std::type_info::hash_code

size_t hash_code() const;
 (since C++11)

Returns an unspecified value such that for all type_info objects referring to the same type, their hash_code() is the same.

No other guarantees are given: type_info objects referring to different types may have the same hash_code (although the standard recommends that implementations avoid this as much as possible), and hash_code for the same type can change between invocations of the same program.

Parameters

(none).

Return value

A value that is identical for all type_info objects referring to the same type.

Example

The following program is an example of an efficient type-value mapping without using std::type_index.

#include <iostream>
#include <typeinfo>
#include <unordered_map>
#include <string>
#include <functional>
#include <memory>
 
struct A {
    virtual ~A() {}
};
 
struct B : A {};
struct C : A {};
 
using TypeInfoRef = std::reference_wrapper<const std::type_info>;
 
struct Hasher {
    std::size_t operator()(TypeInfoRef code) const
    {
        return code.get().hash_code();
    }
};
 
struct EqualTo {
    bool operator()(TypeInfoRef lhs, TypeInfoRef rhs) const
    {
        return lhs.get() == rhs.get();
    }
};
 
int main()
{
    std::unordered_map<TypeInfoRef, std::string, Hasher, EqualTo> type_names;
 
    type_names[typeid(int)] = "int";
    type_names[typeid(double)] = "double";
    type_names[typeid(A)] = "A";
    type_names[typeid(B)] = "B";
    type_names[typeid(C)] = "C";
 
    int i;
    double d;
    A a;
 
    // note that we're storing pointer to type A
    std::unique_ptr<A> b(new B);
    std::unique_ptr<A> c(new C);
 
    std::cout << "i is " << type_names[typeid(i)] << '\n';
    std::cout << "d is " << type_names[typeid(d)] << '\n';
    std::cout << "a is " << type_names[typeid(a)] << '\n';
    std::cout << "b is " << type_names[typeid(*b)] << '\n';
    std::cout << "c is " << type_names[typeid(*c)] << '\n';
}

Output:

i is int
d is double
a is A
b is B
c is C

See also

checks whether the objects refer to the same type
(public member function)
implementation defined name of the type
(public member function)

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