typeid

In C++, the typeid keyword is used to determine the class of an object at run time. It returns a reference to std::type_info object, which exists until the end of the program. The use of typeid is often preferred over dynamic_cast<class_type> in situations where just the class information is needed, because typeid is a constant-time procedure, whereas dynamic_cast must traverse the class derivation lattice of its argument at runtime. Some aspects of the returned object are implementation-defined, such as std::type_info::name(), and cannot be relied on across compilers to be consistent.

Objects of class std::bad_typeid are thrown when the expression for typeid is the result of applying the unary * operator on a null pointer. In other words, the expression must take the form typeid(*p) where p is any expression resulting in a null pointer.

Example

#include <iostream>
#include <typeinfo>  //for 'typeid'
 
class Person {
public:
   // ... Person members ...
   virtual ~Person() {}
};
 
class Employee : public Person {
   // ... Employee members ...
};
 
int main() 
{
   Person person;
   Employee employee;
   Person *ptr = &employee;
   Person &ref = employee;
   // The string returned by typeid::name is implementation-defined
   std::cout << typeid(person).name() << std::endl;   // Person (statically known at compile-time)
   std::cout << typeid(employee).name() << std::endl; // Employee (statically known at compile-time)
   std::cout << typeid(ptr).name() << std::endl;      // Person * (statically known at compile-time)
   std::cout << typeid(*ptr).name() << std::endl;     // Employee (looked up dynamically at run-time
                                                      //           because it is the dereference of a
                                                      //           pointer to a polymorphic class)
   std::cout << typeid(ref).name() << std::endl;      // Employee (references can also be polymorphic)
 
   Person* p = 0;
   try {
      typeid(*p); // not undefined behavior; throws std::bad_typeid
                  // *p, *(p), *((p)), etc. all behave identically
   }
   catch (...)
   {}
 
   Person& pRef = *p; // undefined behavior, dereferences null
   typeid(pRef);      // does not meet requirements to throw std::bad_typeid
                      // because it the expression for typeid is not the result
                      // of applying the unary * operator; behavior is undefined
}

Output (exact output varies by system):

Person
Employee
Person*
Employee
Employee

See also

• Run-time type information