic_string::capacity basic_string::shrink_to_fit (DR*) Operations basic_string::clear basic_string::insert basic_string::insert_range (C++23) basic_string::erase basic_string::push_back basic_string::pop_back (DR*) basic_string::append basic_string::append_range (C++23) basic_string::operator+= basic_string::compare basic_string::replace basic_string::replace_with_range (C++23) basic_string::substr basic_string::copy basic_string::resize basic_string::resize_and_overwrite (C++23)   basic_string::swap

Search basic_string::starts_with (C++20) basic_string::ends_with (C++20) basic_string::contains (C++23) basic_string::find basic_string::rfind basic_string::find_first_of basic_string::find_first_not_of basic_string::find_last_of basic_string::find_last_not_of Constants basic_string::npos Deduction guides (C++17) Non-member functions operator+ swap(std::basic_string) operator""s (C++14) erase(std::basic_string)erase_if(std::basic_string) (C++20)(C++20) I/O operator<<operator>> getline Comparison operator==operator!=operator<operator>operator<=operator>=operator<=> (until C++20)(until C++20)(until C++20)(until C++20)(until C++20)(C++20) Numeric conversion stoistolstoll (C++11)(C++11)(C++11) stoulstoull (C++11)(C++11) stofstodstold (C++11)(C++11)(C++11) to_string (C++11) to_wstring (C++11) Helper classes hash<std::string>hash<std::wstring>hash<std::u32string>hash<std::u16string>hash<std::u8string> (C++11)  (C++11)(C++11)(C++11)(C++20) hash<std::pmr::string>hash<std::pmr::wstring>hash<std::pmr::u32string>hash<std::pmr::u16string>hash<std::pmr::u8string> (C++17)(C++17)(C++17)(C++17)(C++20)

 

	(1)
void reserve( size_type new_cap = 0 );			(until C++20)
constexpr void reserve( size_type new_cap );			(since C++20)
void reserve();		(2)	(since C++20) (deprecated)

1) Informs a std::basic_string object of a planned change in size, so that it can manage the storage allocation appropriately.

• If new_cap is greater than the current capacity(), new storage is allocated, and capacity() is made equal or greater than new_cap.

If new_cap is less than the current capacity(), this is a non-binding shrink request. If new_cap is less than the current size(), this is a non-binding shrink-to-fit request equivalent to shrink_to_fit() (since C++11).	(until C++20)
If new_cap is less than or equal to the current capacity(), there is no effect.	(since C++20)

If a capacity change takes place, all iterators and references, including the past-the-end iterator, are invalidated.

2) A non-binding shrink-to-fit request. After this call, capacity() has an unspecified value greater than or equal to size().

Parameters

new_cap

-

new capacity of the string

Return value

(none)

Exceptions

Throws std::length_error if new_cap is greater than max_size().

May throw any exceptions thrown by std::allocator_traits<Allocator>::allocate(), such as std::bad_alloc.

If an exception is thrown for any reason, this function has no effect (strong exception safety guarantee).

Complexity

At most linear in the size() of the string.

Example

Run this code

#include <cassert>
#include <iostream>
#include <string>
 
int main()
{
    std::string s;
    const std::string::size_type new_capacity{100u};
    std::cout << "Before: " << s.capacity() << '\n';
 
    s.reserve(new_capacity);
    std::cout << "After:  " << s.capacity() << '\n';
    assert(new_capacity <= s.capacity());
 
    // observing the capacity growth factor
    auto cap{s.capacity()};
    for (int check{}; check != 4; ++check)
    {
        while (cap == s.capacity())
            s += '$';
        cap = s.capacity();
        std::cout << "New capacity: " << cap << '\n';
    }
 
    // s.reserve(); // deprecated in C++20, use:
    s.shrink_to_fit();
    std::cout << "After:  " << s.capacity() << '\n';
}

Possible output:

Before: 15
After:  100
New capacity: 200
New capacity: 400
New capacity: 800
New capacity: 1600
After:  801

Defect reports

The following behavior-changing defect reports were applied retroactively to previously published C++ standards.

DR	Applied to	Behavior as published	Correct behavior
LWG 847	C++98	there was no exception safety guarantee	added strong exception safety guarantee

See also

capacity	returns the number of characters that can be held in currently allocated storage (public member function)
resize	changes the number of characters stored (public member function)