std::basic_string<CharT,Traits,Allocator>::shrink_to_fit

 

C++

Compiler support

Freestanding and hosted

Language

Standard library

Standard library headers

Named requirements

Feature test macros (C++20)

Language support library

Concepts library (C++20)

Metaprogramming library (C++11)

Diagnostics library

General utilities library

Strings library

Containers library

Iterators library

Ranges library (C++20)

Algorithms library

Numerics library

Localizations library

Input/output library

Filesystem library (C++17)

Regular expressions library (C++11)

Concurrency support library (C++11)

Execution support library (C++26)

Technical specifications

Symbols index

External libraries

 

Strings library

Null-terminated strings

Byte strings

Multibyte strings

Wide strings

Classes

basic_string

basic_string_view (C++17)

char_traits

 

std::basic_string

Member functions basic_string::basic_string basic_string::~basic_string basic_string::operator= basic_string::assign basic_string::assign_range (C++23) basic_string::get_allocator Element access basic_string::at basic_string::operator[] basic_string::front (DR*) basic_string::back (DR*) basic_string::data basic_string::c_str basic_string::operator  basic_string_view (C++17) Iterators basic_string::beginbasic_string::cbegin (C++11) basic_string::endbasic_string::cend (C++11) basic_string::rbeginbasic_string::crbegin (C++11) basic_string::rendbasic_string::crend (C++11) Capacity basic_string::empty basic_string::sizebasic_string::length basic_string::max_size basic_string::reserve basic_string::capacity basic_string::shrink_to_fit (DR*) Modifiers basic_string::clear basic_string::insert basic_string::insert_range (C++23) basic_string::erase basic_string::push_back basic_string::pop_back (DR*) basic_string::append basic_string::append_range (C++23) basic_string::operator+= basic_string::replace basic_string::replace_with_range (C++23) basic_string::copy basic_string::resize basic_string::resize_and_overwrite (C++23)   basic_string::swap

Search basic_string::find basic_string::rfind basic_string::find_first_of basic_string::find_first_not_of basic_string::find_last_of basic_string::find_last_not_of Operations basic_string::compare basic_string::starts_with (C++20) basic_string::ends_with (C++20) basic_string::contains (C++23) basic_string::substr Constants basic_string::npos Non-member functions operator+ swap(std::basic_string) erase(std::basic_string)erase_if(std::basic_string) (C++20)(C++20) I/O operator<<operator>> getline Comparison operator==operator!=operator<operator>operator<=operator>=operator<=> (until C++20)(until C++20)(until C++20)(until C++20)(until C++20)(C++20) Numeric conversions stoistolstoll (C++11)(C++11)(C++11) stoulstoull (C++11)(C++11) stofstodstold (C++11)(C++11)(C++11) to_string (C++11) to_wstring (C++11) Literals operator""s (C++14) Helper classes hash<std::basic_string> (C++11) Deduction guides (C++17)

 

void shrink_to_fit();		(constexpr since C++20)

Requests the removal of unused capacity.

It is a non-binding request to reduce capacity() to size(). It depends on the implementation if the request is fulfilled.

If (and only if) reallocation takes place, all pointers, references, and iterators are invalidated.

Parameters

(none)

Return value

(none)

Complexity

(unspecified)	(until C++17)
Linear in the size of the string.	(since C++17)

Notes

In libstdc++, shrink_to_fit() is not available in C++98 mode.

Example

Run this code

#include <iostream>
#include <string>
 
int main()
{
    std::string s;
    std::cout << "Size of std::string is " << sizeof s << " bytes\n"
        << "Default-constructed capacity is " << s.capacity() 
        << " and size is " << s.size() << '\n';
 
    for (int i = 0; i < 42; i++)
        s.append(" 42 ");
    std::cout << "Capacity after 42 appends is " << s.capacity() 
        << " and size is " << s.size() << '\n';
 
    s.clear();
    std::cout << "Capacity after clear() is " << s.capacity() 
        << " and size is " << s.size() << '\n';
 
    s.shrink_to_fit();
    std::cout << "Capacity after shrink_to_fit() is " << s.capacity() 
        << " and size is " << s.size() << '\n';
}

Possible output:

GCC output:
Size of std::string is 32 bytes
Default-constructed capacity is 15 and size 0
Capacity after 42 appends is 240 and size 168
Capacity after clear() is 240 and size 0
Capacity after shrink_to_fit() is 15 and size 0
 
clang output (with -stdlib=libc++):
Size of std::string is 24 bytes
Default-constructed capacity is 22 and size is 0
Capacity after 42 appends is 191 and size is 168
Capacity after clear() is 191 and size is 0
Capacity after shrink_to_fit() is 22 and size is 0

Defect reports

The following behavior-changing defect reports were applied retroactively to previously published C++ standards.

DR	Applied to	Behavior as published	Correct behavior
LWG 755	C++98	std::string lacked explicit shrink-to-fit operations	provided

See also

sizelength	returns the number of characters (public member function)
capacity	returns the number of characters that can be held in currently allocated storage (public member function)
resize	changes the number of characters stored (public member function)