NAME¶

std::swap - std::swap

Synopsis¶

Defined in header <algorithm> (until C++11)
Defined in header <utility> (since C++11)
Defined in header <string_view>
template< class T > (until C++11)
void swap( T& a, T& b );
template< class T > (since C++11)
void swap( T& a, T& b ) (constexpr since
noexcept(/* see below */); C++20)
template< class T2, std::size_t
N > (1) (until C++11)
void swap( T2 (&a)[N], T2
(&b)[N] );
template< class T2, std::size_t (2)
N > (since C++11)
void swap( T2 (&a)[N], T2 (constexpr since
(&b)[N] ) noexcept(/* see below C++20)
*/);

Exchanges the given values.

1) Swaps the values a and b.

This overload participates in overload resolution only if
std::is_move_constructible_v<T> && std::is_move_assignable_v<T> is (since C++17)
true.

2) Swaps the arrays a and b. In effect calls std::swap_ranges(a, a + N, b).

This overload participates in overload resolution only if (since C++17)
std::is_swappable_v<T2> is true.

Parameters¶

a, b - the values to be swapped

Type requirements¶

-
T must meet the requirements of
CopyConstructible and CopyAssignable
(until C++11)
MoveConstructible and MoveAssignable
(since C++11)
-
T2 must meet the requirements of Swappable.

Return value¶

(none)

Exceptions¶

1)

(none) (until C++11)
noexcept specification:
noexcept(

std::is_nothrow_move_constructible<T>::value && (since C++11)
std::is_nothrow_move_assignable<T>::value

)

2)

noexcept specification:
noexcept(noexcept(swap(*a, *b)))
The lookup for the identifier swap in the exception specification (since C++11)
finds this function template in addition to anything found by the (until C++17)
usual lookup rules, making the exception specification equivalent to
C++17 std::is_nothrow_swappable.
noexcept specification: (since C++17)
noexcept(std::is_nothrow_swappable_v<T2>)

Complexity¶

1) Constant.
2) Linear in N.

Specializations¶

std::swap may be specialized in namespace std for program-defined
types, but such specializations are not found by ADL (the namespace (until C++20)
std is not the associated namespace for the program-defined type).

The expected way to make a program-defined type swappable is to provide a non-member
function swap in the same namespace as the type: see Swappable for details.

The following overloads are already provided by the standard library:

