=====at=====
Syntax:

<code>
    #include <string>
    Char& at( size_type loc );
    const Char& at( size_type loc ) const;
</code>

The at() function returns the character in the string at index
//loc//. The at() function is safer than the [] operator, because it won't let you
reference items past the end of the string.

For example, consider the following code:

<code>
   string s("abcdef");
   for( int i = 0; i < 10; i++ ) {
     cout << "Element " << i << " is " << s[i] << endl;
   }
</code>

This code overruns the end of the string, producing potentially dangerous
results. The following code would be much safer:

<code>
   string s("abcdef");
   for( int i = 0; i < 10; i++ ) {
     cout << "Element " << i << " is " << s.at(i) << endl;
   }
</code>

Instead of attempting to read garbage values from memory, the at() function
will realize that it is about to overrun the string and will throw an
exception.

Related Topics: [[string_operators|[] operator]]