std::cout, std::wcout

Header: <iostream>

The global objects std::cout and std::wcout control output to a stream buffer of implementation-defined type (derived from std::streambuf), associated with the standard C output stream stdout.

# Declarations

extern std::ostream cout;

extern std::wostream wcout;

# Notes

The ‘c’ in the name refers to “character” (stroustrup.com FAQ); cout means “character output” and wcout means “wide character output”.

Because dynamic initialization of templated variables are unordered, it is not guaranteed that std::cout has been initialized to a usable state before the initialization of such variables begins, unless an object of type std::ios_base::Init has been constructed.

# Example

#include <iostream>
 
struct Foo
{
    int n;
    Foo()
    {
        std::cout << "static constructor\n";
    }
    ~Foo()
    {
        std::cout << "static destructor\n";
    }
};
 
Foo f; // static object
 
int main()
{
    std::cout << "main function\n";
}

# See also