Utility library
C++ includes a variety of utility libraries that provide functionality ranging from bit-counting to partial function application. These libraries can be broadly divided into two groups:
- language support libraries, and
- general-purpose libraries.
Contents |
[edit] Language support
Language support libraries provide classes and functions that interact closely with language features and support common language idioms.
[edit] Type support
Basic types (e.g. std::size_t, std::nullptr_t), RTTI (e.g. std::type_info), type traits (e.g. std::is_integral, std::rank)
[edit] Dynamic memory management
Smart pointers (e.g. std::shared_ptr), allocators (e.g. std::allocator), C-style memory management (e.g. std::malloc)
[edit] Error handling
Exceptions (e.g. std::exception, std::logic_error), assertions (e.g. assert)
[edit] Initializer lists
| (C++11) |
allows the use of initializer list syntax to initialize non-aggregate types (class template) |
[edit] Variadic functions
Support for functions that take an arbitrary number of parameters (via e.g. va_start, va_arg, va_end)
[edit] General-purpose utilities
[edit] Program utilities
Termination (e.g. std::abort, std::atexit), environment (e.g. std::system), signals (e.g. std::raise)
[edit] Date and time
Time tracking (e.g. std::chrono::time_point, std::chrono::duration), C-style date and time (e.g. std::time, std::clock)
[edit] Bitset
| implements constant length bit array (class) |
[edit] Function objects
Partial function application (e.g. std::bind) and related utilities: utilities for binding such as std::ref and std::placeholders, polymorphic function wrappers: std::function, predefined functors (e.g. std::plus, std::equal_to), method to function converters std::mem_fn.
[edit] Pairs and tuples
| implements binary tuple, i.e. a pair of values (class template) | |
| (C++11) |
implements fixed size container, which holds elements of possibly different types (class template) |
| (C++11) |
tag type used to select correct function overload for piecewise construction (class) |
| (C++11) |
an object of type piecewise_construct_t used to disambiguate functions for piecewise construction (constant) |
| (C++14) |
implements compile-time sequence of integers (class template) |
[edit] Swap, forward and move
| swaps the values of two objects (function template) | |
| (C++14) |
replaces the argument with a new value and returns its previous value (function template) |
| (C++11) |
forwards a function argument (function template) |
| (C++11) |
obtains an rvalue reference (function template) |
| (C++11) |
obtains an rvalue reference if the move constructor does not throw (function template) |
[edit] Type operations
| (C++11) |
obtains a reference to its argument for use in unevaluated context (function template) |
| (C++17) |
obtains a reference to const to its argument (function template) |
[edit] Relational operators
| Defined in namespace
std::rel_ops | |
| automatically generates comparison operators based on user-defined operator== and operator< (function template) | |
[edit] Hash support
| (C++11) |
hash function object (class template) |
