Can C++ strings contain an infinite amount of characters provided that system memory is sufficient, and can...
Basically, imagine a string with a total of 10000000000000000000000000 characters. Is it possible for a string to have as many characters as such?
If it IS possible, is it possible to get the length of such a long string using string::length()?
Thanks, and I'll really appreciate it if you don't bombard this question with dislikes.
c++ string
asked Nov 23 '18 at 10:19
Emirhan G.
25
|
show 2 more comments
Basically, imagine a string with a total of 10000000000000000000000000 characters. Is it possible for a string to have as many characters as such?
If it IS possible, is it possible to get the length of such a long string using string::length()?
Thanks, and I'll really appreciate it if you don't bombard this question with dislikes.
c++ string
asked Nov 23 '18 at 10:19
Emirhan G.
25
1
There are two limits: The size of the available memory (or rather the largest single chunk of available memory), and the limits ofsize_t. You'll run out of memory quite a while before hitting the limit of a 64-bitsize_t.
– Some programmer dude
Nov 23 '18 at 10:23
What string are we talking about?std::string?
– YSC
Nov 23 '18 at 10:29
Not infinite, no. Perhaps you mean "arbitrarily large", which is finite.
– molbdnilo
Nov 23 '18 at 10:31
1
@Someprogrammerdude Thank you for the comment: Is 64bit size_t equal to 2^64?
– Emirhan G.
Nov 23 '18 at 10:33
That's about a hundred million times more than the estimated size (in 2014) of all data on the deep web.
– molbdnilo
Nov 23 '18 at 10:38
|
show 2 more comments
Basically, imagine a string with a total of 10000000000000000000000000 characters. Is it possible for a string to have as many characters as such?
If it IS possible, is it possible to get the length of such a long string using string::length()?
Thanks, and I'll really appreciate it if you don't bombard this question with dislikes.
c++ string
asked Nov 23 '18 at 10:19
Emirhan G.
25
Basically, imagine a string with a total of 10000000000000000000000000 characters. Is it possible for a string to have as many characters as such?
If it IS possible, is it possible to get the length of such a long string using string::length()?
Thanks, and I'll really appreciate it if you don't bombard this question with dislikes.
c++ string
c++ string
asked Nov 23 '18 at 10:19
Emirhan G.
25
asked Nov 23 '18 at 10:19
Emirhan G.
25
asked Nov 23 '18 at 10:19
Emirhan G.
25
asked Nov 23 '18 at 10:19
Emirhan G.
25
asked Nov 23 '18 at 10:19
Emirhan G.
25
25
1
There are two limits: The size of the available memory (or rather the largest single chunk of available memory), and the limits ofsize_t. You'll run out of memory quite a while before hitting the limit of a 64-bitsize_t.
– Some programmer dude
Nov 23 '18 at 10:23
What string are we talking about?std::string?
– YSC
Nov 23 '18 at 10:29
Not infinite, no. Perhaps you mean "arbitrarily large", which is finite.
– molbdnilo
Nov 23 '18 at 10:31
1
@Someprogrammerdude Thank you for the comment: Is 64bit size_t equal to 2^64?
– Emirhan G.
Nov 23 '18 at 10:33
That's about a hundred million times more than the estimated size (in 2014) of all data on the deep web.
– molbdnilo
Nov 23 '18 at 10:38
|
show 2 more comments
1
There are two limits: The size of the available memory (or rather the largest single chunk of available memory), and the limits ofsize_t. You'll run out of memory quite a while before hitting the limit of a 64-bitsize_t.
– Some programmer dude
Nov 23 '18 at 10:23
What string are we talking about?std::string?
– YSC
Nov 23 '18 at 10:29
Not infinite, no. Perhaps you mean "arbitrarily large", which is finite.
– molbdnilo
Nov 23 '18 at 10:31
1
@Someprogrammerdude Thank you for the comment: Is 64bit size_t equal to 2^64?
– Emirhan G.
Nov 23 '18 at 10:33
That's about a hundred million times more than the estimated size (in 2014) of all data on the deep web.
