Template equivalent of #var in macro - c++

Question

In C++ macros you can use #var to get the literal string of the argument passed:
#define PRINT_SIZE(type) \
(std::cout << sizeof(type) << " " << #type << std::endl)
Using this macro, I can write a very simple program which will give me the lengths of specific types on my machine:
PRINT_SIZE(bool);
PRINT_SIZE(char);
…
This does work but I would like to use C++ templates instead. Obtaining the size is easy with the following template function:
template <typename T>
void print_size() {
std::cout << sizeof(T) << std::endl;
}
I can call this function with any type and it will output the size:
print_size<bool>();
print_size<char>();
…
Is there any way I could get a literal "bool" from this anywhere such that the output would be as nice as the one with macros?

Answer 1

It can sortof be done using RTTI (runtime type inference) using typeid:
#include <iostream>
#include <typeinfo>
template <typename T>
void print_size() {
T a;
std::cout << typeid(a).name() << ": " << sizeof(T) << std::endl;
}
int main(){
print_size<bool>();
print_size<char>();
print_size<long>();
return 0;
}
This outputs:
b: 1
c: 1
l: 8

Answer 2

You can use typeid() as in:
int i;
cout << typeid(i).name(); // Most likely will print int but g++ prints i
cout << typeid(int).name(); // Also most likely will print int but g++ prints i
Note that the name it returns depends on the compiler and may be some unusual form of the type. More information here.
Edit:
g++ (4.8) prints only the first letter of fundamental types. For user defined classes, it prints the number of characters in the name followed by the name. Ex:
#include <iostream>
#include <typeinfo>
class myclass
{
myclass() {}
};
class my
{
my() {}
};
int main()
{
std::cout << typeid(int).name() << std::endl;
std::cout << typeid(bool).name() << std::endl;
std::cout << typeid(myclass).name() << std::endl;
std::cout << typeid(my).name() << std::endl;
}
Produces the following output:
i
b
7myclass
2my