[c++] Find out if string ends with another string in C++

How can I find out if a string ends with another string in C++?

This question is related to c++ string ends-with

The answer is


bool EndsWith(const std::string& data, const std::string& suffix)
{
    return data.find(suffix, data.size() - suffix.size()) != string::npos;
}

Tests

#include <iostream>
int main()
{
   cout << EndsWith(u8"o!hello!1", u8"o!") << endl; 
   cout << EndsWith(u8"o!hello!", u8"o!") << endl; 
   cout << EndsWith(u8"hello!", u8"o!") << endl; 
   cout << EndsWith(u8"o!hello!o!", u8"o!") << endl; 
   return 0;
}

Output

0 
1 
1 
1 

bool endswith(const std::string &str, const std::string &suffix)
{
    string::size_type totalSize = str.size();
    string::size_type suffixSize = suffix.size();

    if(totalSize < suffixSize) {
        return false;
    }

    return str.compare(totalSize - suffixSize, suffixSize, suffix) == 0;
}

Note, that starting from c++20 std::string will finally provide starts_with and ends_with. Seems like there is a chance that by c++30 strings in c++ might finally become usable, if you aren't reading this from distant future, you can use these startsWith/endsWith with C++17:

#if __cplusplus >= 201703L // C++17 and later 
#include <string_view>

static bool endsWith(std::string_view str, std::string_view suffix)
{
    return str.size() >= suffix.size() && 0 == str.compare(str.size()-suffix.size(), suffix.size(), suffix);
}

static bool startsWith(std::string_view str, std::string_view prefix)
{
    return str.size() >= prefix.size() && 0 == str.compare(0, prefix.size(), prefix);
}
#endif // C++17

If you are stuck with older C++, you may use these:

#if __cplusplus < 201703L // pre C++17
#include <string>

static bool endsWith(const std::string& str, const std::string& suffix)
{
    return str.size() >= suffix.size() && 0 == str.compare(str.size()-suffix.size(), suffix.size(), suffix);
}

static bool startsWith(const std::string& str, const std::string& prefix)
{
    return str.size() >= prefix.size() && 0 == str.compare(0, prefix.size(), prefix);
}

and some extra helper overloads:

static bool endsWith(const std::string& str, const char* suffix, unsigned suffixLen)
{
    return str.size() >= suffixLen && 0 == str.compare(str.size()-suffixLen, suffixLen, suffix, suffixLen);
}

static bool endsWith(const std::string& str, const char* suffix)
{
    return endsWith(str, suffix, std::string::traits_type::length(suffix));
}

static bool startsWith(const std::string& str, const char* prefix, unsigned prefixLen)
{
    return str.size() >= prefixLen && 0 == str.compare(0, prefixLen, prefix, prefixLen);
}

static bool startsWith(const std::string& str, const char* prefix)
{
    return startsWith(str, prefix, std::string::traits_type::length(prefix));
}
#endif

IMO, c++ strings are clearly dysfunctional, and weren't made to be used in real world code. But there is a hope that this will get better at least.


Use std::equal algorithm from <algorithms> with reverse iteration:

std::string LogExt = ".log";
if (std::equal(LogExt.rbegin(), LogExt.rend(), filename.rbegin())) {
   …
}

the very same as above, here is my solution

 template<typename TString>
  inline bool starts_with(const TString& str, const TString& start) {
    if (start.size() > str.size()) return false;
    return str.compare(0, start.size(), start) == 0;
  }
  template<typename TString>
  inline bool ends_with(const TString& str, const TString& end) {
    if (end.size() > str.size()) return false;
    return std::equal(end.rbegin(), end.rend(), str.rbegin());
  }

another option is to use regex. The following code makes the search insensitive to upper/lower case:

bool endsWithIgnoreCase(const std::string& str, const std::string& suffix) {
  return std::regex_search(str,
     std::regex(std::string(suffix) + "$", std::regex_constants::icase));
}

probably not so efficient, but easy to implement.


Let a be a string and b the string you look for. Use a.substr to get the last n characters of a and compare them to b (where n is the length of b)

Or use std::equal (include <algorithm>)

Ex:

bool EndsWith(const string& a, const string& b) {
    if (b.size() > a.size()) return false;
    return std::equal(a.begin() + a.size() - b.size(), a.end(), b.begin());
}

Check if str has suffix, using below:

/*
Check string is end with extension/suffix
*/
int strEndWith(char* str, const char* suffix)
{
  size_t strLen = strlen(str);
  size_t suffixLen = strlen(suffix);
  if (suffixLen <= strLen) {
    return strncmp(str + strLen - suffixLen, suffix, suffixLen) == 0;
  }
  return 0;
}

My two cents:

bool endsWith(std::string str, std::string suffix)
{
   return str.find(suffix, str.size() - suffix.size()) != string::npos;
}

If you're like me and no so into C++ purism, here's an old skool hybrid. There's some advantage when strings are more than a handful of characters, as most memcmp implementations compare machine words when possible.

You need to be in control of the character set. For example, if this approach is used with utf-8 or wchar type, there's some disadvantage as it won't support character mapping - e.g., when two or more characters are logically identical.

bool starts_with(std::string const & value, std::string const & prefix)
{
    size_t valueSize = value.size();
    size_t prefixSize = prefix.size();

    if (prefixSize > valueSize)
    {
        return false;
    }

    return memcmp(value.data(), prefix.data(), prefixSize) == 0;
}


bool ends_with(std::string const & value, std::string const & suffix)
{
    size_t valueSize = value.size();
    size_t suffixSize = suffix.size();

    if (suffixSize > valueSize)
    {
        return false;
    }

    const char * valuePtr = value.data() + valueSize - suffixSize;

    return memcmp(valuePtr, suffix.data(), suffixSize) == 0;
}

Found this nice answer to the similar "startWith"-problem:

How do I check if a C++ std::string starts with a certain string, and convert a substring to an int?