– molbdnilo
Nov 23 '18 at 10:38
1
1
There are two limits: The size of the available memory (or rather the largest single chunk of available memory), and the limits of
size_t. You'll run out of memory quite a while before hitting the limit of a 64-bit size_t.– Some programmer dude
Nov 23 '18 at 10:23
There are two limits: The size of the available memory (or rather the largest single chunk of available memory), and the limits of
size_t. You'll run out of memory quite a while before hitting the limit of a 64-bit size_t.– Some programmer dude
Nov 23 '18 at 10:23
What string are we talking about?
std::string?– YSC
Nov 23 '18 at 10:29
What string are we talking about?
std::string?– YSC
Nov 23 '18 at 10:29
Not infinite, no. Perhaps you mean "arbitrarily large", which is finite.
– molbdnilo
Nov 23 '18 at 10:31
Not infinite, no. Perhaps you mean "arbitrarily large", which is finite.
– molbdnilo
Nov 23 '18 at 10:31
1
1
@Someprogrammerdude Thank you for the comment: Is 64bit size_t equal to 2^64?
– Emirhan G.
Nov 23 '18 at 10:33
@Someprogrammerdude Thank you for the comment: Is 64bit size_t equal to 2^64?
– Emirhan G.
Nov 23 '18 at 10:33
That's about a hundred million times more than the estimated size (in 2014) of all data on the deep web.
– molbdnilo
Nov 23 '18 at 10:38
That's about a hundred million times more than the estimated size (in 2014) of all data on the deep web.
– molbdnilo
Nov 23 '18 at 10:38
|
show 2 more comments
4 Answers
4
active
oldest
votes
It depends. std::string provides the member function max_length that returns the number of theoretically possible characters a std::basic_string may hold, irrespective of available storage, but only constrained by library implementation, bit count of basic_string::size_type or hardware limitations. A possible output on my system would be 9223372036854775807 = 263 - 1.
answered Nov 23 '18 at 10:39
Jodocus
5,21511835
add a comment |
Object sizes are limited by the amount of addressable memory. You can treat every object as a contiguous sequence of unsigned chars, each of which have an address, so an object can only have as many constituent bytes as there are distinct char pointers. Squinting a bit harder you can argue that objects actually need to be strictly smaller than that, since you also need to be able to form a one-past-the-end pointer, but that's just a small detail. Note also that you can't form all pointer differences of overly large objects (because size is unsigned and differences are signed), so you could argue that objects should only be half as large as the addressable memory (so that all differences exist).
The limit of the size of an object is ultimately an implementation-defined quantity (see Annex B), so implementations may have more conservative constraints than the above theoretical maximal values. For example, on segmented x86 real mode one might want to keep objects within one segment (= 64kB).
answered Nov 23 '18 at 10:29
Kerrek SB
363k61683916
add a comment |
Not within current understanding of physics.
Within current understanding of physics, it is impossible to construct a computer with infinite memory, since doing so would require an infinite amount of energy or (equivalently) matter. The total amount of energy and matter within the known universe is finite (albeit a pretty large amount). The same goes if you believe in the multiverse - a theory that is subscribed to by some physicists and doubted by others - the total number of universes, and the energy and matter within them, is also considered to be finite (pretty large, but still finite).
More practically, the limitations on available memory for representing a string are determined by memory physically available on a machine (large, but finite) and the size of addressable memory (which for a 64-bit system is 16 exibytes - again, large but finite). To date, there has been no system constructed with more memory than can be addressed using 64 bits.
answered Nov 23 '18 at 11:01
Peter
27.4k32155
I was asking more like can a string be as long as the memory permits. I know that it is impossible to get infinite memory, because there is no infinite amount of matter in the universe, at least that we know of.
– Emirhan G.
Nov 23 '18 at 20:38
Depends on what you mean by "memory permits". There are numerous ways for a memory allocation to fail, even if the total free memory is sufficient e.g. if the memory is fragmented and there is no free memory block of the size requested. Practically, a program that allocates/deallocates/reallocates memory (whichstd:strings default allocator does as strings are created and destroyed) is unlikely to allocate all available memory. There is also the opposite problem, as some systems don't commit to allocating, and use of the memory can fail even if (it seems) it was properly allocated.
– Peter
Nov 23 '18 at 23:58
Hmm, in that case, instead of trusting the auto allocation, I guess I could allocate memory for the string myself? And perhaps even somehow let my SSD be used as memory, would that be possible?
