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

 

C++

Compiler support

Freestanding and hosted

Language

Standard library

Standard library headers

Named requirements

Feature test macros (C++20)

Language support library

Concepts library (C++20)

Metaprogramming library (C++11)

Diagnostics library

General utilities library

Strings library

Containers library

Iterators library

Ranges library (C++20)

Algorithms library

Numerics library

Localizations library

Input/output library

Filesystem library (C++17)

Regular expressions library (C++11)

Concurrency support library (C++11)

Technical specifications

Symbols index

External libraries

 

Standard library headers

Language support
<cstddef> <cstdlib> <version> (C++20) <limits> <climits>	<cfloat> <cstdint> (C++11) <stdfloat> (C++23) <new> <typeinfo>	<source_location> (C++20) <exception> <initializer_list> (C++11) <compare> (C++20)	<coroutine> (C++20) <csignal> <csetjmp> <cstdarg>
Concepts
<concepts> (C++20)
Diagnostics
<stdexcept> <stacktrace> (C++23)	<cassert>	<cerrno>	<system_error> (C++11)
Memory management
<memory>	<memory_resource> (C++17)	<scoped_allocator> (C++11)
Metaprogramming
<type_traits> (C++11)	<ratio> (C++11)
General utilities
<utility> <tuple> (C++11) <optional> (C++17) <variant> (C++17)	<any> (C++17) <expected> (C++23) <bitset>	<functional> <typeindex> (C++11) <execution> (C++17)	<charconv> (C++17) <format> (C++20) <bit> (C++20)
Strings
<string_view> (C++17) <string>	<cctype> <cwctype>	<cstring> <cwchar>	<cuchar> (C++11)
Containers
<array> (C++11) <deque> <forward_list> (C++11) <list>	<vector> <map> <set> <unordered_map> (C++11)	<unordered_set> (C++11) <queue> <stack> <flat_map> (C++23)	<flat_set> (C++23) <span> (C++20) <mdspan> (C++23)
Iterators
<iterator>
Ranges
<ranges> (C++20)	<generator> (C++23)
Algorithms
<algorithm>	<numeric>
Numerics
<cfenv> (C++11) <complex>	<random> (C++11) <valarray>	<cmath>	<numbers> (C++20)
Time
<chrono> (C++11)	<ctime>
Localization
<locale>	<clocale>	<codecvt> (C++11/17*)
Input/output
<iosfwd> <iostream> <ios> <streambuf>	<istream> <ostream> <iomanip> <print> (C++23)	<sstream> <spanstream> (C++23) <fstream> <syncstream> (C++20)	<filesystem> (C++17) <cstdio> <cinttypes> (C++11) <strstream> (C++98*)
Regular expressions
<regex> (C++11)
Concurrency support
<stop_token> (C++20) <thread> (C++11) <atomic> (C++11)	<stdatomic.h> (C++23) <mutex> (C++11) <shared_mutex> (C++14)	<condition_variable> (C++11)   <semaphore> (C++20) <latch> (C++20)	<barrier> (C++20) <future> (C++11)
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)

 

Includes
<compare> (C++20)	Three-way comparison operator support
Classes
optional (C++17)	a wrapper that may or may not hold an object (class template)
bad_optional_access (C++17)	exception indicating checked access to an optional that doesn't contain a value (class)
std::hash<std::optional> (C++17)	specializes the std::hash algorithm (class template specialization)
nullopt_t (C++17)	indicator of optional type with uninitialized state (class)
Forward declarations
Defined in header <functional>
hash (C++11)	hash function object (class template)
Constants
nullopt (C++17)	an object of type nullopt_t (constant)
Functions
Comparison
operator==operator!=operator<operator<=operator>operator>=operator<=> (C++17)(C++17)(C++17)(C++17)(C++17)(C++17)(C++20)	compares optional objects (function template)
Specialized algorithms
std::swap(std::optional) (C++17)	specializes the std::swap algorithm (function template)
make_optional (C++17)	creates an optional object (function template)

Synopsis

#include <compare>
 
namespace std {
  // class template optional
  template<class T>
    class optional;
 
  // no-value state indicator
  struct nullopt_t{/* see description */};
  inline constexpr nullopt_t nullopt(/* unspecified */);
 
  // class bad_optional_access
  class bad_optional_access;
 
  // relational operators
  template<class T, class U>
    constexpr bool operator==(const optional<T>&, const optional<U>&);
  template<class T, class U>
    constexpr bool operator!=(const optional<T>&, const optional<U>&);
  template<class T, class U>
    constexpr bool operator<(const optional<T>&, const optional<U>&);
  template<class T, class U>
    constexpr bool operator>(const optional<T>&, const optional<U>&);
  template<class T, class U>
    constexpr bool operator<=(const optional<T>&, const optional<U>&);
  template<class T, class U>
    constexpr bool operator>=(const optional<T>&, const optional<U>&);
  template<class T, three_way_comparable_with<T> U>
    constexpr compare_three_way_result_t<T,U>
      operator<=>(const optional<T>&, const optional<U>&);
 
