The **`c_str()` method** converts a string to an array of characters with a null character at the end. The function takes in no parameters and returns a pointer to this character array (also called a c-string).


# Syntax
```C++
your_string_variable.cstr();
```

# Visual

The null character at the end of the array indicates the end of a c-string. This character is used to indicate the end of the string and does not get printed.








# Code

The following code illustrates how a string is converted to a pointer that points to the beginning of a null-terminated array of characters. 

The `my_string1` variable stores a phrase, which is converted to a c-string in line 10. A `for` loop is then implemented in line 13 to traverse through the whole phrase and print the characters. 

#include <iostream>
#include <string>

int main()
{
    //message
    std::string my_string1 = "Happy Learning at Educative!";
    
    //convert to c-string using c_str()
    std::string my_cstring = my_string1.c_str();

    //print
    for(int i =0; i<my_cstring.length();i++)
    {
        std::cout<<" character is "<<my_string1[i]<<"\n";
    }
    std::cout<<"my cstring is " <<my_cstring<<"\n";


}

What is std::basic_string::c_str in C/C++?

The c_str() method returns a pointer to a null-terminated character array version of the string.