20 Library introduction [library]

20.4 Method of description (Informative) [description]

20.4.2 Other conventions [conventions]

20.4.2.1 Type descriptions [type.descriptions]

20.4.2.1.5 Character sequences [character.seq]

20.4.2.1.5.1 Byte strings [byte.strings]

A null-terminated byte string, or ntbs, is a character sequence whose highest-addressed element with defined content has the value zero (the terminating null character); no other element in the sequence has the value zero.163

The length of an ntbs is the number of elements that precede the terminating null character. An empty ntbs has a length of zero.

The value of an ntbs is the sequence of values of the elements up to and including the terminating null character.

A static ntbs is an ntbs with static storage duration.164

Many of the objects manipulated by function signatures declared in <cstring> are character sequences or ntbss. The size of some of these character sequences is limited by a length value, maintained separately from the character sequence.

A string literal, such as "abc", is a static ntbs.