Example of returning a string initialized in the constructor

main.cpp

//  Comple with g++ *.cpp -o prog //
#include <iostream>
#include "test.h"

using namespace std;

int main(int argc, char **argv){

  Test test;

  cout << "My name is " << test.serialize() << endl;

  return 0;
}

test.cpp

#include "test.h"

Test::Test() : m_name("saf") {}

string Test::serialize(){
  return m_name;
}

test.h

#ifndef TEST_H
#define TEST_H

#include <string>

using namespace std;

class Test {
  private:
  string m_name;

  public:
  Test();
  //  Be aware that this returns a copy of the string using
  //  the default copy constructor
  string serialize();

};

#endif