=====at=====
Syntax:

<code>
    #include <string>
    TYPE& at( size_type loc );
    const TYPE& at( size_type loc ) const;
</code>

The at() function returns a reference to the element in the string at index
loc. The at() function is safer than the [] operator, because it won't let you
reference items outside the bounds of the string.

For example, consider the following code:

<code>
   vector<int> v( 5, 1 );
   for( int i = 0; i < 10; i++ ) {
     cout << "Element " << i << " is " << v[i] << endl;
   }
</code>

This code overrunns the end of the vector, producing potentially dangerous
results. The following code would be much safer:

<code>
   vector<int> v( 5, 1 );
   for( int i = 0; i < 10; i++ ) {
     cout << "Element " << i << " is " << v.at(i) << endl;
   }
</code>

Instead of attempting to read garbage values from memory, the at() function
will realize that it is about to overrun the vector and will throw an
exception.

Related Topics: [[string_operators|[] operator]]