Explore the full potential of C++ by mastering the standard library.

Become a C++ Programmer

The C++ standard library is a collection of all the tools and utilities available in C++. It received its latest update in 2017, known as C++17. The update introduces many new features that further optimize our code. This module will help us fully grasp C++ and use it to its full potential.

C++ Standard Library

With strings and regular expressions, C++ has two powerful libraries to process text. 

# String
[std::string](https://www.educative.io/courses/cpp-standard-library-including-cpp-14-and-cpp-17/introduction-JYQ0E3Rmo62) possesses a rich collection of methods to analyze and modify its text. Because it has a lot in common with an `std::vector` of characters, the algorithms of the STL can be used for `std::string`. `std::string` is the successor of the C string but a lot easier and safer to use. C++ strings manage their memory themselves.

# String View
In contrast to a `std::string` a [std::string_view](https://www.educative.io/courses/cpp-standard-library-including-cpp-14-and-cpp-17/introduction-YQlKYz8qAYp) is quite cheap to copy. A `std::string_view` is a non-owning reference to a `std::string`. 

# Regular Expression
[Regular expression](https://www.educative.io/courses/cpp-standard-library-including-cpp-14-and-cpp-17/introduction-gx2QQwlG57r) is a language for describing text patterns. You can use regular expressions to determine whether a text pattern is present once or more times in a particular text. But that's not all. Regular expressions can be used to replace the content of the matched patterns with a text.

In the next lesson, we will talk about input and output in the C++ Standard Libarary.

C++ handles text by using std::string and std::string_view utilities.

Text Processing