Hi, It is good we are slowly moving to using std::string... but mixing it with char* can be tricky. In particular, I've seen several bugs recently when char* is a null pointer. You cannot initialize a std::string with a null pointer. You will get at run time: terminate called after throwing an instance of 'std::logic_error' what(): basic_string::_S_construct null not valid I don't know what "best practice" is but this seems to work: std::string my_string = c_string ? c_string : ""; You can also not compare a std::string to a null pointer. Tav ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Managing the Performance of Cloud-Based Applications Take advantage of what the Cloud has to offer - Avoid Common Pitfalls. Read the Whitepaper. http://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/clk?id=121051231&iu=/4140/ostg... _______________________________________________ Inkscape-devel mailing list Inkscape-devel(a)lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/inkscape-devel