– Emirhan G.
Nov 24 '18 at 11:31
add a comment |
Short answer, no... Nothing is infinite in a computer. Even if you create a string representation that can hold a technically infinite number of characters you also have to be able to somehow address the space that the data for those characters reside in. Since the addressable space is not infinite you will not be able to hold any data type of infinite size.
answered Nov 23 '18 at 10:33
inquam
7,343134691
add a comment |
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4 Answers
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active
oldest
votes
4 Answers
4
active
oldest
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active
oldest
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active
oldest
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It depends. std::string provides the member function max_length that returns the number of theoretically possible characters a std::basic_string may hold, irrespective of available storage, but only constrained by library implementation, bit count of basic_string::size_type or hardware limitations. A possible output on my system would be 9223372036854775807 = 263 - 1.
answered Nov 23 '18 at 10:39
Jodocus
5,21511835
add a comment |
It depends. std::string provides the member function max_length that returns the number of theoretically possible characters a std::basic_string may hold, irrespective of available storage, but only constrained by library implementation, bit count of basic_string::size_type or hardware limitations. A possible output on my system would be 9223372036854775807 = 263 - 1.
answered Nov 23 '18 at 10:39
Jodocus
5,21511835
add a comment |
It depends. std::string provides the member function max_length that returns the number of theoretically possible characters a std::basic_string may hold, irrespective of available storage, but only constrained by library implementation, bit count of basic_string::size_type or hardware limitations. A possible output on my system would be 9223372036854775807 = 263 - 1.
answered Nov 23 '18 at 10:39
Jodocus
5,21511835
It depends. std::string provides the member function max_length that returns the number of theoretically possible characters a std::basic_string may hold, irrespective of available storage, but only constrained by library implementation, bit count of basic_string::size_type or hardware limitations. A possible output on my system would be 9223372036854775807 = 263 - 1.
answered Nov 23 '18 at 10:39
Jodocus
5,21511835
answered Nov 23 '18 at 10:39
Jodocus
5,21511835
answered Nov 23 '18 at 10:39
Jodocus
5,21511835
answered Nov 23 '18 at 10:39
Jodocus
5,21511835
5,21511835
add a comment |
add a comment |
Object sizes are limited by the amount of addressable memory. You can treat every object as a contiguous sequence of unsigned chars, each of which have an address, so an object can only have as many constituent bytes as there are distinct char pointers. Squinting a bit harder you can argue that objects actually need to be strictly smaller than that, since you also need to be able to form a one-past-the-end pointer, but that's just a small detail. Note also that you can't form all pointer differences of overly large objects (because size is unsigned and differences are signed), so you could argue that objects should only be half as large as the addressable memory (so that all differences exist).
The limit of the size of an object is ultimately an implementation-defined quantity (see Annex B), so implementations may have more conservative constraints than the above theoretical maximal values. For example, on segmented x86 real mode one might want to keep objects within one segment (= 64kB).
answered Nov 23 '18 at 10:29
Kerrek SB
363k61683916
add a comment |
Object sizes are limited by the amount of addressable memory. You can treat every object as a contiguous sequence of unsigned chars, each of which have an address, so an object can only have as many constituent bytes as there are distinct char pointers. Squinting a bit harder you can argue that objects actually need to be strictly smaller than that, since you also need to be able to form a one-past-the-end pointer, but that's just a small detail. Note also that you can't form all pointer differences of overly large objects (because size is unsigned and differences are signed), so you could argue that objects should only be half as large as the addressable memory (so that all differences exist).
The limit of the size of an object is ultimately an implementation-defined quantity (see Annex B), so implementations may have more conservative constraints than the above theoretical maximal values. For example, on segmented x86 real mode one might want to keep objects within one segment (= 64kB).
answered Nov 23 '18 at 10:29
Kerrek SB
363k61683916
add a comment |
Object sizes are limited by the amount of addressable memory. You can treat every object as a contiguous sequence of unsigned chars, each of which have an address, so an object can only have as many constituent bytes as there are distinct char pointers. Squinting a bit harder you can argue that objects actually need to be strictly smaller than that, since you also need to be able to form a one-past-the-end pointer, but that's just a small detail. Note also that you can't form all pointer differences of overly large objects (because size is unsigned and differences are signed), so you could argue that objects should only be half as large as the addressable memory (so that all differences exist).