std::swap(std::pair) specializes the std::swap algorithm
(C++11) (function template)
std::swap(std::tuple) specializes the std::swap algorithm
(C++11) (function template)
std::swap(std::shared_ptr) specializes the std::swap algorithm
(C++11) (function template)
std::swap(std::weak_ptr) specializes the std::swap algorithm
(C++11) (function template)
std::swap(std::unique_ptr) specializes the std::swap algorithm
(C++11) (function template)
std::swap(std::function) specializes the std::swap algorithm
(C++11) (function template)
std::swap(std::basic_string) specializes the std::swap algorithm
(function template)
std::swap(std::array) specializes the std::swap algorithm
(C++11) (function template)
std::swap(std::deque) specializes the std::swap algorithm
(function template)
std::swap(std::forward_list) specializes the std::swap algorithm
(C++11) (function template)
std::swap(std::list) specializes the std::swap algorithm
(function template)
std::swap(std::vector) specializes the std::swap algorithm
(function template)
std::swap(std::map) specializes the std::swap algorithm
(function template)
std::swap(std::multimap) specializes the std::swap algorithm
(function template)
std::swap(std::set) specializes the std::swap algorithm
(function template)
std::swap(std::multiset) specializes the std::swap algorithm
(function template)
std::swap(std::unordered_map) specializes the std::swap algorithm
(C++11) (function template)
std::swap(std::unordered_multimap) specializes the std::swap algorithm
(C++11) (function template)
std::swap(std::unordered_set) specializes the std::swap algorithm
(C++11) (function template)
std::swap(std::unordered_multiset) specializes the std::swap algorithm
(C++11) (function template)
std::swap(std::queue) specializes the std::swap algorithm
(C++11) (function template)
std::swap(std::priority_queue) specializes the std::swap algorithm
(C++11) (function template)
std::swap(std::stack) specializes the std::swap algorithm
(C++11) (function template)
std::swap(std::valarray) specializes the std::swap algorithm
(C++11) (function template)
std::swap(std::basic_stringbuf) specializes the std::swap algorithm
(C++11) (function template)
std::swap(std::basic_istringstream) specializes the std::swap algorithm
(C++11) (function template)
std::swap(std::basic_ostringstream) specializes the std::swap algorithm
(C++11) (function template)
std::swap(std::basic_stringstream) specializes the std::swap algorithm
(C++11) (function template)
std::swap(std::basic_filebuf) specializes the std::swap algorithm
(C++11) (function template)
std::swap(std::basic_ifstream) specializes the std::swap algorithm
(C++11) (function template)
std::swap(std::basic_ofstream) specializes the std::swap algorithm
(C++11) (function template)
std::swap(std::basic_fstream) specializes the std::swap algorithm
(C++11) (function template)
std::swap(std::basic_syncbuf) specializes the std::swap algorithm
(C++20) (function template)
std::swap(std::basic_spanbuf) specializes the std::swap algorithm
(C++23) (function template)
std::swap(std::basic_ispanstream) specializes the std::swap algorithm
(C++23) (function template)
std::swap(std::basic_ospanstream) specializes the std::swap algorithm
(C++23) (function template)
std::swap(std::basic_spanstream) specializes the std::swap algorithm
(C++23) (function template)
std::swap(std::basic_regex) specializes the std::swap algorithm
(C++11) (function template)
std::swap(std::match_results) specializes the std::swap algorithm
(C++11) (function template)
std::swap(std::thread) specializes the std::swap algorithm
(C++11) (function)
std::swap(std::unique_lock) specialization of std::swap for unique_lock
(C++11) (function template)
std::swap(std::shared_lock) specialization of std::swap for shared_lock
(C++14) (function template)
std::swap(std::promise) specializes the std::swap algorithm
(C++11) (function template)
std::swap(std::packaged_task) specializes the std::swap algorithm
(C++11) (function template)
std::swap(std::optional) specializes the std::swap algorithm
(C++17) (function template)
std::swap(std::any) specializes the std::swap algorithm
(C++17) (function)
std::swap(std::variant) specializes the std::swap algorithm
(C++17) (function template)
std::swap(std::basic_stacktrace) specializes the std::swap algorithm
(C++23) (function template)
swap(std::filesystem::path) swaps two paths
(C++17) (function)
swap(std::expected) specializes the std::swap algorithm
(C++23) (function)
swap(std::jthread) specializes the std::swap algorithm
(C++20) (function)
swap(std::move_only_function) overloads the std::swap algorithm
(C++23) (function)
swap(std::stop_source) specializes the std::swap algorithm
(C++20) (function)
swap(std::stop_token) specializes the std::swap algorithm
(C++20) (function)

Example¶

// Run this code

#include <algorithm>
#include <iostream>

namespace Ns
{
class A
{
int id {};

friend void swap(A& lhs, A& rhs)
{
std::cout << "swap(" << lhs << ", " << rhs << ")\n";
std::swap(lhs.id, rhs.id);
}

friend std::ostream& operator<<(std::ostream& os, A const& a)
{
return os << "A::id=" << a.id;
}

public:
A(int i) : id {i} {}
A(A const&) = delete;
A& operator = (A const&) = delete;
};
}

int main()
{
int a = 5, b = 3;
std::cout << a << ' ' << b << '\n';
std::swap(a, b);
std::cout << a << ' ' << b << '\n';

Ns::A p {6}, q {9};
std::cout << p << ' ' << q << '\n';
// std::swap(p, q); // error, type requirements are not satisfied
swap(p, q); // OK, ADL finds the appropriate friend `swap`
std::cout << p << ' ' << q << '\n';
}

Output:¶

5 3
3 5
A::id=6 A::id=9
swap(A::id=6, A::id=9)
A::id=9 A::id=6

Defect reports

The following behavior-changing defect reports were applied retroactively to
previously published C++ standards.

DR Applied to Behavior as published Correct behavior
T was not required to be CopyConstructible
LWG 227 C++98 or DefaultConstructible T is also required to
(a temporary object of type T might not be be CopyConstructible
able to be constructed)
LWG 809 C++98 arrays could not be swapped added overload (2)
swapping multi-dimensional arrays can
LWG 2554 C++11 never made to work
be noexcept due to name lookup problems

See also¶

ranges::swap swaps the values of two objects
(C++20) (customization point object)
iter_swap swaps the elements pointed to by two iterators
(function template)
swap_ranges swaps two ranges of elements
(function template)
exchange replaces the argument with a new value and returns its previous value
(C++14) (function template)

Category:¶

* conditionally noexcept