How do I check if a C++ std::string starts with a certain string, and convert a substring to an int?

Just for completeness, I will mention the C way to do it:

If str is your original string, substr is the substring you want to check, then

strncmp(str, substr, strlen(substr))

will return 0 if str starts with substr. The functions strncmp and strlen are in the C header file <string.h>

^{(originally posted by Yaseen Rauf here, markup added)}

For a case-insensitive comparison, use strnicmp instead of strncmp.

This is the C way to do it, for C++ strings you can use the same function like this:

strncmp(str.c_str(), substr.c_str(), substr.size())

If you're already using Boost, you can do it with boost string algorithms + boost lexical cast:

#include <boost/algorithm/string/predicate.hpp>
#include <boost/lexical_cast.hpp>

try {    
    if (boost::starts_with(argv[1], "--foo="))
        foo_value = boost::lexical_cast<int>(argv[1]+6);
} catch (boost::bad_lexical_cast) {
    // bad parameter
}

This kind of approach, like many of the other answers provided here is ok for very simple tasks, but in the long run you are usually better off using a command line parsing library. Boost has one (Boost.Program_options), which may make sense if you happen to be using Boost already.

Otherwise a search for "c++ command line parser" will yield a number of options.

Code I use myself:

std::string prefix = "-param=";
std::string argument = argv[1];
if(argument.substr(0, prefix.size()) == prefix) {
    std::string argumentValue = argument.substr(prefix.size());
}

Nobody used the STL algorithm/mismatch function yet. If this returns true, prefix is a prefix of 'toCheck':

std::mismatch(prefix.begin(), prefix.end(), toCheck.begin()).first == prefix.end()

Full example prog:

#include <algorithm>
#include <string>
#include <iostream>

int main(int argc, char** argv) {
    if (argc != 3) {
        std::cerr << "Usage: " << argv[0] << " prefix string" << std::endl
                  << "Will print true if 'prefix' is a prefix of string" << std::endl;
        return -1;
    }
    std::string prefix(argv[1]);
    std::string toCheck(argv[2]);
    if (prefix.length() > toCheck.length()) {
        std::cerr << "Usage: " << argv[0] << " prefix string" << std::endl
                  << "'prefix' is longer than 'string'" <<  std::endl;
        return 2;
    }
    if (std::mismatch(prefix.begin(), prefix.end(), toCheck.begin()).first == prefix.end()) {
        std::cout << '"' << prefix << '"' << " is a prefix of " << '"' << toCheck << '"' << std::endl;
        return 0;
    } else {
        std::cout << '"' << prefix << '"' << " is NOT a prefix of " << '"' << toCheck << '"' << std::endl;
        return 1;
    }
}

Edit:

As @James T. Huggett suggests, std::equal is a better fit for the question: Is A a prefix of B? and is slight shorter code:

std::equal(prefix.begin(), prefix.end(), toCheck.begin())

Full example prog:

#include <algorithm>
#include <string>
#include <iostream>

int main(int argc, char **argv) {
  if (argc != 3) {
    std::cerr << "Usage: " << argv[0] << " prefix string" << std::endl
              << "Will print true if 'prefix' is a prefix of string"
              << std::endl;
    return -1;
  }
  std::string prefix(argv[1]);
  std::string toCheck(argv[2]);
  if (prefix.length() > toCheck.length()) {
    std::cerr << "Usage: " << argv[0] << " prefix string" << std::endl
              << "'prefix' is longer than 'string'" << std::endl;
    return 2;
  }
  if (std::equal(prefix.begin(), prefix.end(), toCheck.begin())) {
    std::cout << '"' << prefix << '"' << " is a prefix of " << '"' << toCheck
              << '"' << std::endl;
    return 0;
  } else {
    std::cout << '"' << prefix << '"' << " is NOT a prefix of " << '"'
              << toCheck << '"' << std::endl;
    return 1;
  }
}

Given that both strings — argv[1] and "--foo" — are C strings, @FelixDombek's answer is hands-down the best solution.

Seeing the other answers, however, I thought it worth noting that, if your text is already available as a std::string, then a simple, zero-copy, maximally efficient solution exists that hasn't been mentioned so far:

const char * foo = "--foo";
if (text.rfind(foo, 0) == 0)
    foo_value = text.substr(strlen(foo));

And if foo is already a string:

std::string foo("--foo");
if (text.rfind(foo, 0) == 0)
    foo_value = text.substr(foo.length());