const char array (c style string) template specialization - c++

I want to be able to specialize based on a constant c style string. The problem is that when I call my templatized function the type is const char[N] where 'N' is the size of the string +1 (null character). How can I specialize for all c-style strings?
The following code displays the problem. You can see the specialization for const char [15] gets matched for "const char [15]" but for "const char[5]" it goes to Generic.
Is there any way to do this?
template <typename T>
struct Test {
static const char* type() { return "Generic"; }
};
template <>
struct Test<const char*> {
static const char* type() { return "const char*"; }
};
template <>
struct Test<const char[]> {
static const char* type() { return "const char[]"; }
};
template <>
struct Test<const char[15]> {
static const char* type() { return "const char[15]"; }
};
template <>
struct Test<char*> {
static const char* type() { return "char*"; }
};
template <>
struct Test<char[]> {
static const char* type() { return "char[]"; }
};
template <typename T>
void PrintType(const T& expected) {
std::cerr << expected << " type " << Test<T>::type() << std::endl;
}
int main(int argc, char* argv[]) {
const char* tmp = "const char*";
PrintType(tmp);
PrintType("const char[]");
PrintType("const char[15]");
PrintType("const char[5]");
}
output when run in Windows 7 - VS 2008
const char* type const char*
const char[] type Generic
const char[15] type const char[15]
const char[5] type Generic

A specialization for any array of chars is:
template< std::size_t N >
struct Test< const char[N] > { ... };
However you can no longer return a char* from type(), unless you write more metafunctions to turn a non-type template parameter into its textual representation.

Try this:
#include <cstdio>
#include <string>
template<class T>
void f2(const T& s) // Handle all kinds of string objects
{ std::printf("string object: %s\n", s.c_str()); }
void f2(const char* s) // Handle const char*
{ std::printf("const char*: %s\n", s); }
// ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
template<size_t N>
void f(const char(&s)[N]) // Handle const char array
{ std::printf("const char[%zu]: %s\n", N, s); }
template<size_t N>
void f(char(&s)[N]) // Handle char array
{ std::printf("char[%zu]: %s\n", N, s); }
template<class T>
inline void f(T&& s) // Handle other cases
{ f2(std::forward<T>(s)); }
int main() {
std::string stringObj = "some kind of string object ...";
char charArr[] = "char array";
const char constCharArr[] = "const char array";
const char* constCharPtr = "const char pointer";
f(stringObj);
f(charArr);
f(constCharArr);
f(constCharPtr);
//f("const char array");
}
Output:
string object: some kind of string object ...
char[11]: char array
const char[17]: const char array
const char*: const char pointer
Explanation
f() has two kinds of overloads: One for char arrays and one for "everything else".
f2() handles the "everything else" case.

