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c++castingtypes

Storing a type in C++

Is it possible to store a type name as a C++ variable? For example, like this:

type my_type = int; // or string, or Foo, or any other type
void* data = ...;
my_type* a = (my_type*) data;

I know that 99.9% of the time there's a better way to do what you want without resorting to casting void pointers, but I'm curious if C++ allows this sort of thing.

Solution

  • No, this is not possible in C++.

    The RTTI typeid operator allows you to get some information about types at runtime: you can get the type's name and check whether it is equal to another type, but that's about it.