The limit of the size of an object is ultimately an implementation-defined quantity (see Annex B), so implementations may have more conservative constraints than the above theoretical maximal values. For example, on segmented x86 real mode one might want to keep objects within one segment (= 64kB).
answered Nov 23 '18 at 10:29
Kerrek SB
363k61683916
Object sizes are limited by the amount of addressable memory. You can treat every object as a contiguous sequence of unsigned chars, each of which have an address, so an object can only have as many constituent bytes as there are distinct char pointers. Squinting a bit harder you can argue that objects actually need to be strictly smaller than that, since you also need to be able to form a one-past-the-end pointer, but that's just a small detail. Note also that you can't form all pointer differences of overly large objects (because size is unsigned and differences are signed), so you could argue that objects should only be half as large as the addressable memory (so that all differences exist).
The limit of the size of an object is ultimately an implementation-defined quantity (see Annex B), so implementations may have more conservative constraints than the above theoretical maximal values. For example, on segmented x86 real mode one might want to keep objects within one segment (= 64kB).
answered Nov 23 '18 at 10:29
Kerrek SB
363k61683916
answered Nov 23 '18 at 10:29
Kerrek SB
363k61683916
answered Nov 23 '18 at 10:29
Kerrek SB
363k61683916
answered Nov 23 '18 at 10:29
Kerrek SB
363k61683916
363k61683916
add a comment |
add a comment |
Not within current understanding of physics.
Within current understanding of physics, it is impossible to construct a computer with infinite memory, since doing so would require an infinite amount of energy or (equivalently) matter. The total amount of energy and matter within the known universe is finite (albeit a pretty large amount). The same goes if you believe in the multiverse - a theory that is subscribed to by some physicists and doubted by others - the total number of universes, and the energy and matter within them, is also considered to be finite (pretty large, but still finite).
More practically, the limitations on available memory for representing a string are determined by memory physically available on a machine (large, but finite) and the size of addressable memory (which for a 64-bit system is 16 exibytes - again, large but finite). To date, there has been no system constructed with more memory than can be addressed using 64 bits.
answered Nov 23 '18 at 11:01
Peter
27.4k32155
I was asking more like can a string be as long as the memory permits. I know that it is impossible to get infinite memory, because there is no infinite amount of matter in the universe, at least that we know of.
– Emirhan G.
Nov 23 '18 at 20:38
Depends on what you mean by "memory permits". There are numerous ways for a memory allocation to fail, even if the total free memory is sufficient e.g. if the memory is fragmented and there is no free memory block of the size requested. Practically, a program that allocates/deallocates/reallocates memory (whichstd:strings default allocator does as strings are created and destroyed) is unlikely to allocate all available memory. There is also the opposite problem, as some systems don't commit to allocating, and use of the memory can fail even if (it seems) it was properly allocated.
– Peter
Nov 23 '18 at 23:58
Hmm, in that case, instead of trusting the auto allocation, I guess I could allocate memory for the string myself? And perhaps even somehow let my SSD be used as memory, would that be possible?
– Emirhan G.
Nov 24 '18 at 11:31
add a comment |
Not within current understanding of physics.
Within current understanding of physics, it is impossible to construct a computer with infinite memory, since doing so would require an infinite amount of energy or (equivalently) matter. The total amount of energy and matter within the known universe is finite (albeit a pretty large amount). The same goes if you believe in the multiverse - a theory that is subscribed to by some physicists and doubted by others - the total number of universes, and the energy and matter within them, is also considered to be finite (pretty large, but still finite).
More practically, the limitations on available memory for representing a string are determined by memory physically available on a machine (large, but finite) and the size of addressable memory (which for a 64-bit system is 16 exibytes - again, large but finite). To date, there has been no system constructed with more memory than can be addressed using 64 bits.
answered Nov 23 '18 at 11:01
Peter
27.4k32155
I was asking more like can a string be as long as the memory permits. I know that it is impossible to get infinite memory, because there is no infinite amount of matter in the universe, at least that we know of.
– Emirhan G.
