std::decay

 

C++

Language

Standard Library Headers

Freestanding and hosted implementations

Named requirements

Language support library

Concepts library (C++20)

Diagnostics library

Utilities library

Strings library

Containers library

Iterators library

Ranges library (C++20)

Algorithms library

Numerics library

Input/output library

Localizations library

Regular expressions library (C++11)

Atomic operations library (C++11)

Thread support library (C++11)

Filesystem library (C++17)

Technical Specifications

 

Utilities library

Type support (basic types, RTTI, type traits)
Dynamic memory management
Error handling
Program utilities
Variadic functions
Library feature-test macros
Date and time
Function objects
initializer_list (C++11)
bitset
hash (C++11)
integer_sequence (C++14)
Relational operators (deprecated in C++20)
rel_ops::operator!=rel_ops::operator>rel_ops::operator<=rel_ops::operator>=
Comparisons (C++20)
strong_order weak_order partial_order strong_equal weak_equal	strong_ordering weak_ordering partial_ordering strong_equality weak_equality	is_eqis_neqis_ltis_lteqis_gtis_gteq
common_comparison_category
Common vocabulary types
pair tuple (C++11) apply (C++17) make_from_tuple (C++17)	optional (C++17) any (C++17) variant (C++17)
Swap, forward and move
swap
exchange (C++14)
forward (C++11)
move (C++11)
move_if_noexcept (C++11)
Elementary string conversions
to_chars (C++17)
from_chars (C++17)
chars_format (C++17)
Type operations
declval (C++11)
as_const (C++17)
launder (C++17)

 

Type support

Basic types
Fundamental types
Fixed width integer types (C++11)
ptrdiff_t size_t max_align_t (C++11) byte (C++17)	nullptr_t (C++11) offsetof NULL
Numeric limits
numeric_limits
C numeric limits interface
Runtime type information
type_info type_index (C++11)	bad_typeid bad_cast
Type traits
Type categories
is_void (C++11) is_null_pointer (C++14) is_array (C++11) is_pointer (C++11) is_enum (C++11) is_union (C++11) is_class (C++11) is_function (C++11)	is_object (C++11) is_scalar (C++11) is_compound (C++11) is_integral (C++11) is_floating_point (C++11) is_fundamental (C++11) is_arithmetic (C++11)
is_reference (C++11)
is_lvalue_reference (C++11)
is_rvalue_reference (C++11)
is_member_pointer (C++11)
is_member_object_pointer (C++11)
is_member_function_pointer (C++11)

Type properties
is_const (C++11) is_volatile (C++11) is_empty (C++11) is_polymorphic (C++11) is_final (C++14) is_abstract (C++11) is_aggregate (C++17) is_trivial (C++11)	is_trivially_copyable (C++11) is_standard_layout (C++11) is_literal_type (C++11)(until C++20) is_pod (C++11)(deprecated in C++20) is_signed (C++11) is_unsigned (C++11) is_bounded_array (C++20) is_unbounded_array (C++20)
has_unique_object_representations (C++17)
Type trait constants
integral_constantbool_constanttrue_typefalse_type (C++11)(C++17)(C++11)(C++11)
Metafunctions
conjunction (C++17)
disjunction (C++17)
negation (C++17)
Endian
endian (C++20)
Constant evaluation context
is_constant_evaluated (C++20)

Supported operations
is_constructibleis_trivially_constructibleis_nothrow_constructible (C++11)(C++11)(C++11)
is_default_constructibleis_trivially_default_constructibleis_nothrow_default_constructible (C++11)(C++11)(C++11)
is_copy_constructibleis_trivially_copy_constructibleis_nothrow_copy_constructible (C++11)(C++11)(C++11)
is_move_constructibleis_trivially_move_constructibleis_nothrow_move_constructible (C++11)(C++11)(C++11)
is_assignableis_trivially_assignableis_nothrow_assignable (C++11)(C++11)(C++11)
is_copy_assignableis_trivially_copy_assignableis_nothrow_copy_assignable (C++11)(C++11)(C++11)
is_move_assignableis_trivially_move_assignableis_nothrow_move_assignable (C++11)(C++11)(C++11)
is_destructibleis_trivially_destructibleis_nothrow_destructible (C++11)(C++11)(C++11)
has_virtual_destructor (C++11)
is_swappable_withis_swappableis_nothrow_swappable_withis_nothrow_swappable (C++17)(C++17)(C++17)(C++17)
Relationships and property queries
is_same (C++11) is_base_of (C++11) is_convertibleis_nothrow_convertible (C++11)(C++20)	alignment_of (C++11) rank (C++11) extent (C++11)
is_invocableis_invocable_ris_nothrow_invocableis_nothrow_invocable_r (C++17)(C++17)(C++17)(C++17)
Type modifications
remove_cvremove_constremove_volatile (C++11)(C++11)(C++11) add_cvadd_constadd_volatile (C++11)(C++11)(C++11) make_signed (C++11) make_unsigned (C++11)	remove_reference (C++11) add_lvalue_referenceadd_rvalue_reference (C++11)(C++11) remove_pointer (C++11) add_pointer (C++11) remove_extent (C++11) remove_all_extents (C++11)
Type transformations
aligned_storage (C++11) aligned_union (C++11) decay (C++11) remove_cvref (C++20) enable_if (C++11) void_t (C++17)	conditional (C++11) common_type (C++11) common_reference (C++20) underlying_type (C++11) result_ofinvoke_result (C++11)(until C++20)(C++17) type_identity (C++20)

 

Defined in header <type_traits>
template< class T > struct decay;		(since C++11)

Applies lvalue-to-rvalue, array-to-pointer, and function-to-pointer implicit conversions to the type T, removes cv-qualifiers, and defines the resulting type as the member typedef type. Formally:

• If T names the type "array of U" or "reference to array of U", the member typedef type is U*.

• Otherwise, if T is a function type F or a reference thereto, the member typedef type is std::add_pointer<F>::type.

• Otherwise, the member typedef type is std::remove_cv<std::remove_reference<T>::type>::type.

These conversions model the type conversion applied to all function arguments when passed by value.

Member types

Name	Definition
type	the result of applying the decay type conversions to T

Helper types

template< class T > using decay_t = typename decay<T>::type;		(since C++14)

Possible implementation

template< class T > struct decay { private: typedef typename std::remove_reference<T>::type U; public: typedef typename std::conditional< std::is_array<U>::value, typename std::remove_extent<U>::type*, typename std::conditional< std::is_function<U>::value, typename std::add_pointer<U>::type, typename std::remove_cv<U>::type >::type >::type type; };

Example

Run this code

#include <iostream>
#include <type_traits>
 
template <typename T, typename U>
struct decay_equiv : 
    std::is_same<typename std::decay<T>::type, U>::type 
{};
 
int main()
{
    std::cout << std::boolalpha
              << decay_equiv<int, int>::value << '\n'
              << decay_equiv<int&, int>::value << '\n'
              << decay_equiv<int&&, int>::value << '\n'
              << decay_equiv<const int&, int>::value << '\n'
              << decay_equiv<int[2], int*>::value << '\n'
              << decay_equiv<int(int), int(*)(int)>::value << '\n';
}

Output:

true
true
true
true
true
true

See also

remove_cvref (C++20)	combines std::remove_cv and std::remove_reference (class template)
implicit conversion	array-to-pointer, function-to-pointer, lvalue-to-rvalue conversions