Standard library header <variant> (C++17)

From cppreference.com
< cpp‎ | header
 
 
Standard Library headers
Note: a slash '/' in a revision mark means that the header was deprecated and/or removed.
Language Support
Concepts
<concepts> (C++20)
Diagnostics
<system_error> (C++11)
General utilities
<bitset>
<tuple> (C++11)
<optional> (C++17)
<any> (C++17)
<variant> (C++17)
<type_traits> (C++11)
<ratio> (C++11)
<chrono> (C++11)
Strings
<charconv> (C++17)
<format> (C++20)

<cwchar>
<cuchar> (C++11)

Localization
<codecvt> (C++11/17)

Containers
<span> (C++20)
<array> (C++11)
<vector>
Iterators
<iterator>
Ranges
<ranges> (C++20)
Algorithms
<execution> (C++17)
Numerics
<bit> (C++20)
<numbers> (C++20)
<cfenv> (C++11)
<cmath>
Input/Output
<cstdio>
<cinttypes> (C++11)
<strstream> (C++98/)

Regular expressions
<regex> (C++11)
Filesystem support
<filesystem> (C++17)
Thread support
<thread> (C++11)
<atomic> (C++11)
<mutex> (C++11)
<shared_mutex> (C++14)
<condition_variable> (C++11)  
<future> (C++11)
<stop_token> (C++20)
<semaphore> (C++20)

<latch> (C++20)
<barrier> (C++20)

C compatibility
<cstdbool> (C++11/17/20)
<ccomplex> (C++11/17/20)
<ctgmath> (C++11/17/20)
<cstdalign> (C++11/17/20)
<ciso646> (until C++20)
<stdatomic.h>
 

This header is part of the general utility library.

Includes

(C++20)
Three-way comparison operator support

Classes

(C++17)
a type-safe discriminated union
(class template)
(C++17)
placeholder type for use as the first alternative in a variant of non-default-constructible types
(class)
exception thrown on invalid accesses to the value of a variant
(class)
obtains the size of the variant's list of alternatives at compile time
(class template) (variable template)
obtains the type of the alternative specified by its index, at compile time
(class template) (alias template)
specializes the std::hash algorithm
(class template specialization)

Constants

index of the variant in the invalid state
(constant)

Functions

(C++17)
calls the provided functor with the arguments held by one or more variants
(function template)
checks if a variant currently holds a given type
(function template)
reads the value of the variant given the index or the type (if the type is unique), throws on error
(function template)
(C++17)
obtains a pointer to the value of a pointed-to variant given the index or the type (if unique), returns null on error
(function template)
(C++17)(C++17)(C++17)(C++17)(C++17)(C++17)(C++20)
compares variant objects as their contained values
(function template)
specializes the std::swap algorithm
(function template)

Synopsis

#include <compare>
 
namespace std {
  // class template variant
  template<class... Types>
    class variant;
 
  // variant helper classes
  template<class T> struct variant_size;                        // not defined
  template<class T> struct variant_size<const T>;
  template<class T>
    inline constexpr size_t variant_size_v = variant_size<T>::value;
 
  template<class... Types>
    struct variant_size<variant<Types...>>;
 
  template<size_t I, class T> struct variant_alternative;       // not defined
  template<size_t I, class T> struct variant_alternative<I, const T>;
  template<size_t I, class T>
    using variant_alternative_t = typename variant_alternative<I, T>::type;
 
  template<size_t I, class... Types>
    struct variant_alternative<I, variant<Types...>>;
 
  inline constexpr size_t variant_npos = -1;
 
  // value access
  template<class T, class... Types>
    constexpr bool holds_alternative(const variant<Types...>&) noexcept;
 
  template<size_t I, class... Types>
    constexpr variant_alternative_t<I, variant<Types...>>& get(variant<Types...>&);
  template<size_t I, class... Types>
    constexpr variant_alternative_t<I, variant<Types...>>&& get(variant<Types...>&&);
  template<size_t I, class... Types>
    constexpr const variant_alternative_t<I, variant<Types...>>&
      get(const variant<Types...>&);
  template<size_t I, class... Types>
    constexpr const variant_alternative_t<I, variant<Types...>>&&
      get(const variant<Types...>&&);
 
  template<class T, class... Types>
    constexpr T& get(variant<Types...>&);
  template<class T, class... Types>
    constexpr T&& get(variant<Types...>&&);
  template<class T, class... Types>
    constexpr const T& get(const variant<Types...>&);
  template<class T, class... Types>
    constexpr const T&& get(const variant<Types...>&&);
 
  template<size_t I, class... Types>
    constexpr add_pointer_t<variant_alternative_t<I, variant<Types...>>>
      get_if(variant<Types...>*) noexcept;
  template<size_t I, class... Types>
    constexpr add_pointer_t<const variant_alternative_t<I, variant<Types...>>>
      get_if(const variant<Types...>*) noexcept;
 
  template<class T, class... Types>
    constexpr add_pointer_t<T>
      get_if(variant<Types...>*) noexcept;
  template<class T, class... Types>
    constexpr add_pointer_t<const T>
      get_if(const variant<Types...>*) noexcept;
 
