string( msdn Libraries )

string:

A type that describes a specialization of the template class basic_string with elements of type char as a string.

typedef basic_string<char> string;
Example
// string_string.cpp
// compile with: /EHsc
#include <string>
#include <iostream>

int main( ) 
{
   using namespace std;

   // Equivalent ways to declare an object 
   // of type basic_string <char>
   const basic_string <char> s1 ( "test" );
   string s2 ( "test" );   // Uses the typedef for string

   // comparison between two objects of type basic_string
   if ( s1 == s2 )
      cout << "The strings s1 & s2 are equal." << endl;
   else
      cout << "The strings s1 & s2are not equal." << endl;
}
Output
The strings s1 & s2 are equal.

   
   

    
    
basic_string Class
   
   
The sequences controlled by an object of template class basic_string 
are the Standard C++ string class and are usually referred to as strings,
 but they should not be confused with the null-terminated C-strings used throughout
 the Standard C++ Library. The string class is a container that enables 
the use of strings as normal types, such as using comparison and 
concatenation operations, iterators, and STL algorithms and copying 
and assigning with class allocator managed memory.
template <
   class CharType,
   class Traits=char_traits<CharType>, 
   class Allocator=allocator<CharType> 
>
class basic_string





Parameters
      
      

       
       
        
        CharType 
       
       
       
       

        
        The data type of a single character to be stored in the string.
The Standard C++ Library provides two specializations of this 
template class, with the type definitions 
        
        string
        
        , for elements 
of type char, and 
        
        wstring
        
        , for elements of type wchar_t. 
       
       
       
       
        
        Traits 
       
       
       
       

        
        Various important properties of the CharType elements in a 
basic_string specialization are described by the class Traits. 
       
       
       
       
        
        Allocator 
       
       
       
       

        
        The type that represents the stored allocator object that 
encapsulates details about the string's allocation and deallocation 
of memory. The default value is allocator<Type>. 
       
       
      
      
Many member functions require an operand sequence of elements. 
You can specify such an operand sequence several ways.