The string type

The string type is also relatively new to C++.

Although it probably isn't a true primitive type, it has become part of the core language and can be used much the same way primitive types are used provided that the string header file is included in the program using a compiler directive such as:

#include <string>

The purpose of the string type is to store strings of characters, such as in the following statements:

string stringVar = "Hello World";
cout << stringVar << endl;