How to convert a boost::filesystem::directory_iterator to a const char *

When you dereference the iterator it returns a directory_entry:

const directory_entry& entry = *path_it;

You can use this along with operator<< and ostream, as you've discovered:

std::cout << entry << std::endl;

You could create a string using ostringstream:

std::ostringstream oss;

oss << entry;

std::string path = oss.str();

Alternatively you can access the path as a string directly from directory_entry:

std::string path = entry.path().string();

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