Related

pass char array properly to templated method

I have some class with enum variable and I wants to stringify that enum. For that reason I added typeValue with stringified values. Also I added separate class for getting stringified values but I can't pass variables in correct way.
Code like this:
#include <iostream>
#include <string>
#include <algorithm>
#define stringify(name) #name
struct MyClass
{
enum class TYPE
{
UNKNOWN = 0,
CLIENT,
SERVER
};
MyClass(TYPE t)
:_type(t)
{
}
TYPE type()
{
return _type;
}
inline static const char* typeValue[10] =
{
stringify(TYPE::UNKNOWN),
stringify(TYPE::CLIENT),
stringify(TYPE::SERVER)
};
private:
TYPE _type;
};
struct EnumStringify
{
/**
* Get enum type string by value
*/
template <class EnumType>
static std::string getEnumTypeName(const EnumType& t, const char (*typeValues)[10])
{
std::string s(typeValues[static_cast<int>(t)]);
return (s.size()) ? s.substr(s.find_last_of(":") + 1) : "";
}
};
int main()
{
MyClass a(MyClass::TYPE::CLIENT);
std::cout << EnumStringify::getEnumTypeName<MyClass::TYPE>(a.type(), MyClass::typeValue).c_str();
}
Errors happened:
main.cpp:55:90: error: no matching function for call to ‘EnumStringify::getEnumTypeName(MyClass::TYPE, const char* [10])’
std::cout << EnumStringify::getEnumTypeName<MyClass::TYPE>(a.type(), MyClass::typeValue).c_str();
^
main.cpp:45:21: note: candidate: template static std::string EnumStringify::getEnumTypeName(const EnumType&, const char (*)[10])
static std::string getEnumTypeName(const EnumType& t, const char (*typeValues)[10])
^~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
main.cpp:45:21: note: template argument deduction/substitution failed:
main.cpp:55:90: note: cannot convert ‘MyClass::typeValue’ (type ‘const char* [10]’) to type ‘const char (*)[10]’
std::cout << EnumStringify::getEnumTypeName<MyClass::TYPE>(a.type(), MyClass::typeValue).c_str();
Please help me to make it correct. Maybe with typedef would be better?
Two issues:
const char(*name)[] defines a pointer to an array of const chars, not strings.
MyClass::typeValue is of type const char* (&)[10] so it cannot be implicitly converted to a pointer to that array.
This works:
class MyClass{
//...
constexpr static const char* typeValue[10] = {
stringify(TYPE::UNKNOWN),
stringify(TYPE::CLIENT),
stringify(TYPE::SERVER)
};
private:
TYPE _type;
};
struct EnumStringify
{
/**
* Get enum type string by value
*/
template <class EnumType>
static std::string getEnumTypeName(const EnumType& t, const char* const (&typeValues )[10])
{
std::string s(typeValues[static_cast<int>(t)]);
return (s.size()) ? s.substr(s.find_last_of(":") + 1) : "";
}
};
I also added constexpr and pass the value by const reference since you do not want to change it.
My advice would to be use std::array, it alleviates all the issues with passing arrays around.
std::array solution
#include <iostream>
#include <string>
#include <algorithm>
#include <array>
#define stringify(name) #name
struct MyClass
{
enum class TYPE
{
UNKNOWN = 0,
CLIENT,
SERVER
};
MyClass(TYPE t)
:_type(t)
{
}
TYPE type()
{
return _type;
}
constexpr static auto typeValue = std::array{
stringify(TYPE::UNKNOWN),
stringify(TYPE::CLIENT),
stringify(TYPE::SERVER)
};
private:
TYPE _type;
};
struct EnumStringify
{
template <class EnumType, class Array>
static std::string getEnumTypeName(const EnumType& t, const Array& array)
{
std::string s(array[static_cast<int>(t)]);
return (s.size()) ? s.substr(s.find_last_of(":") + 1) : "";
}
};
int main()
{
MyClass a(MyClass::TYPE::CLIENT);
std::cout << EnumStringify::getEnumTypeName(a.type(), MyClass::typeValue).c_str();
}
Template variable
If I were to write such code, I would use template variable which the user can specialize to provide strings for their own enums:
//
// "Stringify Library"
#define stringify(name) #name
struct MissingEnumTable{};
template<class Enum>
constexpr MissingEnumTable stringified_enum{};
template <class E>
static std::string getEnumTypeName(const E& t)
{
static_assert(!std::is_same_v<decltype(stringified_enum<E>),MissingEnumTable>,
"Enum E is missing stringified_enum table specialization.");
std::string s(stringified_enum<E>[static_cast<int>(t)]);
return (s.size()) ? s.substr(s.find_last_of(":") + 1) : "";
}
// END
// Library user
// - Provide strings for a custom array
enum class TYPE
{
UNKNOWN = 0,
CLIENT,
SERVER
};
template<>
constexpr auto stringified_enum<TYPE> = std::array{
stringify(TYPE::UNKNOWN),
stringify(TYPE::CLIENT),
stringify(TYPE::SERVER)
};
int main()
{
std::cout << getEnumTypeName(TYPE::UNKNOWN).c_str();
}