You can adopt the solution to only search at the last place in the string:

bool endsWith(const std::string& stack, const std::string& needle) {
    return stack.find(needle, stack.size() - needle.size()) != std::string::npos;
}

This way you can make it short, fast, use standard c++ and make it readable.


Regarding Grzegorz Bazior response. I used this implementation, but original one has bug (returns true if I compare ".." with ".so"). I propose modified function:

bool endsWith(const string& s, const string& suffix)
{
    return s.size() >= suffix.size() && s.rfind(suffix) == (s.size()-suffix.size());
}

In my opinion simplest, C++ solution is:

bool endsWith(const string& s, const string& suffix)
{
    return s.rfind(suffix) == std::abs(s.size()-suffix.size());
}

Warning: If the match fails, this will search the entire string backwards before giving up, and thus potentially waste a lot of cycles.


I thought it makes sense to post a raw solution that doesn't use any library functions...

// Checks whether `str' ends with `suffix'
bool endsWith(const std::string& str, const std::string& suffix) {
    if (&suffix == &str) return true; // str and suffix are the same string
    if (suffix.length() > str.length()) return false;
    size_t delta = str.length() - suffix.length();
    for (size_t i = 0; i < suffix.length(); ++i) {
        if (suffix[i] != str[delta + i]) return false;
    }
    return true;
}

Adding a simple std::tolower we can make this case insensitive

// Checks whether `str' ends with `suffix' ignoring case
bool endsWithIgnoreCase(const std::string& str, const std::string& suffix) {
    if (&suffix == &str) return true; // str and suffix are the same string
    if (suffix.length() > str.length()) return false;
    size_t delta = str.length() - suffix.length();
    for (size_t i = 0; i < suffix.length(); ++i) {
        if (std::tolower(suffix[i]) != std::tolower(str[delta + i])) return false;
    }
    return true;
}

you can use string::rfind

The full Example based on comments:

bool EndsWith(string &str, string& key)
{
size_t keylen = key.length();
size_t strlen = str.length();

if(keylen =< strlen)
    return string::npos != str.rfind(key,strlen - keylen, keylen);
else return false;
}

Use boost::algorithm::ends_with (see e.g. http://www.boost.org/doc/libs/1_34_0/doc/html/boost/algorithm/ends_with.html ):

#include <boost/algorithm/string/predicate.hpp>

// works with const char* 
assert(boost::algorithm::ends_with("mystring", "ing"));

// also works with std::string
std::string haystack("mystring");
std::string needle("ing");
assert(boost::algorithm::ends_with(haystack, needle));

std::string haystack2("ng");
assert(! boost::algorithm::ends_with(haystack2, needle));

Simply compare the last n characters using std::string::compare:

#include <iostream>

bool hasEnding (std::string const &fullString, std::string const &ending) {
    if (fullString.length() >= ending.length()) {
        return (0 == fullString.compare (fullString.length() - ending.length(), ending.length(), ending));
    } else {
        return false;
    }
}

int main () {
    std::string test1 = "binary";
    std::string test2 = "unary";
    std::string test3 = "tertiary";
    std::string test4 = "ry";
    std::string ending = "nary";

    std::cout << hasEnding (test1, ending) << std::endl;
    std::cout << hasEnding (test2, ending) << std::endl;
    std::cout << hasEnding (test3, ending) << std::endl;
    std::cout << hasEnding (test4, ending) << std::endl;

    return 0;
}

The std::mismatch method can serve this purpose when used to backwards iterate from the end of both strings:

const string sNoFruit = "ThisOneEndsOnNothingMuchFruitLike";
const string sOrange = "ThisOneEndsOnOrange";

const string sPattern = "Orange";

assert( mismatch( sPattern.rbegin(), sPattern.rend(), sNoFruit.rbegin() )
          .first != sPattern.rend() );

assert( mismatch( sPattern.rbegin(), sPattern.rend(), sOrange.rbegin() )
          .first == sPattern.rend() );

Let me extend Joseph's solution with the case insensitive version (online demo)

#include <string>
#include <cctype>

static bool EndsWithCaseInsensitive(const std::string& value, const std::string& ending) {
    if (ending.size() > value.size()) {
        return false;
    }
    return std::equal(ending.crbegin(), ending.crend(), value.crbegin(),
        [](const unsigned char a, const unsigned char b) {
            return std::tolower(a) == std::tolower(b);
        }
    );
}

Use this function:

inline bool ends_with(std::string const & value, std::string const & ending)
{
    if (ending.size() > value.size()) return false;
    return std::equal(ending.rbegin(), ending.rend(), value.rbegin());
}

I know the question's for C++, but if anyone needs a good ol' fashioned C function to do this:


/*  returns 1 iff str ends with suffix  */
int str_ends_with(const char * str, const char * suffix) {

  if( str == NULL || suffix == NULL )
    return 0;

  size_t str_len = strlen(str);
  size_t suffix_len = strlen(suffix);

  if(suffix_len > str_len)
    return 0;

  return 0 == strncmp( str + str_len - suffix_len, suffix, suffix_len );
}