The standard way
C+11 introduced the typeid() operator as a way to get runtime type information
(RTTI) on an object. It returns a std::type_info with a .name() member
function that outputs the type information as a const char*.
Obviously, this "name" is implementation-dependent and needs proper demangling
in order to be human-readable. This can be done through a library like
Boost's demangle, but the standard library provides another solution.
std::type_index is a std::type_info wrapper class whose sole function
is to be hashed into a mapping object as a key, and associated to the
human-readable version of the type that's inside the std::type_info object.
Let's see an example of this word salad:
// type_index as the key
std::unordered_map<std::type_index, std::string> type_names;
// the user decides how to call each type
type_names[std::type_index(typeid(int))] = "int";
type_names[std::type_index(typeid(A))] = "A";
type_names[std::type_index(typeid(B*))] = "pointer to B";
type_names[std::type_index(typeid(A*))] = "pointer to A";
int i = 1;
A a;
B *b;
fmt::print("i is {}\n", type_names[std::type_index(typeid(i))]);
fmt::print("a is {}\n", type_names[std::type_index(typeid(a))]);
fmt::print("b is {}\n", type_names[std::type_index(typeid(b))]);
fmt::print("b casted to the base class is {}\n", type_names[std::type_index(
typeid(dynamic_cast<A*>(b)))]);
This would give the following output. You can also check it on godbolt:
`i` is int
`a` is A
`b` is pointer to B
`b` casted to the base class is pointer to A
This method bypasses demangling and assures no errors will be made when understandig
the object types. The downside, on the other hand, is evident.
The user has to define the type names for all classes, even the built-in ones.
As if this was a python's __repr__() member function, but global and much
more convoluted.
Another issue/gotcha with the typeid operator is that ignores cvr (const,
volatile and reference, &) qualifiers. For example:
std::unordered_map<std::type_index, std::string> type_names;
type_names[std::type_index(typeid(int))] = "int";
int i = 1;
fmt::print("i is {}\n", type_names[std::type_index(typeid(i))]);
int &ref_to_i = i;
fmt::print("i& is not {}\n", type_names[std::type_index(typeid(ref_to_i))]);
fmt::print("i&& is not {}\n", type_names[std::type_index(typeid(std::move(i)))]);
int const const_i = i;
fmt::print("const_i is not {}\n", type_names[std::type_index(typeid(const_i))]);
And the output would be:
`i` is int
`i&` is not int
`i&&` is not int
`const_i` is not int
In this example we've only stored typeid(int) on our type_names map, yet
all the other types matched with it.
A more extensive example of this, can be seen on
this godbolt.
Boost's way
Boost provides the type_index.hpp header, with a drop-in replacement for
typeid() that also solves the mangling issues, at least on the platforms
I've tried it on.
type_id_runtime() replaces the typeid() operator and instead of returning a
std::type_info, it returns a boost::typeindex::type_info object that has a
.pretty_name() member function for demangling. On the other hand, cvr
qualifiers are still ignored.
This code:
int i = 1;
fmt::print("`i` is: {}\n",
boost::typeindex::type_id_runtime(i).pretty_name());
int &lref_to_i = i;
fmt::print("`lref_to_i` is: {}\n",
boost::typeindex::type_id_runtime(lref_to_i).pretty_name());
fmt::print("`i` casted to a r-value reference is: {}\n",
boost::typeindex::type_id_runtime(std::move(i)).pretty_name());
will give the following output:
`i` is: int
`lref_to_i` is: int
`i` casted to a r-value reference is: int
Over on this godbolt you can see how well
pretty_name() does with user made data types.
Now, since Boost calls the equivalent of typeid() operator, type_id_runtime(),
there must be a compile-time equivalent, right?
Types at compile-time
Boost also provides type information at compile time with type_id<T>() and it
works just like type_id_runtime(), but instead of providing the query object
as a function parameter, you pass it as a template parameter, not without
wrapping it inside a decltype() call. This makes sure that the object's type
is known at compile time.
Here's the corresponding godbolt example:
int i = 1;
fmt::print("i is: {}\n",
boost::typeindex::type_id<decltype(i)>().pretty_name());
int &lref_to_i = i;
fmt::print("lref_to_i is not: {}\n",
boost::typeindex::type_id<decltype(lref_to_i)>()
.pretty_name());
fmt::print("`i` casted to an r-value reference is not: {}\n",
boost::typeindex::type_id<decltype(std::move(i))>()
.pretty_name());
And its output:
`i` is: int
`lref_to_i` is not: int
`i` casted to an r-value reference is not: int
And even better is the fact that we now have access to info on the cvr
qualifiers. We can get it with type_id_with_cvr<T>():
See the godbolt example:
int i = 1;
fmt::print("i is: {}\n",
boost::typeindex::type_id_with_cvr<decltype(i)>().pretty_name());
int &lref_to_i = i;
fmt::print("lref_to_i is: {}\n",
boost::typeindex::type_id_with_cvr<decltype(lref_to_i)>()
.pretty_name());
fmt::print("`i` casted to an r-value reference is: {}\n",
boost::typeindex::type_id_with_cvr<decltype(std::move(i))>()
.pretty_name());
And its output:
`i` is: int
`lref_to_i` is: int&
`i` casted to an r-value reference is: int&&
Internally, type_id_with_cvr<T>() calls the typeid() operator from the
standard, only after performing some template magic with the type T to
determine the cvr qualifiers. Through partial template class specialization
sprinkled with some public inheritance, one can determine if a type has cvr
qualifiers or if it's a pointer. Perhaps that's material for another post.
In the end, we know that type information as a string at compile-time is not as useful as during runtime, but nevertheless it's at least a good learning tool. For example, we could use it to inspect types in godbolt, something we couldn't do without it, as there's no godbolt debugger (and it shouldn't be).
Maybe we'll do just that in the next post.