4. basic_string size_type and difference_type should be implementation defined

Section: 27.4.3 [basic.string] Status: NAD Submitter: Beman Dawes Opened: 1997-11-16 Last modified: 2016-08-09

Priority: Not Prioritized

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Discussion:

In Morristown we changed the size_type and difference_type typedefs for all the other containers to implementation defined with a reference to 23.2 [container.requirements]. This should probably also have been done for strings.

Rationale:

Not a defect. [Originally classified as a defect, later reclassified.] basic_string, unlike the other standard library template containers, is severely constrained by its use of char_traits. Those types are dictated by the traits class, and are far from implementation defined.