Nov 23 '18 at 20:38
Depends on what you mean by "memory permits". There are numerous ways for a memory allocation to fail, even if the total free memory is sufficient e.g. if the memory is fragmented and there is no free memory block of the size requested. Practically, a program that allocates/deallocates/reallocates memory (whichstd:strings default allocator does as strings are created and destroyed) is unlikely to allocate all available memory. There is also the opposite problem, as some systems don't commit to allocating, and use of the memory can fail even if (it seems) it was properly allocated.
– Peter
Nov 23 '18 at 23:58
Hmm, in that case, instead of trusting the auto allocation, I guess I could allocate memory for the string myself? And perhaps even somehow let my SSD be used as memory, would that be possible?
– Emirhan G.
Nov 24 '18 at 11:31
add a comment |
Not within current understanding of physics.
Within current understanding of physics, it is impossible to construct a computer with infinite memory, since doing so would require an infinite amount of energy or (equivalently) matter. The total amount of energy and matter within the known universe is finite (albeit a pretty large amount). The same goes if you believe in the multiverse - a theory that is subscribed to by some physicists and doubted by others - the total number of universes, and the energy and matter within them, is also considered to be finite (pretty large, but still finite).
More practically, the limitations on available memory for representing a string are determined by memory physically available on a machine (large, but finite) and the size of addressable memory (which for a 64-bit system is 16 exibytes - again, large but finite). To date, there has been no system constructed with more memory than can be addressed using 64 bits.
answered Nov 23 '18 at 11:01
Peter
27.4k32155
Not within current understanding of physics.
Within current understanding of physics, it is impossible to construct a computer with infinite memory, since doing so would require an infinite amount of energy or (equivalently) matter. The total amount of energy and matter within the known universe is finite (albeit a pretty large amount). The same goes if you believe in the multiverse - a theory that is subscribed to by some physicists and doubted by others - the total number of universes, and the energy and matter within them, is also considered to be finite (pretty large, but still finite).
More practically, the limitations on available memory for representing a string are determined by memory physically available on a machine (large, but finite) and the size of addressable memory (which for a 64-bit system is 16 exibytes - again, large but finite). To date, there has been no system constructed with more memory than can be addressed using 64 bits.
answered Nov 23 '18 at 11:01
Peter
27.4k32155
answered Nov 23 '18 at 11:01
Peter
27.4k32155
answered Nov 23 '18 at 11:01
Peter
27.4k32155
answered Nov 23 '18 at 11:01
Peter
27.4k32155
27.4k32155
I was asking more like can a string be as long as the memory permits. I know that it is impossible to get infinite memory, because there is no infinite amount of matter in the universe, at least that we know of.
– Emirhan G.
Nov 23 '18 at 20:38
Depends on what you mean by "memory permits". There are numerous ways for a memory allocation to fail, even if the total free memory is sufficient e.g. if the memory is fragmented and there is no free memory block of the size requested. Practically, a program that allocates/deallocates/reallocates memory (whichstd:strings default allocator does as strings are created and destroyed) is unlikely to allocate all available memory. There is also the opposite problem, as some systems don't commit to allocating, and use of the memory can fail even if (it seems) it was properly allocated.
– Peter
Nov 23 '18 at 23:58
Hmm, in that case, instead of trusting the auto allocation, I guess I could allocate memory for the string myself? And perhaps even somehow let my SSD be used as memory, would that be possible?
– Emirhan G.
Nov 24 '18 at 11:31
add a comment |
I was asking more like can a string be as long as the memory permits. I know that it is impossible to get infinite memory, because there is no infinite amount of matter in the universe, at least that we know of.
– Emirhan G.
Nov 23 '18 at 20:38
Depends on what you mean by "memory permits". There are numerous ways for a memory allocation to fail, even if the total free memory is sufficient e.g. if the memory is fragmented and there is no free memory block of the size requested. Practically, a program that allocates/deallocates/reallocates memory (whichstd:strings default allocator does as strings are created and destroyed) is unlikely to allocate all available memory. There is also the opposite problem, as some systems don't commit to allocating, and use of the memory can fail even if (it seems) it was properly allocated.
– Peter
Nov 23 '18 at 23:58
Hmm, in that case, instead of trusting the auto allocation, I guess I could allocate memory for the string myself? And perhaps even somehow let my SSD be used as memory, would that be possible?
