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.
Language support
Language support libraries provide classes and functions that interact closely with language features and support common language idioms.
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).
Dynamic memory management
Smart pointers (e.g. std::shared_ptr), allocators (e.g. std::allocator), C-style memory management (e.g. std::malloc).
Error handling
Exceptions (e.g. std::exception, std::logic_error), assertions (e.g. assert).
Initializer lists
| (C++11) | allows the use of initializer list syntax to initialize non-aggregate types (class template) |
Variadic functions
Support for functions that take an arbitrary number of parameters (via e.g. va_start, va_arg, va_end).
General-purpose utilities
Program utilities
Termination (e.g. std::abort, std::atexit), environment (e.g. std::system), signals (e.g. std::raise).
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).
Bitset
| implements constant length bit array (class) |
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.
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) |
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) |
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) |
Relational operators
| Defined in namespace std::rel_ops | |
|---|---|
automatically generates comparison operators based on user-defined operator== and operator< (function template) | |
Hash support
| (C++11) | hash function object (class template) |
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