typeid operator

Queries information of a type.

# Notes

When applied to an expression of polymorphic type, evaluation of a typeid expression may involve runtime overhead (a virtual table lookup), otherwise typeid expression is resolved at compile time.

It is unspecified whether the destructor for the object referred to by typeid is executed at the end of the program.

There is no guarantee that the same std::type_info object will be referred to by all evaluations of the typeid expression on the same type, although they would compare equal, std::type_info::hash_code of those type_info objects would be identical, as would be their std::type_index.

# Example

#include <iostream>
#include <string>
#include <typeinfo>
 
struct Base {}; // non-polymorphic
struct Derived : Base {};
 
struct Base2 { virtual void foo() {} }; // polymorphic
struct Derived2 : Base2 {};
 
int main()
{
    int myint = 50;
    std::string mystr = "string";
    double *mydoubleptr = nullptr;
 
    std::cout << "myint has type: " << typeid(myint).name() << '\n'
              << "mystr has type: " << typeid(mystr).name() << '\n'
              << "mydoubleptr has type: " << typeid(mydoubleptr).name() << '\n';
 
    // std::cout << myint is a glvalue expression of polymorphic type; it is evaluated
    const std::type_info& r1 = typeid(std::cout << myint); // side-effect: prints 50
    std::cout << '\n' << "std::cout<<myint has type : " << r1.name() << '\n';
 
    // std::printf() is not a glvalue expression of polymorphic type; NOT evaluated
    const std::type_info& r2 = typeid(std::printf("%d\n", myint));
    std::cout << "printf(\"%d\\n\",myint) has type : " << r2.name() << '\n';
 
    // Non-polymorphic lvalue is a static type
    Derived d1;
    Base& b1 = d1;
    std::cout << "reference to non-polymorphic base: " << typeid(b1).name() << '\n';
 
    Derived2 d2;
    Base2& b2 = d2;
    std::cout << "reference to polymorphic base: " << typeid(b2).name() << '\n';
 
    try
    {
        // dereferencing a null pointer: okay for a non-polymorphic expression
        std::cout << "mydoubleptr points to " << typeid(*mydoubleptr).name() << '\n'; 
        // dereferencing a null pointer: not okay for a polymorphic lvalue
        Derived2* bad_ptr = nullptr;
        std::cout << "bad_ptr points to... ";
        std::cout << typeid(*bad_ptr).name() << '\n';
    }
    catch (const std::bad_typeid& e)
    {
        std::cout << " caught " << e.what() << '\n';
    }
}

# Defect reports

DR	Applied to	Behavior as published	Correct behavior
CWG 492	C++98	when typeid is applied to a reference to cv-qualifiedtype, the result represented the referenced type	the result represents thecv-unqualified referenced type
CWG 1416	C++98	the wording regarding top-levelcv-qualification might be misinterpreted	improved the wording
CWG 1431	C++98	typeid was only allowed to throw std::bad_typeid	allowed to throwmatchable derived classes
CWG 1954	C++98	it was unclear whether null pointer dereferencecan be checked in subexpressions of expression	only checked at top level

# See also

type_info