– Emirhan G.
Nov 24 '18 at 11:31
I was asking more like can a string be as long as the memory permits. I know that it is impossible to get infinite memory, because there is no infinite amount of matter in the universe, at least that we know of.
– Emirhan G.
Nov 23 '18 at 20:38
I was asking more like can a string be as long as the memory permits. I know that it is impossible to get infinite memory, because there is no infinite amount of matter in the universe, at least that we know of.
– Emirhan G.
Nov 23 '18 at 20:38
Depends on what you mean by "memory permits". There are numerous ways for a memory allocation to fail, even if the total free memory is sufficient e.g. if the memory is fragmented and there is no free memory block of the size requested. Practically, a program that allocates/deallocates/reallocates memory (which
std:strings default allocator does as strings are created and destroyed) is unlikely to allocate all available memory. There is also the opposite problem, as some systems don't commit to allocating, and use of the memory can fail even if (it seems) it was properly allocated.– Peter
Nov 23 '18 at 23:58
Depends on what you mean by "memory permits". There are numerous ways for a memory allocation to fail, even if the total free memory is sufficient e.g. if the memory is fragmented and there is no free memory block of the size requested. Practically, a program that allocates/deallocates/reallocates memory (which
std:strings default allocator does as strings are created and destroyed) is unlikely to allocate all available memory. There is also the opposite problem, as some systems don't commit to allocating, and use of the memory can fail even if (it seems) it was properly allocated.– Peter
Nov 23 '18 at 23:58
Hmm, in that case, instead of trusting the auto allocation, I guess I could allocate memory for the string myself? And perhaps even somehow let my SSD be used as memory, would that be possible?
– Emirhan G.
Nov 24 '18 at 11:31
Hmm, in that case, instead of trusting the auto allocation, I guess I could allocate memory for the string myself? And perhaps even somehow let my SSD be used as memory, would that be possible?
– Emirhan G.
Nov 24 '18 at 11:31
add a comment |
Short answer, no... Nothing is infinite in a computer. Even if you create a string representation that can hold a technically infinite number of characters you also have to be able to somehow address the space that the data for those characters reside in. Since the addressable space is not infinite you will not be able to hold any data type of infinite size.
answered Nov 23 '18 at 10:33
inquam
7,343134691
add a comment |
Short answer, no... Nothing is infinite in a computer. Even if you create a string representation that can hold a technically infinite number of characters you also have to be able to somehow address the space that the data for those characters reside in. Since the addressable space is not infinite you will not be able to hold any data type of infinite size.
answered Nov 23 '18 at 10:33
inquam
7,343134691
add a comment |
Short answer, no... Nothing is infinite in a computer. Even if you create a string representation that can hold a technically infinite number of characters you also have to be able to somehow address the space that the data for those characters reside in. Since the addressable space is not infinite you will not be able to hold any data type of infinite size.
answered Nov 23 '18 at 10:33
inquam
7,343134691
Short answer, no... Nothing is infinite in a computer. Even if you create a string representation that can hold a technically infinite number of characters you also have to be able to somehow address the space that the data for those characters reside in. Since the addressable space is not infinite you will not be able to hold any data type of infinite size.
answered Nov 23 '18 at 10:33
inquam
7,343134691
answered Nov 23 '18 at 10:33
inquam
7,343134691
answered Nov 23 '18 at 10:33
inquam
7,343134691
answered Nov 23 '18 at 10:33
inquam
7,343134691
7,343134691
add a comment |
add a comment |
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1
There are two limits: The size of the available memory (or rather the largest single chunk of available memory), and the limits of
size_t. You'll run out of memory quite a while before hitting the limit of a 64-bitsize_t.– Some programmer dude
Nov 23 '18 at 10:23
What string are we talking about?
std::string?– YSC
Nov 23 '18 at 10:29
Not infinite, no. Perhaps you mean "arbitrarily large", which is finite.
– molbdnilo
Nov 23 '18 at 10:31
1
@Someprogrammerdude Thank you for the comment: Is 64bit size_t equal to 2^64?
– Emirhan G.
Nov 23 '18 at 10:33
That's about a hundred million times more than the estimated size (in 2014) of all data on the deep web.
– molbdnilo
Nov 23 '18 at 10:38