std::basic_string::npos
From cppreference.com
< cpp | string | basic string
static const size_type npos = -1; |
||
This is a special value equal to the maximum value representable by the type size_type
. The exact meaning depends on context, but it is generally used either as end of string indicator by the functions that expect a string index or as the error indicator by the functions that return a string index.
Note
Although the definition uses -1, size_type is an unsigned integer type, and the value of npos
is the largest positive value it can hold, due to signed-to-unsigned implicit conversion. This is a portable way to specify the largest value of any unsigned type.