std::weak_ptr<T>::weak_ptr

 

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

 

Utilities library

Language support Type support (basic types, RTTI) Library feature-test macros (C++20) Dynamic memory management Program utilities Coroutine support (C++20) Variadic functions is_constant_evaluated (C++20) is_within_lifetime (C++26) initializer_list (C++11) source_location (C++20) Three-way comparison (C++20) three_way_comparablethree_way_comparable_with (C++20)(C++20) strong_ordering (C++20) weak_ordering (C++20) partial_ordering (C++20) common_comparison_category (C++20) compare_three_way_result (C++20) compare_three_way (C++20) strong_order (C++20) weak_order (C++20) partial_order (C++20) compare_strong_order_fallback (C++20) compare_weak_order_fallback (C++20) compare_partial_order_fallback (C++20)    is_eqis_neqis_ltis_lteqis_gtis_gteq (C++20)(C++20)(C++20)(C++20)(C++20)(C++20)

General utilities Date and time Function objects Formatting library (C++20) bitset hash (C++11) Relational operators (deprecated in C++20) rel_ops::operator!=rel_ops::operator> rel_ops::operator<=rel_ops::operator>= Integer comparison functions cmp_equalcmp_lesscmp_less_than (C++20)(C++20)(C++20)    cmp_not_equalcmp_greatercmp_greater_than (C++20)(C++20)(C++20) in_range (C++20) Swap and type operations swap ranges::swap (C++20) exchange (C++14) declval (C++11) to_underlying (C++23) forward (C++11) forward_like (C++23) move (C++11) move_if_noexcept (C++11) as_const (C++17) Common vocabulary types pair tuple (C++11) optional (C++17) any (C++17) variant (C++17) tuple_size (C++11) tuple_element (C++11) apply (C++17) make_from_tuple (C++17) expected (C++23) Elementary string conversions to_chars (C++17) from_chars (C++17) chars_format (C++17)

 

Dynamic memory management

Uninitialized memory algorithms uninitialized_copy uninitialized_fill uninitialized_move (C++17) uninitialized_default_construct (C++17) uninitialized_value_construct (C++17) destroy (C++17) destroy_at (C++17) voidify (C++20) uninitialized_copy_n (C++11) uninitialized_fill_n uninitialized_move_n (C++17) uninitialized_default_construct_n (C++17) uninitialized_value_construct_n (C++17) destroy_n (C++17) construct_at (C++20) Constrained uninitialized memory algorithms ranges::uninitialized_copy (C++20) ranges::uninitialized_fill (C++20) ranges::uninitialized_move (C++20) ranges::construct_at (C++20) ranges::destroy (C++20) ranges::destroy_n (C++20) ranges::destroy_at (C++20) ranges::uninitialized_copy_n (C++20) ranges::uninitialized_fill_n (C++20) ranges::uninitialized_move_n (C++20) ranges::uninitialized_default_construct (C++20) ranges::uninitialized_value_construct (C++20) ranges::uninitialized_default_construct_n (C++20)   ranges::uninitialized_value_construct_n (C++20) Allocators allocator allocator_traits (C++11) allocation_result (C++23) allocator_arg (C++11) uses_allocator (C++11) uses_allocator_construction_args (C++20) make_obj_using_allocator (C++20) uninitialized_construct_using_allocator (C++20) scoped_allocator_adaptor (C++11) pmr::polymorphic_allocator (C++17) Memory resources pmr::memory_resource (C++17) pmr::get_default_resource (C++17) pmr::set_default_resource (C++17) pmr::new_delete_resource (C++17) pmr::null_memory_resource (C++17) pmr::synchronized_pool_resource (C++17) pmr::unsynchronized_pool_resource (C++17)   pmr::monotonic_buffer_resource (C++17) pmr::pool_options (C++17) Garbage collection support declare_reachable (C++11)(until C++23) undeclare_reachable (C++11)(until C++23) declare_no_pointers (C++11)(until C++23) undeclare_no_pointers (C++11)(until C++23) pointer_safety (C++11)(until C++23) get_pointer_safety (C++11)(until C++23) Uninitialized storage raw_storage_iterator (until C++20*) get_temporary_buffer (until C++20*) return_temporary_buffer (until C++20*) Explicit lifetime management start_lifetime_asstart_lifetime_as_array (C++23)(C++23)