  // relational operators
  template<class... Types>
    constexpr bool operator==(const variant<Types...>&, const variant<Types...>&);
  template<class... Types>
    constexpr bool operator!=(const variant<Types...>&, const variant<Types...>&);
  template<class... Types>
    constexpr bool operator<(const variant<Types...>&, const variant<Types...>&);
  template<class... Types>
    constexpr bool operator>(const variant<Types...>&, const variant<Types...>&);
  template<class... Types>
    constexpr bool operator<=(const variant<Types...>&, const variant<Types...>&);
  template<class... Types>
    constexpr bool operator>=(const variant<Types...>&, const variant<Types...>&);
  template<class... Types> requires (three_way_comparable<Types> && ...)
    constexpr common_comparison_category_t<compare_three_way_result_t<Types>...>
      operator<=>(const variant<Types...>&, const variant<Types...>&);
 
  // visitation
  template<class Visitor, class... Variants>
    constexpr /* see description */ visit(Visitor&&, Variants&&...);
  template<class R, class Visitor, class... Variants>
    constexpr R visit(Visitor&&, Variants&&...);
 
  // class monostate
  struct monostate;
 
  // monostate relational operators
  constexpr bool operator==(monostate, monostate) noexcept;
  constexpr strong_ordering operator<=>(monostate, monostate) noexcept;
 
  // specialized algorithms
  template<class... Types>
    constexpr void swap(variant<Types...>&,
                        variant<Types...>&) noexcept(/* see description */);
 
  // class bad_variant_access
  class bad_variant_access;
 
  // hash support
  template<class T> struct hash;
  template<class... Types> struct hash<variant<Types...>>;
  template<> struct hash<monostate>;
}
 
// deprecated
namespace std {
  template<class T> struct variant_size<volatile T>;
  template<class T> struct variant_size<const volatile T>;
 
  template<size_t I, class T> struct variant_alternative<I, volatile T>;
  template<size_t I, class T> struct variant_alternative<I, const volatile T>;
}

Class template std::variant

namespace std {
  template<class... Types>
  class variant {
  public:
    // constructors
    constexpr variant() noexcept(/* see description */);
    constexpr variant(const variant&);
    constexpr variant(variant&&) noexcept(/* see description */);
 
    template<class T>
      constexpr variant(T&&) noexcept(/* see description */);
 
    template<class T, class... Args>
      constexpr explicit variant(in_place_type_t<T>, Args&&...);
    template<class T, class U, class... Args>
      constexpr explicit variant(in_place_type_t<T>, initializer_list<U>, Args&&...);
 
    template<size_t I, class... Args>
      constexpr explicit variant(in_place_index_t<I>, Args&&...);
    template<size_t I, class U, class... Args>
      constexpr explicit variant(in_place_index_t<I>, initializer_list<U>, Args&&...);
 
    // destructor
    constexpr ~variant();
 
    // assignment
    constexpr variant& operator=(const variant&);
    constexpr variant& operator=(variant&&) noexcept(/* see description */);
 
    template<class T> constexpr variant& operator=(T&&) noexcept(/* see description */);
 
    // modifiers
    template<class T, class... Args>
      constexpr T& emplace(Args&&...);
    template<class T, class U, class... Args>
      constexpr T& emplace(initializer_list<U>, Args&&...);
    template<size_t I, class... Args>
      constexpr variant_alternative_t<I, variant<Types...>>& emplace(Args&&...);
    template<size_t I, class U, class... Args>
      constexpr variant_alternative_t<I, variant<Types...>>&
        emplace(initializer_list<U>, Args&&...);
 
    // value status
    constexpr bool valueless_by_exception() const noexcept;
    constexpr size_t index() const noexcept;
 
    // swap
    constexpr void swap(variant&) noexcept(/* see description */);
  };
}

Class std::monostate

struct monostate{};

Class std::bad_variant_access

class bad_variant_access : public exception {
public:
  // see [exception] for the specification of the special member functions
  const char* what() const noexcept override;
};