public static member constant
<string>
static const size_t npos = -1;
Maximum value for size_t
npos is a static member constant value with the greatest possible value for an element of type
size_t.
This value, when used as the value for a count parameter
n in
string's member functions, roughly indicates
"as many as possible".
When used in some
pos parameters that allow for out-of-range values,
npos indicates the end of the string.
As a return value it is usually used to indicate failure.
This constant is actually defined with a value of
-1 (for any
trait), which because
size_t is an unsigned integral type, becomes the largest possible representable value for this type.