Use C++11 string fcns back() and pop_back() to simplify code. * error.cc (maybe_extract_message): Use "back()" rather than "[length () -1]". * input.cc (base_reader::octave_gets): Use "back()" rather than "[length () -1]". * ls-hdf5.cc (read_hdf5_data)): Use "clear()" rather than "resize (0)" to erase string. * ls-mat-ascii.cc (get_lines_and_columns): Reformat comment. * ls-oct-binary.cc (read_binary_data): Use "clear()" rather than "resize (0)" to erase string. * oct-stream.cc (delimited_stream::getline): Declare and initialize only one variable per line as per Octave coding convention. * oct-stream.cc (textscan_format_list::read_first_row): Use back() and pop_back() to potentially remove last character from string. * strfns.cc (Fstrvcat): Use "empty()" rather than "length() > 0". * sysdep.cc (w32_set_octav_home): Use back() and push_back() to potentially add dir separator to string. * gzip.cc (uchar_array): Space out code for readability. * file-ops.cc (tilde_expand): Call string_vector constructor with size n rather than resize. * file-ops.cc (concat): Use "back()" rather than "[length () -1]". * file-stat.cc (update_internal): Use "back()" rather than "[length () -1]". Use pop_back() rather than resize() to remove last character. * oct-env.cc (do_chdir): Use pop_back() rather than resize() to remove last character. * cmd-edit.cc (do_generate_filename_completions): Reformat comment. * cmd-hist.cc (): Use back() and pop_back() to potentially remove "\n" from end of string. * data-conv.cc (strip_spaces): Initialize string with null character rather than space. * kpse.cc (kpse_tilde_expand): Use "back()" rather than "[length () -1]". * kpse.cc (kpse_expand_kpse_dot, kpse_brace_expand, kpse_path_expand): Use pop_back() to potentially remove last character. * kpse.cc (kpse_brace_expand_element, kpse_element_dir): Use pop_back() to remove last character. * lo-utils.cc (octave_fgetl): Use "back()" rather than "[length () -1]". Use pop_back() rather than resize() to remove last character.

--- a/liboctave/util/kpse.cc	Sun Jul 30 09:21:39 2017 -0700
+++ b/liboctave/util/kpse.cc	Sun Jul 30 09:21:58 2017 -0700
@@ -724,7 +724,7 @@
         home = home.substr (1);
 
       /* If HOME ends in /, omit the / after ~user. */
-      if (name.length () > c && IS_DIR_SEP (home[home.length () - 1]))
+      if (name.length () > c && IS_DIR_SEP (home.back ()))
         c++;
 
       expansion = (name.length () > c ? home : home + name.substr (c));
@@ -782,9 +782,8 @@
         ret += kpse_dot + DIR_SEP_STRING + elt + ENV_SEP_STRING;
     }
 
-  int len = ret.length ();
-  if (len > 0)
-    ret.resize (len-1);
+  if (! ret.empty ())
+    ret.pop_back ();
 
   return ret;
 }
@@ -818,7 +817,7 @@
       ret += x + ENV_SEP_STRING;
     }
 
-  ret.resize (ret.length () - 1);
+  ret.pop_back ();
 
   return ret;
 }
@@ -849,9 +848,8 @@
       ret += expansion + ENV_SEP_STRING;
     }
 
-  size_t len = ret.length ();
-  if (len > 0)
-    ret.resize (len-1);
+  if (! ret.empty ())
+    ret.pop_back ();
 
   return kpse_expand_kpse_dot (ret);
 }
@@ -924,8 +922,8 @@
         }
     }
 
-  if (len > 0)
-    ret.resize (len-1);
+  if (! ret.empty ())
+    ret.pop_back ();
 
   return ret;
 }
@@ -1214,7 +1212,7 @@
     {
       ret = elt;
 
-      char last_char = ret[ret.length () - 1];
+      char last_char = ret.back ();
 
       if (! (IS_DIR_SEP (last_char) || IS_DEVICE_SEP (last_char)))
         ret += DIR_SEP_STRING;