Is it a good idea to return ” const char * ” from a function?

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Depending on what somestlstring is and what is being done there.

If it is a local variable you are returning a pointer into memory that is being released when GetSomeString completes, so it is a dangling pointer and an error.

It all boils down to the lifetime of somestlstring and the operations you perform on it. The pointer returned by .c_str() is guaranteed to be valid only up to the next mutating operation in the string. So if something changes somestlstring from the call to .c_str() and before s is constructed you will be in undefined behavior land.

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