template< class T >
class optional;
The class template std::optional
manages an optional contained value, i.e. a value that may or may not be present.
A common use case for optional
is the return value of a function that may fail. As opposed to other approaches, such as std::pair<T, bool>, optional
handles expensive-to-construct objects well and is more readable, as the intent is expressed explicitly.
Any instance of optional
at any given point in time either contains a value or does not contain a value.
If an optional
contains a value, the value is guaranteed to be nested within the optional
object. Thus, an optional
object models an object, not a pointer, even though operator*() and operator->() are defined.
When an object of type optional<T>
is contextually converted to bool, the conversion returns true if the object contains a value and false if it does not contain a value.
The optional
object contains a value in the following conditions:
T
or another optional
that contains a value.The object does not contain a value in the following conditions:
optional
object that does not contain a value.The optional
object is a view
that contains either one element if it contains a value, or otherwise zero elements if it does not contain a value. The lifetime of the contained element is bound to the object.
There are no optional references, functions, arrays, or (possibly cv-qualified) void; a program is ill-formed if it instantiates an optional
with such a type. In addition, a program is ill-formed if it instantiates an optional
with the (possibly cv-qualified) tag types std::nullopt_t or std::in_place_t.
All requirements on the iterator types of a Container apply to the iterator
type of optional
as well.
T*
val
a pointer to the contained object (if exists)
optional
object
optional
otherwise
optional
containing the transformed contained value if it exists, or an empty optional
otherwise
optional
itself if it contains a value, or the result of the given function otherwise
This specialization of ranges::enable_view makes optional
satisfy view
.
template< class T >
constexpr auto format_kind<std::optional<T>> = range_format::disabled;
This specialization of format_kind disables the range formatting support of optional
.
#include <iostream> #include <optional> #include <string> // optional can be used as the return type of a factory that may fail std::optional<std::string> create(bool b) { if (b) return "Godzilla"; return {}; } // std::nullopt can be used to create any (empty) std::optional auto create2(bool b) { return b ? std::optional<std::string>{"Godzilla"} : std::nullopt; } int main() { std::cout << "create(false) returned " << create(false).value_or("empty") << '\n'; // optional-returning factory functions are usable as conditions of while and if if (auto str = create2(true)) std::cout << "create2(true) returned " << *str << '\n'; }
Output:
create(false) returned empty create2(true) returned Godzilla[edit] Defect reports
The following behavior-changing defect reports were applied retroactively to previously published C++ standards.
DR Applied to Behavior as published Correct behavior LWG 4141 C++17 the requirement of storageoptional
object [edit] See also
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