How do I check if a C++ std::string starts with a certain string, and convert a substring to an int?

With C++17 you can use std::basic_string_view & with C++20 std::basic_string::starts_with or std::basic_string_view::starts_with.

The benefit of std::string_view in comparison to std::string - regarding memory management - is that it only holds a pointer to a "string" (contiguous sequence of char-like objects) and knows its size. Example without moving/copying the source strings just to get the integer value:

#include <exception>
#include <iostream>
#include <string>
#include <string_view>

int main()
{
    constexpr auto argument = "--foo=42"; // Emulating command argument.
    constexpr auto prefix = "--foo=";
    auto inputValue = 0;

    constexpr auto argumentView = std::string_view(argument);
    if (argumentView.starts_with(prefix))
    {
        constexpr auto prefixSize = std::string_view(prefix).size();
        try
        {
            // The underlying data of argumentView is nul-terminated, therefore we can use data().
            inputValue = std::stoi(argumentView.substr(prefixSize).data());
        }
        catch (std::exception & e)
        {
            std::cerr << e.what();
        }
    }
    std::cout << inputValue; // 42
}

Starting with C++20, you can use the starts_with method.

std::string s = "abcd";
if (s.starts_with("abc")) {
    ...
}

I use std::string::compare wrapped in utility method like below:

static bool startsWith(const string& s, const string& prefix) {
    return s.size() >= prefix.size() && s.compare(0, prefix.size(), prefix) == 0;
}

In C++20 now there is starts_with available as a member function of std::string defined as:

constexpr bool starts_with(string_view sv) const noexcept;

constexpr bool starts_with(CharT c) const noexcept;

constexpr bool starts_with(const CharT* s) const;

So your code could be something like this:

std::string s{argv[1]};

if (s.starts_with("--foo="))

C++20 update :

• Use std::string::starts_with

https://en.cppreference.com/w/cpp/string/basic_string/starts_with

std::string str_value = /* smthg */;
const auto starts_with_foo = str_value.starts_with(std::string_view{"foo"});

In case you need C++11 compatibility and cannot use boost, here is a boost-compatible drop-in with an example of usage:

#include <iostream>
#include <string>

static bool starts_with(const std::string str, const std::string prefix)
{
    return ((prefix.size() <= str.size()) && std::equal(prefix.begin(), prefix.end(), str.begin()));
}

int main(int argc, char* argv[])
{
    bool usage = false;
    unsigned int foos = 0; // default number of foos if no parameter was supplied

    if (argc > 1)
    {
        const std::string fParamPrefix = "-f="; // shorthand for foo
        const std::string fooParamPrefix = "--foo=";

        for (unsigned int i = 1; i < argc; ++i)
        {
            const std::string arg = argv[i];

            try
            {
                if ((arg == "-h") || (arg == "--help"))
                {
                    usage = true;
                } else if (starts_with(arg, fParamPrefix)) {
                    foos = std::stoul(arg.substr(fParamPrefix.size()));
                } else if (starts_with(arg, fooParamPrefix)) {
                    foos = std::stoul(arg.substr(fooParamPrefix.size()));
                }
            } catch (std::exception& e) {
                std::cerr << "Invalid parameter: " << argv[i] << std::endl << std::endl;
                usage = true;
            }
        }
    }

    if (usage)
    {
        std::cerr << "Usage: " << argv[0] << " [OPTION]..." << std::endl;
        std::cerr << "Example program for parameter parsing." << std::endl << std::endl;
        std::cerr << "  -f, --foo=N   use N foos (optional)" << std::endl;
        return 1;
    }

    std::cerr << "number of foos given: " << foos << std::endl;
}

Ok why the complicated use of libraries and stuff? C++ String objects overload the [] operator, so you can just compare chars.. Like what I just did, because I want to list all files in a directory and ignore invisible files and the .. and . pseudofiles.

while ((ep = readdir(dp)))
{
    string s(ep->d_name);
    if (!(s[0] == '.')) // Omit invisible files and .. or .
        files.push_back(s);
}

It's that simple..

With C++11 or higher you can use find() and find_first_of()

Example using find to find a single char:

#include <string>
std::string name = "Aaah";
size_t found_index = name.find('a');
if (found_index != std::string::npos) {
    // Found string containing 'a'
}

Example using find to find a full string & starting from position 5:

std::string name = "Aaah";
size_t found_index = name.find('h', 3);
if (found_index != std::string::npos) {
    // Found string containing 'h'
}

Example using the find_first_of() and only the first char, to search at the start only:

std::string name = ".hidden._di.r";
size_t found_index = name.find_first_of('.');
if (found_index == 0) {
    // Found '.' at first position in string
}

• More about find
• More about find_first_of

Good luck!

std::string text = "--foo=98";
std::string start = "--foo=";

if (text.find(start) == 0)
{
    int n = stoi(text.substr(start.length()));
    std::cout << n << std::endl;
}

Since C++11 std::regex_search can also be used to provide even more complex expressions matching. The following example handles also floating numbers thorugh std::stof and a subsequent cast to int.

However the parseInt method shown below could throw a std::invalid_argument exception if the prefix is not matched; this can be easily adapted depending on the given application:

#include <iostream>
#include <regex>

int parseInt(const std::string &str, const std::string &prefix) {
  std::smatch match;
  std::regex_search(str, match, std::regex("^" + prefix + "([+-]?(?=\\.?\\d)\\d*(?:\\.\\d*)?(?:[Ee][+-]?\\d+)?)$"));
  return std::stof(match[1]);
}

int main() {
    std::cout << parseInt("foo=13.3", "foo=") << std::endl;
    std::cout << parseInt("foo=-.9", "foo=") << std::endl;
    std::cout << parseInt("foo=+13.3", "foo=") << std::endl;
    std::cout << parseInt("foo=-0.133", "foo=") << std::endl;
    std::cout << parseInt("foo=+00123456", "foo=") << std::endl;
    std::cout << parseInt("foo=-06.12e+3", "foo=") << std::endl;

//    throw std::invalid_argument
//    std::cout << parseInt("foo=1", "bar=") << std::endl;

    return 0;
}

The kind of magic of the regex pattern is well detailed in the following answer.

EDIT: the previous answer did not performed the conversion to integer.