As discussed in earlier post a
std::variant can hold a number of different types of data much like a union
can. However, what gives it an edge in C++ is the ability to run a polymorphic
function on the std::variant. C++’s stdlib provides a function called
std::visit which does just that.
std::visit is a global function which can run a polymorphic function/lambda on
the std::variant object.
using my_var_type = std::variant <int, std::string, bool, char>;
auto val = my_var_type {};
// idea is that do_something() is a polymorphic functions function
// which applies for all types contained in the variant var
// ex:
// void do_something(const T& v) { std:: cout << v << std::endl; }
std::visit([](const auto& var) mutable { do_something(var); }, val);
What happens under the hood here?
The compiler generates C++ of the lambda for each type contained in the variant. Somewhat similar to how a templatized code is expanded at compile time. The above example gets loosely translated to the following code:
struct lambda_var {
auto operator() (const int& v) { do_something(v); }
auto operator() (const std::string& v) { do_something(v); }
auto operator() (const bool& v) { do_something(v); }
auto operator() (const char& v) { do_something(v); }
};
std::holds_alternative<T>() to the rescue
The std::visit() function is expanded to checking for types of each
alternative in the std::variant:
// Compiler's code generated
auto visit_impl(lambda_var f, const my_var_type& v) {
if (std::holds_alternative<int>(v)) { return f(std::get<int>(v)); }
if (std::holds_alternative<std::string>(v)) { return f(std::get<std::string>(v)); }
if (std::holds_alternative<bool>(v)) { return f(std::get<bool>(v)); }
if (std::holds_alternative<char>(v)) { return f(std::get<char>(v)); }
}
// Actually calls the above generated function
visit_impl(lambda_var(), my_var_type);
The size allocated for the variant is equal to the largest object type among its
members. In the case of my_var_type it is std::string
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