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Editorial Team
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Asked: 2026-05-15T18:23:14+00:00

I apologize if you know nothing about Python, however, the following snippet should be

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I apologize if you know nothing about Python, however, the following snippet should be very readable to anyone. The only trick to watch out for – indexing a list with [-1] gives you the last element if there is one, or raises an exception.

>>> fileName = 'TheFileName.Something.xMl'
>>> fileNameList = fileName.split('.')
>>> assert(len(fileNameList) > 1) # Must have at least one period in it
>>> assert(fileNameList[-1].lower() == 'xml')
>>> fileNameList[-1] = 'bak'
>>> fileName = '.'.join(fileNameList)
>>> print(fileName)
TheFileName.Something.bak

I need to convert this logic into C++ (the language I am actually using, but so far suck at) function with the following signature: void PopulateBackupFileNameOrDie(CAtlString& strBackupFileName, CAtlString& strXmlFileName);. Here strXmlFileName is “input”, strBackupFileName is “output” (should I reverse the oprder of the two?). The tricky part is that (correct me if I am wrong) I am working with a Unicode string, so looking for these characters: .xmlXML is not as straight-forward. Latest Python does not have these issues because '.' and "." are both Unicode strings (not a "char" type) of length 1, both contain just a dot.

Notice that the return type is void – do not worry much about it. I do not want to bore you with details of how we communicate an error back to the user. In my Python example I just used an assert. You can do something like that or just include a comment such as // ERROR: [REASON].

Please ask if something is not clear. Suggestions to use std::string, etc. instead of CAtlString for function parameters are not what I am looking for. You may convert them inside the function if you have to, but I would prefer not mixing different string types in one function. I am compiling this C++ on Windows, using VS2010. This implies that I WILL NOT install BOOST, QTString or other libraries which are not available out of the box. Stealing a boost or other header to enable some magic is also not the right solution.

Thanks.

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1 Answer

  1. Editorial Team

    If you’re using ATL why not just use CAtlString‘s methods?

    CAtlString filename = _T("TheFileName.Something.xMl");

//search for '.' from the end
int dotIdx = filename.ReverseFind( _T('.') );

if( dotIdx != -1 ) {
  //extract the file extension
  CAtlString ext = filename.Right( filename.GetLength() - dotIdx );

  if( ext.CompareNoCase( _T(".xml" ) ) == 0 ) {
    filename.Delete( dotIdx, ext.GetLength() ); //remove extension
    filename += _T(".bak");
  }
}
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