So that you could do something like this, for instance:
std::string a("01:22:42.18");
std::stringstream ss(a);
int h, m, s, f;
ss >> h >> m >> s >> f;
Which normally requires the string to be formatted "01 22 42 18".
Can you modify the current locale directly to do this?
Take a look at scanf and fscanf. You might* be able to do something like this:
* Caveat: It’s been a while for me and C++