  // comparison with nullopt
  template<class T> constexpr bool operator==(const optional<T>&, nullopt_t) noexcept;
  template<class T>
    constexpr strong_ordering operator<=>(const optional<T>&, nullopt_t) noexcept;
 
  // comparison with T
  template<class T, class U> constexpr bool operator==(const optional<T>&, const U&);
  template<class T, class U> constexpr bool operator==(const T&, const optional<U>&);
  template<class T, class U> constexpr bool operator!=(const optional<T>&, const U&);
  template<class T, class U> constexpr bool operator!=(const T&, const optional<U>&);
  template<class T, class U> constexpr bool operator<(const optional<T>&, const U&);
  template<class T, class U> constexpr bool operator<(const T&, const optional<U>&);
  template<class T, class U> constexpr bool operator>(const optional<T>&, const U&);
  template<class T, class U> constexpr bool operator>(const T&, const optional<U>&);
  template<class T, class U> constexpr bool operator<=(const optional<T>&, const U&);
  template<class T, class U> constexpr bool operator<=(const T&, const optional<U>&);
  template<class T, class U> constexpr bool operator>=(const optional<T>&, const U&);
  template<class T, class U> constexpr bool operator>=(const T&, const optional<U>&);
  template<class T, three_way_comparable_with<T> U>
    constexpr compare_three_way_result_t<T,U>
      operator<=>(const optional<T>&, const U&);
 
  // specialized algorithms
  template<class T>
    constexpr void swap(optional<T>&, optional<T>&) noexcept(/* see description */);
 
  template<class T>
    constexpr optional</* see description */> make_optional(T&&);
  template<class T, class... Args>
    constexpr optional<T> make_optional(Args&&... args);
  template<class T, class U, class... Args>
    constexpr optional<T> make_optional(initializer_list<U> il, Args&&... args);
 
  // hash support
  template<class T> struct hash;
  template<class T> struct hash<optional<T>>;
}

Class template std::optional

namespace std {
  template<class T>
  class optional {
  public:
    using value_type = T;
 
    // constructors
    constexpr optional() noexcept;
    constexpr optional(nullopt_t) noexcept;
    constexpr optional(const optional&);
    constexpr optional(optional&&) noexcept(/* see description */);
    template<class... Args>
      constexpr explicit optional(in_place_t, Args&&...);
    template<class U, class... Args>
      constexpr explicit optional(in_place_t, initializer_list<U>, Args&&...);
    template<class U = T>
      constexpr explicit(/* see description */) optional(U&&);
    template<class U>
      constexpr explicit(/* see description */) optional(const optional<U>&);
    template<class U>
      constexpr explicit(/* see description */) optional(optional<U>&&);
 
    // destructor
    constexpr ~optional();
 
    // assignment
    constexpr optional& operator=(nullopt_t) noexcept;
    constexpr optional& operator=(const optional&);
    constexpr optional& operator=(optional&&) noexcept(/* see description */);
    template<class U = T> constexpr optional& operator=(U&&);
    template<class U> constexpr optional& operator=(const optional<U>&);
    template<class U> constexpr optional& operator=(optional<U>&&);
    template<class... Args> constexpr T& emplace(Args&&...);
    template<class U, class... Args> constexpr T& emplace(initializer_list<U>, Args&&...);
 
    // swap
    constexpr void swap(optional&) noexcept(/* see description */);
 
    // observers
    constexpr const T* operator->() const noexcept;
    constexpr T* operator->() noexcept;
    constexpr const T& operator*() const& noexcept;
    constexpr T& operator*() & noexcept;
    constexpr T&& operator*() && noexcept;
    constexpr const T&& operator*() const&& noexcept;
    constexpr explicit operator bool() const noexcept;
    constexpr bool has_value() const noexcept;
    constexpr const T& value() const&;
    constexpr T& value() &;
    constexpr T&& value() &&;
    constexpr const T&& value() const&&;
    template<class U> constexpr T value_or(U&&) const&;
    template<class U> constexpr T value_or(U&&) &&;
 
    // monadic operations
    template <class F> constexpr auto and_then(F&& f) &;
    template <class F> constexpr auto and_then(F&& f) &&;
    template <class F> constexpr auto and_then(F&& f) const&;
    template <class F> constexpr auto and_then(F&& f) const&&;
    template <class F> constexpr auto transform(F&& f) &;
    template <class F> constexpr auto transform(F&& f) &&;
    template <class F> constexpr auto transform(F&& f) const&;
    template <class F> constexpr auto transform(F&& f) const&&;
    template <class F> constexpr optional or_else(F&& f) &&;
    template <class F> constexpr optional or_else(F&& f) const&;
 
    // modifiers
    constexpr void reset() noexcept;
 
  private:
    T *val;         // exposition only
  };
 
  template<class T>
    optional(T) -> optional<T>;
}