<utility> in C++

Last Updated : 11 Jun, 2017

It is a header file which contains utilities in unrelated domains.

Pairs: Theses are the objects which can hold two different types of values.
Generic Relational Approach: It is used for the relational operators !=, >, = under a specific namespace: rel_ops.
Generic swap function: This a standard definition used by default by the components of the standard library for all types that do not provide their own overload: swap.

Functions:

swap: It exchanges the value of two objects.

// CPP program to illustrate 
// the use of swap function 
#include <iostream>      
#include <utility>      
using namespace std; 
  
// Driver Program 
int main ()  
{ 
  
    // a: _ _ _ _ (empty array in beginning) 
    int a[4];          
      
    // Initializing, a: _ _ _ _ & b: 10 20 30 40 
    int b[] = {10, 20, 30, 40}; 
      
    // After swapping, a: 10 20 30 40 & b: _ _ _ _ 
    swap(a, b);              
      
    cout << "a contains:"; 
    for (int i; i<4;i++)  
        cout << a[i]<<endl; 
      
    return 0; 
} 

Output:

a contains:10
20
30
40

make_pair: It constructs a pair with its first element set to x and its second element set to y.

// CPP program to illustrate 
// the use of make_pair  
#include <utility>      
#include <iostream>  
using namespace std; 
  
// Driver program 
int main ()  
{ 
      
    // Initializing the pair with int type 
    pair <int, int> a; 
    pair <int, int> b; 
      
    // Use of the make_pair function 
    a = make_pair (10, 20); 
      
    // It's ok to write like this as implicit  
    // conversion takes place from pair<double, char> 
    b = make_pair (15.5, 'B');  
      
    // Printing the fist and second values of the pair 
    cout << "a: " << a.first << ", " << a.second << endl; 
    cout << "b: " << b.first << ", " << b.second << endl; 
      
    return 0; 
} 

Output:

a: 10, 20
b: 15, 66

move: It moves as rvalue. move is used to indicate that an object may be “moved from”, i.e. allowing the transfer of resources from an object(to be moved) to another object.

// CPP program to illustrate 
// the use of move  
#include <utility>      
#include <iostream>      
#include <vector>      
#include <string>      
using namespace std; 
  
// Driver Program 
int main ()  
{ 
    string s = "Hello!!"; 
    string s1 = "I am a geek."; 
    vector<string> gfg; 
      
    // It copies 's' in gfg 
    gfg.push_back (s);  
      
    // It moves 's1' in the gfg(containing 's') 
    gfg.push_back (move(s1));          
      
    cout << "gfg contains:"; 
    for (int i=0;i< gfg.size(); i++)  
        cout << ' ' << gfg[i]; 
    cout<<endl; 
      
    return 0; 
} 

Output:

gfg contains: Hello!! I am a geek.

move (range of elements): It moves the elements in the range [first, last) into the range beginning at result.
After this operation the elements in the moved-from range will still contain valid values of the appropriate type, but not necessarily the same values as before the move.

// CPP program to  
// Illustrate the use of vector 
// move range of elements 
#include <iostream>  
  
// for move (ranges) 
#include <algorithm>  
  
// for move (objects) 
#include <utility>    
#include <vector>     
#include <string>  
using namespace std; 
  
// Driver program 
int main ()  
{ 
    vector<string> string1 = {"Hello!", "I", "am", "a", "geek"}; 
    vector<string> string2 (5); 
      
    // moving ranges: 
    cout << "Moving ranges...\n"; 
      
    // use of move i.e.it moves from first to last element in  
    // string 1 to the string2 from it's(string 2) starting 
    move ( string1.begin(), string1.begin()+5, string2.begin() ); 
      
    cout << "string1 contains " << string1.size()  
                                << " elements\n"; 
      
    cout << "string2 contains " << string2.size()  
                        << " elements(after moving):"; 
      
    for (int i=0; i<string2.size(); i++)  
        cout << string2[i] << " "; 
    cout << endl; 
      
      
    return 0; 
} 

Output:

Moving ranges...
string1 contains 5 elements
string2 contains 5 elements(after moving):Hello! I am a geek

move_if_noexcept: It obtains an rvalue reference to its argument if its move constructor does not throw exceptions, otherwise obtains an lvalue reference to its argument.

// CPP program to illustrate 
// the use of move_if_noexcept 
#include<iostream> 
#include<utility> 
using namespace std; 
  
struct Bad 
{ 
      
    Bad() {} 
      
    // may throw 
    Bad(Bad&&)  
    { 
        cout << "Throwing move constructor called"<<endl; 
    } 
      
    // may throw as well 
    Bad(const Bad&)  
    { 
        cout << "Throwing copy constructor called"<<endl; 
    } 
}; 
  
struct Good 
{ 
    Good() {} 
      
    // will NOT throw 
    Good(Good&&) noexcept 
    { 
        cout << "Non-throwing move constructor called"<<endl; 
    } 
      
    // will NOT throw 
    Good(const Good&) noexcept 
    { 
        cout << "Non-throwing copy constructor called"<<endl; 
    } 
}; 
  
  
// Driver Program  
int main() 
{ 
    Good g; 
    Bad b; 
    Good g2 = move_if_noexcept(g); 
    Bad b2 = move_if_noexcept(b); 
} 

Output:

Non-throwing move constructor called
Throwing copy constructor called

decval: It returns an rvalue reference without referring to any object.
This function selects the type of an argument as an rvalue reference if its move constructor never throw, or alternativelly, as an lvalue reference if the type is copy-constructible. If the type is neither, the function returns an rvalue, which will be selected for move-only types (even if they may throw).
Some operations can be implemented both by moving or by copying objects, generally moving for rvalues and copying for lvalues: Moving is generally a more efficient operation than copying when the object is no longer needed (such as rvalues).

// CPP program to illustrate  
// the use of declval 
#include <utility> 
#include <iostream> 
using namespace std; 
  
//class 
struct A  
{ 
virtual int value() = 0; 
}; 
  
// Class with constructor 
class B : public A 
{ 
    int val_; 
    public: 
    B(int i, int j):val_(i*j){} 
    int value()  
    { 
        return val_; 
          
    } 
}; 
  
// Driver Program 
int main() 
{ 
    // int a 
    decltype(declval<A>().value()) a; 
      
    // int b 
    decltype(declval<B>().value()) b; 
          
    //same as constructor 
    a = b = B(100, 20).value(); 
    cout << a << endl; 
    return 0; 
} 

Output:

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