Question

Is this a valid use of a const_cast ? I am using it in a constructor and it looks as follows:

KeyLiteObject(const char * extension, const char * swap_suffix)
        :    _extension(extension),
             _swap_suffix(swap_suffix),
             _swap_suffix_extension(swap_suffix) 
{
    const_cast<std::string*>(&_swap_suffix_extension)->append(_extension);
}

Yes, the strings will never change.

Answer 1

Assuming that _swap_suffix_extension is a const std::string then why not just do this:

KeyLiteObject(const char * extension, const char * swap_suffix)
        :    _extension(extension),
             _swap_suffix(swap_suffix),
             _swap_suffix_extension( std::string( swap_suffix ) + std::string( extension ) ) 
{
}

Then you can totally avoid the const_cast …