KB116447 - FIX: ostrstream output operator may cause incorrect translation of \"

Article ID: 116447

Article Last Modified on 2/6/2004

Microsoft Visual C++ 1.5 Professional Edition
Microsoft Visual C++ 1.0 Professional Edition

This article was previously published under Q116447

SYMPTOMS

Using the ostrstream output operator << to pass a literal string containing quotation marks, as shown in the example below, may cause an incorrect translation of the \" sequence. Instead of passing the quotation marks, the backslash is passed into the resultant string as well.

RESOLUTION

There are two ways to resolve this problem. Both are shown in the sample code in the "MORE INFORMATION" section, below.

Use the operator keyword to call the << member function directly:

      (ostrstream(string,length)).operator<< ("\"quoted string\"")

-or-

Create an object of type ostrstream, then use the object to call the << operator:

      ostrstream a(string,length);
      a << "\"quoted string\""

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a bug in the products listed at the beginning of this article. This problem was corrected in Visual C++ version 2.0.

MORE INFORMATION

You can use the following sample code to demonstrate the problem:

Sample Code

/* Compile options needed: none
*/ 

   #include <iostream.h>
   #include <strstrea.h>

   char s1[80];
   char s2[80];
   char s3[80];

   void main()
   {
      ostrstream(s1,80) << "\"test 1\"";              // bad output here
      cout << s1 << endl;

      (ostrstream(s2,80)).operator<< ("\"test 2\"");  // OK
      cout << s2 << endl;

      ostrstream a(s3,80);
      a << "\"test 3\"";                              // OK
      cout << s3 << endl;
   }

Additional query words: 1.00 1.50

Keywords: kbbug kbfix kblangcpp KB116447