Function template argument deduction with user-defined conversion operator

Let's say I have a class that wraps a string literal:
template <size_t N>
class literal {
public:
constexpr literal(const char(&s)[N+1]) : wrapped_(s) {}
constexpr const char * c_str() const { return wrapped_; }
constexpr size_t size() const { return N; }
private:
const char (&wrapped_)[N+1];
};
template <size_t N>
literal<N-1> make_literal(const char (&s)[N]) { return literal<N-1>(s); }
Now, I'd like for instances of this wrapped string type to be convertible back to a const char[N] implicitly, in a way I can still access its size. I'd like to be able to do something like:
template <size_t N>
void foo(const char(&s)[N]) {
std::cout << N << ": " << s << std::endl;
}
int main() {
constexpr auto s = make_literal("testing");
foo(s);
}
My goal is to have one function defined for foo() that can accept actual string literals as well as wrapped literals. I've tried adding a user-defined conversion operator to the class definition:
using arr_t = char[N+1];
constexpr operator const arr_t&() const { return wrapped_; }
But this gives me the following with clang:
candidate template ignored: could not match 'const char [N]' against 'const literal<7>'
If I change the call to foo() to the following, it works:
foo((const char(&)[8])s);
...which means that the conversion operator works, but not in the context of template argument deduction. Is there any way I can make this work without defining foo() specifically to take a wrapped literal?
The problem you are having is templates never do conversions of the parameters. Since you give it a const literal<7>, that is all it has to work with.
The easy fix for this is to add an overload and then do the cast in the overload to call your string literal version. That should look like
template <size_t N>
void foo(const literal<N> &lit) {
foo(static_cast<typename literal<N>::arr_t&>(lit)); // explicitly cast to the array type alias
}
which gives you a full example of
template <size_t N>
class literal {
public:
constexpr literal(const char(&s)[N+1]) : wrapped_(s) {}
constexpr const char * c_str() const { return wrapped_; }
constexpr size_t size() const { return N; }
using arr_t = const char[N+1]; // <- Add const here since literals are const char[N]
constexpr operator const arr_t&() const { return wrapped_; }
private:
const char (&wrapped_)[N+1];
};
template <size_t N>
constexpr literal<N-1> make_literal(const char (&s)[N]) { return literal<N-1>(s); }
template <size_t N>
void foo(const char(&s)[N]) {
std::cout << N << ": " << s << std::endl;
}
template <size_t N>
void foo(const literal<N> &lit) {
foo(static_cast<typename literal<N>::arr_t&>(lit)); // explicitly cast to the array type alias
}
int main() {
constexpr auto s = make_literal("testing");
foo(s);
}
Yes, you are adding an overload but all of the important code does not have to be duplicated.
If you can use C++17 and you don't mind a little indirection you could do all of this with one function using a std::string_view and providing literal with a operator std::string_view. That would look like
template <size_t N>
class literal {
public:
constexpr literal(const char(&s)[N+1]) : wrapped_(s) {}
constexpr const char * c_str() const { return wrapped_; }
constexpr size_t size() const { return N; }
using arr_t = const char[N+1];
constexpr operator std::string_view() const { return wrapped_; }
private:
const char (&wrapped_)[N+1];
};
template <size_t N>
constexpr literal<N-1> make_literal(const char (&s)[N]) { return literal<N-1>(s); }
void foo(std::string_view s) {
std::cout << s.size() << ": " << s << std::endl;
}
int main() {
constexpr auto s = make_literal("testing");
foo(s);
foo("testing");
}

Using const char** with Template Specialization

I am trying to write a template specialization for a function that returns the maximum value of an array of numeric values (general version) or the longest c-string of an array of c-strings (specialization). If I do not use const-ness, my function prototypes look like this
template <typename T>
T maxn(T* my_Tptr, unsigned int n);
template <>
char* maxn <char*> (char** my_cstrings, unsigned int n);
and my code compiles.
However, if I try to use const-ness, my function prototypes look like this,
template <typename T>
T maxn(const T* my_Tptr, unsigned int n);
template <>
char* maxn <char*> (const char** my_cstrings, unsigned int n);
my code does not compile, and the compiler (gcc) prints this error:
error: template-id 'maxn' for 'char* maxn(const char**, unsigned int)' does not match any template declaration.
Where am I going wrong?
The problem is in the constness. If you look closely const T* my_Tptr means my_Tptr is a pointer to const T. But const char** my_Tptr means Tptr is a pointer to pointer to const char. So the type moves from pointer to const T to pointer to pointer to const T. If you make it char* const* my_Tptr* then it will work, since then the type will be pointer to const char pointer. The specialization is pointer to const T*->pointer to const char*
Not sure what is the whole logic behind it but if you change your template definition to say that you are expecting pointers that will help:
template <typename T>
T* maxn(const T** my_Tptr, unsigned int n);
template <>
char* maxn(const char** my_cstrings, unsigned int n);
You might provide several overloads for the char-case to resolve the issue:
#include <iostream>
#include <stdexcept>
template <typename T>
T maxn(const T* const data, unsigned int n) {
throw std::logic_error("Failure");
}
const char* maxn(const char * const * data, unsigned int n) {
return "Success";
}
inline const char* maxn(const char** data, unsigned int n) {
return maxn(static_cast<const char * const *>(data), n);
}
inline const char* maxn(char* const * data, unsigned int n) {
return maxn(static_cast<const char * const *>(data), n);
}
inline const char* maxn(char** data, unsigned int n) {
return maxn(static_cast<const char * const *>(data), n);
}
int main() {
const char* a[] = { "A", "B", "C" };
std::cout << maxn((const char * const *)a, 3) << '\n';
std::cout << maxn((const char **)a, 3) << '\n';
std::cout << maxn((char * const *)a, 3) << '\n';
std::cout << maxn((char**)a, 3) << '\n';
}
This compiles fine:
template <>
char* maxn(char* const* my_cstrings, unsigned int n);
It accepts a pointer to a const char pointer like specified in the base template.

