The library provides templated helper functions to simplify applying move semantics to an lvalue and to simplify the implementation of forwarding functions.
template <class T> T&& forward(typename remove_reference<T>::type& t) noexcept;
template <class T> T&& forward(typename remove_reference<T>::type&& t) noexcept;
Returns: static_cast<T&&>(t).
if the second form is instantiated with an lvalue reference type, the program is ill-formed.
[ Example:
template <class T, class A1, class A2>
shared_ptr<T> factory(A1&& a1, A2&& a2) {
return shared_ptr<T>(new T(std::forward<A1>(a1), std::forward<A2>(a2)));
}
struct A {
A(int&, const double&);
};
void g() {
shared_ptr<A> sp1 = factory<A>(2, 1.414); // error: 2 will not bind to int&
int i = 2;
shared_ptr<A> sp2 = factory<A>(i, 1.414); // OK
}
In the first call to factory, A1 is deduced as int, so 2 is forwarded to A's constructor as an rvalue. In the second call to factory, A1 is deduced as int&, so i is forwarded to A's constructor as an lvalue. In both cases, A2 is deduced as double, so 1.414 is forwarded to A's constructor as an rvalue.
— end example ]
template <class T> typename remove_reference<T>::type&& move(T&& t) noexcept;
Returns: static_cast<typename remove_reference<T>::type&&>(t).
[ Example:
template <class T, class A1>
shared_ptr<T> factory(A1&& a1) {
return shared_ptr<T>(new T(std::forward<A1>(a1)));
}
struct A {
A();
A(const A&); // copies from lvalues
A(A&&); // moves from rvalues
};
void g() {
A a;
shared_ptr<A> sp1 = factory<A>(a); // “a” binds to A(const A&)
shared_ptr<A> sp1 = factory<A>(std::move(a)); // “a” binds to A(A&&)
}
In the first call to factory, A1 is deduced as A&, so a is forwarded as a non-const lvalue. This binds to the constructor A(const A&), which copies the value from a. In the second call to factory, because of the call std::move(a), A1 is deduced as A, so a is forwarded as an rvalue. This binds to the constructor A(A&&), which moves the value from a.
— end example ]
template <class T> typename conditional<
!is_nothrow_move_constructible<T>::value && is_copy_constructible<T>::value,
const T&, T&&>::type move_if_noexcept(T& x) noexcept;
Returns: std::move(x)