std::optional::operator->, std::optional::operator*

 

C++

Language

Standard library headers

Concepts

Utilities library

Strings library

Containers library

Algorithms library

Iterators 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

Date and time

Function objects

initializer_list (C++11)

bitset

hash (C++11)

Relational operators

rel_ops::operator!=rel_ops::operator>rel_ops::operator<=rel_ops::operator>=

optional, any and variant (C++17)

optional

any

variant

in_placein_place_tin_place_type_tin_place_index_t

Pairs and tuples

pair

tuple (C++11)

apply (C++17)

make_from_tuple (C++17)

piecewise_construct_t (C++11)

piecewise_construct (C++11)

integer_sequence (C++14)

Swap, forward and move

swap

exchange (C++14)

forward (C++11)

move (C++11)

move_if_noexcept (C++11)

Type operations

declval (C++11)

as_const (C++17)

 

std::optional

Member functions

optional::optional

optional::~optional

optional::operator=

Observers

optional::operator->optional::operator*

optional::operator booloptional::has_value

optional::value

optional::value_or

Modifiers

optional::emplace

optional::swap

optional::reset

Non-member functions

operator==operator!=operator<operator<=operator>operator>=

make_optional

swap

Helper classes

hash

nullopt_t

in_place_t

bad_optional_access

Helper objects

nullopt

in_place

 

constexpr const T* operator->() const;	(1)	(since C++17)
constexpr T* operator->();	(1)	(since C++17)
constexpr const T& operator*() const&;	(2)	(since C++17)
constexpr T& operator*() &;	(2)	(since C++17)
constexpr const T&& operator*() const&&;	(2)	(since C++17)
constexpr T&& operator*() &&;	(2)	(since C++17)

Accesses the contained value.

1) Returns a pointer to the contained value.

2) Returns a reference to the contained value.

The behavior is undefined if *this does not contain a value.

Parameters

(none)

Return value

Pointer or reference to the contained value.

Exceptions

(none)

Notes

This operator does not check whether the optional contains a value. If checked access is needed, value() or value_or() may be used.

Example

Run this code

#include <optional>
#include <iostream>
#include <string>
int main()
{
    using namespace std::string_literals;
 
    std::optional<int> opt1 = 1;
    std::cout << *opt1 << '\n';
 
    std::optional<std::string> opt2 = "abc"s;
    std::cout << opt2->size() << '\n';
}

Output:

1
3

See also

value	returns the contained value (public member function)
value_or	returns the contained value if available, another value otherwise (public member function)