array decay to pointer and overload resolution

I want to be able to differentiate array from pointers in overload resolution :
class string {
public:
string(const char* c_str);
template<int N>
string(const char (&str) [N]);
};
int main() {
const char* c_str = "foo";
string foo(c_str); // ok will call string(const char*)
string bar("bar"); // call string(const char*) instead of the array version
}
The best I have found so far is to use a reference to the pointer instead of a pointer :
class string {
public:
string(const char*& c_str);
template<int N>
string(const char (&str) [N]);
};
int main() {
const char* c_str = "foo";
string foo(c_str); // ok will call string(const char*)
string bar("bar"); // ok, will call the array version
}
it's not exactly the same thing and I want to know if a better way exist
You need to make the first overload a poorer choice when both are viable. Currently they are a tie on conversion ranking (both are "Exact Match"), and then the tie is broken because non-templates are preferred.
This ought to make the conversion ranking worse:
struct stg
{
struct cvt { const char* p; cvt(const char* p_p) : p(p_p) {} };
// matches const char*, but disfavored in overload ranking
stg(cvt c_str); // use c_str.p inside :( Or add an implicit conversion
template<int N>
stg(const char (&str) [N]);
};
You can use SFINAE. This might not be the best way, but it should work ok:
//thanks to dyp for further reduction
template<typename T, typename = typename std::enable_if<std::is_same<T, char>::value>::type>
string(const T * const &) {std::cout << "const char *\n";}
template<std::size_t N> //credit to jrok for noticing the unnecessary SFINAE
string(const char(&)[N]) {std::cout << "const char(&)[" << N << "]\n";}
Here's a live example.
A more generic version of this problem could be detected as follows.
template <class T>
void func(T,
typename std::enable_if<std::is_pointer<T>::value, void>::type * = 0)
{
// catch ptr
}
template <class T, int N>
void func(T (&)[N])
{
//catch array
}
int main(void)
{
int arr[5];
char *b = 0;
func(arr); // catch array
func(b); // catch ptr
}

why this code call general template function in GCC?

#include<iostream>
using namespace std;
// define the general compare template
template <class T>
int compare(const T& t1, const T& t2) {
cout<< "Common_T"<<endl;
return 0;
}
template<>
int compare<const char*>( const char * const& s1,
const char * const& s2)
{
cout<< "Special_T"<<endl;
return 0;
}
typedef const char char6[6];
template<>
int compare<char6>(const char6& s1,const char6& s2)
{
cout << "Special_Char6_T" << endl;
return 0;
}
int main() {
int i = compare("hello" , "world");
}
the result is:
Common_T
My question is: why don't output "Special_Char6_T"???
This is the correct template specialization that matches your c strings.
typedef char char6[6];
template<> int compare<char6>(char6 const &s1,char6 const &s2)
{
cout << "Special_Char6_T" << endl;
return 0;
}
Intuitively, because the dimension of arrays is not part of their type. That dimension matters only for variables and fields. So both
char hello[6]="hello";
and
char longstring[] = "a very very long string should be here";
have both the same type char[]
and
typedef char t1[6];
and
typedef char t2[];
are aliases for the "same" type.
(You could look at the mangled function names to have a clue)