C++ Standard Library

In C++, the C++ Standard Library is a collection of classes and functions, which are written in the core language and part of the C++ ISO Standard itself. The C++ Standard Library provides several generic containers, functions to utilise and manipulate these containers, function objects, generic strings and streams (including interactive and file I/O), support for some language features, and everyday functions for tasks such as finding the square root of a number. The C++ Standard Library also incorporates 18 headers of the ISO C90 C standard library ending with ".h", but their use is deprecated. All other headers in the C++ Standard Library do not end in ".h". Features of the C++ Standard Library are declared within the std namespace.

The C++ Standard Library is based upon conventions introduced by the Standard Template Library (STL). Although the C++ Standard Library and the STL share many features, neither is a strict superset of the other. In particular, the C++ Standard Library has also been influenced by the work of Alexander Stepanov and Meng Lee.

The C++ Standard Library underwent ISO standardization as part of the C++ ISO Standardization effort, and is undergoing further work regarding standardization of expanded functionality.

C++ Standard Library
fstream iomanip ios iostream sstream string
Standard Template Library
algorithm bitset functional iterator Sequence containers Associative containers Unordered associative containers Container adaptors
C standard library
Data types Character classification Strings Mathematics File input/output Date/time Localization Memory allocation Process control Signals Miscellaneous headers: <assert.h> <errno.h> <iso646.h> <setjmp.h> <stdarg.h>

Standard headers

The following files contain the declarations of the C++ Standard Library.

Containers

<array>

New in C++11 and TR1. Provides the container class template std::array, a container for a fixed sized array.

<bitset>

Provides the specialized container class std::bitset, a bit array.

<deque>

Provides the container class template std::deque, a double-ended queue.

<forward_list>

New in C++11 and TR1. Provides the container class template std::forward_list, a singly linked list.

<list>

Provides the container class template std::list, a doubly linked list.

<map>

Provides the container class templates std::map and std::multimap, sorted associative array and multimap.

<queue>

Provides the container adapter class std::queue, a single-ended queue.

<set>

Provides the container class templates std::set and std::multiset, sorted associative containers or sets.

<stack>

Provides the container adapter class std::stack, a stack.

<unordered_map>

New in C++11 and TR1. Provides the container class template std::unordered_map and std::unordered_multimap, hash tables.

<unordered_set>

New in C++11 and TR1. Provides the container class template std::unordered_set and std::unordered_multiset.

<vector>

Provides the container class template std::vector, a dynamic array.

General

<algorithm>

Provides definitions of many container algorithms.

<functional>

Provides several function objects, designed for use with the standard algorithms.

<iterator>

Provides classes and templates for working with iterators.

<locale>

Provides classes and templates for working with locales.

<memory>

Provides facilities for memory management in C++, including the class template std::auto_ptr.

<stdexcept>

Contains standard exception classes such as std::logic_error and std::runtime_error, both derived from std::exception.

<tuple>

New in C++11 and TR1. Provides a class template std::tuple, a tuple.

<utility>

Provides the template class std::pair, for working with pairs (two-member tuples) of objects.

Strings

<string>

Provides the C++ standard string classes and templates.

Streams and Input/Output

<fstream>

Provides facilities for file-based input and output. See fstream.

<iomanip>

Provides facilities to manipulate output formatting, such as the base used when formatting integers and the precision of floating point values.

<ios>

Provides several types and functions basic to the operation of iostreams.

<iosfwd>

Provides forward declarations of several I/O-related class templates.

<iostream>

Provides C++ input and output fundamentals. See iostream.

<istream>

Provides the template class std::istream and other supporting classes for input.

<ostream>

Provides the template class std::ostream and other supporting classes for output.

<sstream>

Provides the template class std::sstream and other supporting classes for string manipulation.

<streambuf>

Provides reading and writing functionality to/from certain types of character sequences, such as external files or strings.

Numerics

<complex>

Provides class template std::complex and associated functions for working with complex numbers.

<numeric>

Provides algorithms for numerical processing

<valarray>

Provides the template class std::valarray, an array class optimized for numeric processing.

Language support

<exception>

Provides several types and functions related to exception handling, including std::exception, the base class of all exceptions thrown by the Standard Library.

<limits>

Provides the template class std::numeric_limits, used for describing properties of fundamental numeric types.

<new>

Provides operators new and delete and other functions and types composing the fundamentals of C++ memory management.

<typeinfo>

Provides facilities for working with C++ run-time type information.

C standard library

Main article: C Standard Library

Each header from the C Standard Library is included in the C++ Standard Library under a different name, generated by removing the .h, and adding a 'c' at the start; for example, 'time.h' becomes 'ctime'. The only difference between these headers and the traditional C Standard Library headers is that where possible the functions should be placed into the std:: namespace (although few compilers actually do this). In ISO C, functions in the standard library are allowed to be implemented by macros, which is not allowed by ISO C++.

See also

• Apache C++ Standard Library
• Boost C++ Libraries
• C POSIX library
• C standard library
• Standard library
• Technical Report 1

References

• Bjarne Stroustrup: The C++ Programming Language, Addison-Wesley, ISBN 0-201-70073-5

External links

• Standard C++ Library reference
• Dinkumware Standard C++ Library
• Microsoft MSDN Library - Standard C++ Library Reference
• SourcePro C++ Documentation
• STLport
• The GNU Standard C++ Library