std::basic_string<CharT,Traits,Allocator>::max_size

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size_type max_size() const;
(until C++11)
size_type max_size() const noexcept;
(since C++11)
(until C++20)
constexpr size_type max_size() const noexcept;
(since C++20)

Returns the maximum number of elements the string is able to hold due to system or library implementation limitations, i.e. std::distance(begin(), end()) for the largest string.

Parameters

(none)

Return value

Maximum number of characters.

Complexity

Constant.

Example

#include <iostream>
#include <string>
#include <climits>
 
int main()
{
    std::string s;
    std::cout
        << "Maximum size of a string is " << s.max_size() << " ("
        << std::hex << std::showbase << s.max_size()
        << "), pointer size: " << std::dec
        << CHAR_BIT*sizeof(void*) << " bits\n";
}

Possible output:

Maximum size of a string is 9223372036854775807 (0x7fffffffffffffff), pointer size: 64 bits

See also

returns the number of characters
(public member function)
(C++17)
returns the maximum number of characters
(public member function of std::basic_string_view<CharT,Traits>)