convenient streaming of null-terminated strings

lib/bufferstream/bufferstream.cpp

@@ -345,6 +345,30 @@ bufferstream &bufferstream::operator<< (const streamable &obj)
 }
 
 
+/**
+ * @brief bufferstream::operator >>
+ * @param str
+ * @return
+ */
+bufferstream &bufferstream::operator>> (std::string &str)
+{
+    readString(str, 0, true);               // variable length, null-terminated
+    return *this;
+}
+
+
+/**
+ * @brief bufferstream::operator <<
+ * @param str
+ * @return
+ */
+bufferstream &bufferstream::operator<< (const std::string &str)
+{
+    writeString(str, 0, true);              // variable length, null-terminated
+    return *this;
+}
+
+
 /**
  * @brief bufferstream::readString
  * @param str std::string to which the read string will be appended.

lib/bufferstream/bufferstream.h

@@ -84,6 +84,10 @@ public:
   bufferstream &operator>> (streamable &obj);
   bufferstream &operator<< (const streamable &obj);
 
+  // null-terminated strings
+  bufferstream &operator>> (std::string &str);
+  bufferstream &operator<< (const std::string &str);
+
   // strings
   void readString(std::string& str, const int fixed_length = 0, const bool terminated = true);
   void writeString(const std::string& str, const size_t fixed_length = 0,