C++ In a Nutshell

Chapter 13. Library Reference

This chapter is a reference for the entire runtime library. As you can see, it is a big one. To help you find what you need, each header in this chapter is organized in alphabetical order. If you are not sure which header declares a particular type, macro, or other identifier, check the index. Once you find the right page, you can quickly see which header you must #include to define the identifier you need.

The subsections in each header’s section describe the functions, macros, classes, and other entities declared and defined in the header. The name of the subsection tells you what kind of entity is described in the subsection—e.g., “terminate function,” “basic_string class template,” and so on. Cross references in each “See Also” heading list intrasection references first, followed by references to other headers (in this chapter) and references to keywords (in Chapter 12).

The subsection for each class or class template contains descriptions of all important members. A few obvious or do-nothing members are omitted (such as most destructors) for the sake of brevity.

The entire standard library resides in the std namespace, except that macros reside outside any namespace. Be sure to check the subsection name closely so you know whether an identifier is a macro or something else. To avoid cluttering the reference material, the std:: prefix is omitted from the descriptions. Examples, however, are complete and show how each namespace prefix is properly used. ...