How do I get a part of the a string in C++?

You use substr, documented here:

#include <iostream> #include <string> using namespace std; int main(void) { string a; cout << "Enter string (5 characters or more): "; cin >> a; if (a.size() < 5) cout << "Too short" << endl; else cout << "First 5 chars are [" << a.substr(0,5) << "]" << endl; return 0; } 

You can also then treat it as a C-style string (non-modifiable) by using c_str, documented here.

If the string is declared as an array of characters, you can use the following approach:

char str[20]; int i; strcpy(str, "Your String"); // Now let's get the sub-string cin >> i; // Do some out-of-bounds validation here if you want.. str[i + 1] = 0; cout << str; 

If you mean std::string, use substr function as Will suggested.

Assuming you're using the C++ std::string class

you can do:

std::string::size_type start = 0; std::string::size_type length = 1; //don't use int. Use size type for portability! std::string myStr = "hello"; std::string sub = myStr.substr(start,length); std::cout << sub; //should print h 

use:

std::string sub_of_s(s.begin(), s.begin()+i); 

which create a string sub_of_s which is the first i-th the element in s.