Smart pointers unique_ptr (C++11) shared_ptr (C++11) weak_ptr (C++11) auto_ptr (until C++17*) owner_less (C++11) owner_less<void> (C++17) enable_shared_from_this (C++11) bad_weak_ptr (C++11) default_delete (C++11) out_ptr_t (C++23) inout_ptr_t (C++23) Low level memory management operator new operator new[] operator delete operator delete[] get_new_handler set_new_handler launder (C++17) bad_alloc bad_array_new_length nothrow_t align_val_t destroying_delete_t new_handler nothrow Miscellaneous pointer_traits (C++11) to_address (C++20) addressof (C++11) align (C++11) assume_aligned (C++20) C Library malloc calloc realloc    aligned_alloc (C++17) free

 

std::weak_ptr

Member functions

weak_ptr::weak_ptr

weak_ptr::~weak_ptr

weak_ptr::operator=

Modifiers

weak_ptr::reset

weak_ptr::swap

Observers

weak_ptr::use_count

weak_ptr::expired

weak_ptr::lock

weak_ptr::owner_before

Non-member functions

std::swap

Helper classes

std::atomic<std::weak_ptr> (C++20)

Deduction guides(C++17)

 

constexpr weak_ptr() noexcept;	(1)	(since C++11)
weak_ptr( const weak_ptr& r ) noexcept;	(2)	(since C++11)
template< class Y > weak_ptr( const weak_ptr<Y>& r ) noexcept;	(2)	(since C++11)
template< class Y > weak_ptr( const std::shared_ptr<Y>& r ) noexcept;	(2)	(since C++11)
weak_ptr( weak_ptr&& r ) noexcept;	(3)	(since C++11)
template< class Y > weak_ptr( weak_ptr<Y>&& r ) noexcept;	(3)	(since C++11)

Constructs new weak_ptr that potentially shares an object with r.

1) Default constructor. Constructs empty weak_ptr.

2) Constructs new weak_ptr which shares an object managed by r. If r manages no object, *this manages no object too. The templated overloads don't participate in the overload resolution unless Y* is implicitly convertible to T*, or Y is the type "array of N U" for some type U and some number N, and T is the type "array of unknown bound of (possibly cv-qualified) U" (since C++17).

3) Move constructors. Moves a weak_ptr instance from r into *this. After this, r is empty and r.use_count() == 0. The templated overload doesn't participate in the overload resolution unless Y* is implicitly convertible to T*.

Parameters

r

-

a std::shared_ptr or std::weak_ptr that will be viewed by this std::weak_ptr

Notes

Because the default constructor is constexpr, static std::weak_ptrs are initialized as part of static non-local initialization, before any dynamic non-local initialization begins. This makes it safe to use a std::weak_ptr in a constructor of any static object.

Example

Run this code

#include <iostream>
#include <memory>
 
struct Foo {};
 
int main()
{
    std::weak_ptr<Foo> w_ptr;
 
    {
        auto ptr = std::make_shared<Foo>();
        w_ptr = ptr;
        std::cout << "w_ptr.use_count() inside scope: " << w_ptr.use_count() << '\n';
    }
 
    std::cout << "w_ptr.use_count() out of scope: " << w_ptr.use_count() << '\n';
    std::cout << "w_ptr.expired() out of scope: "
              << std::boolalpha << w_ptr.expired() << '\n';
}

Output:

w_ptr.use_count() inside scope: 1
w_ptr.use_count() out of scope: 0
w_ptr.expired() out of scope: true

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 2315	C++11	move semantic was not enabled for weak_ptr	enabled

See also

operator=

assigns the weak_ptr (public member function)