Best datatype for returning bulk data from a C++ function

Question

I have one C++ method/function like below

std::string TestWrapImpl::doProcess(std::string dirPath, std::string cmdLine) {
  std::string TestWrapVar = "";

  // Businesslogic here
  // TestWrapVar = {BulkData From Business Logic} 
  // Sample Bulk Data - "<xml><node01><FNAME>KRISHNA</FNAME></node01>
  //                     <node02><FNAME>KRISHNA</FNAME></node02></xml>"

  return TestWrapVar;
}

What is the best datatype to return this 2GB of XML Content? (Maybe a string datatype can't hold a 2GB string.)

Answer 1

Better write content into files and map them to the memory (I hope, you have a 64-bit environment).

Although, XML is one of most inappropriate formats to hold such amounts of data. It's due to large coefficient of increasing data size and low parsing speed.