Question

I have an std::string object containing binary data which I need to write to a file. Can ofstream f("name"); f << s; be problematic in any way? I need to read the data back exactly as it was originally.

I can of course use fwrite(s.c_str(), s.size(), 1, filep), are there any pros / cons to either method?

Answer 1

You should be ok as long as you open the ofstream for binary access.

ofstream f("name", ios::binary | ios::out); 
f << s;

Don’t forget to open your file in binary mode when reading the data back in as well.