How to find string that contain dash in a string [closed]

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I try to get the position of the string "-a" with this code

#include <iostream>
#include <string>

using namespace std;

int main(void)
{
string command("test –a string");
size_t pos = command.find("-a");
cout << "position found = " << pos << endl;
}

this produce this output:

position found = 4294967295

If I remove the '-' it's work as expected. 8 is returned.

Answer 1

You get the string::npos value returned, because the library thinks that it cannot find -a in the string.

The reason for this is that you use different dashes a long dash – in the string and a short dash - in the search string.

Once you replace the character with the correct one in both places, your code starts working fine (demo).

Answer 2

It means that there are different the first characters.

You can check this using the first characters and placing them in statement

std::cout << ( '–' == '-' ) << std::endl; 

As they are different function find returns value std::string::npos that is defined as std::string::size_type( -1 ) or equal to 4294967295

Answer 3

If you look really close you will find the '–' is no '-'.