std::bad_cast

 

C++

Compiler support

Freestanding and hosted

Language

Standard library

Standard library headers

Named requirements

Feature test macros (C++20)

Language support library

Concepts library (C++20)

Diagnostics library

Memory management library

Metaprogramming library (C++11)

General utilities library

Containers library

Iterators library

Ranges library (C++20)

Algorithms library

Strings library

Text processing library

Numerics library

Date and time library

Input/output library

Filesystem library (C++17)

Concurrency support library (C++11)

Execution control library (C++26)

Technical specifications

Symbols index

External libraries

 

Utilities library

Language support Type support (basic types, RTTI) Library feature-test macros (C++20) Program utilities Variadic functions initializer_list (C++11) is_constant_evaluated (C++20) is_within_lifetime (C++26) source_location (C++20) Coroutine support (C++20) Contract support (C++26) Three-way comparison three_way_comparablethree_way_comparable_with (C++20)(C++20) strong_ordering (C++20) weak_ordering (C++20) partial_ordering (C++20) common_comparison_category (C++20) compare_three_way_result (C++20) compare_three_way (C++20) strong_order (C++20) weak_order (C++20) partial_order (C++20) compare_strong_order_fallback (C++20) compare_weak_order_fallback (C++20) compare_partial_order_fallback (C++20)   is_eqis_ltis_lteq (C++20)(C++20)(C++20)   is_neqis_gtis_gteq (C++20)(C++20)(C++20)

General utilities Function objects Bit manipulation (C++20) bitset hash (C++11) Relational operators (deprecated in C++20) rel_ops::operator!=rel_ops::operator>    rel_ops::operator<=rel_ops::operator>= Integer comparison functions cmp_equalcmp_lesscmp_less_than (C++20)(C++20)(C++20)   cmp_not_equalcmp_greatercmp_greater_than (C++20)(C++20)(C++20) in_range (C++20) Swap and type operations swap ranges::swap (C++20) exchange (C++14) declval (C++11) to_underlying (C++23) forward (C++11) forward_like (C++23) move (C++11) move_if_noexcept (C++11) as_const (C++17) Common vocabulary types pair tuple (C++11) optional (C++17) any (C++17) variant (C++17) tuple_size (C++11) tuple_element (C++11) apply (C++17) make_from_tuple (C++17) expected (C++23)

 

Type support

Basic types
Fixed width integer types (C++11)
Fixed width floating-point types (C++23)
ptrdiff_t size_t max_align_t (C++11)     byte (C++17)	nullptr_t (C++11) offsetof NULL
Numeric limits
numeric_limits
C numeric limits interface
Runtime type information
type_info type_index (C++11)	bad_typeid bad_cast

 

Defined in header <typeinfo>
class bad_cast : public std::exception;

An exception of this type is thrown when a dynamic_cast to a reference type fails the run-time check (e.g. because the types are not related by inheritance), and also from std::use_facet if the requested facet does not exist in the locale.

Inheritance diagram

Member functions

(constructor)	constructs a new bad_cast object (public member function)
operator=	replaces the bad_cast object (public member function)
what	returns the explanatory string (public member function)

std::bad_cast::bad_cast

	(1)
bad_cast() throw();			(until C++11)
bad_cast() noexcept;			(since C++11)
	(2)
bad_cast( const bad_cast& other ) throw();			(until C++11)
bad_cast( const bad_cast& other ) noexcept;			(since C++11)

Constructs a new bad_cast object with an implementation-defined null-terminated byte string which is accessible through what().

1) Default constructor.

2) Copy constructor. If *this and other both have dynamic type std::bad_cast then std::strcmp(what(), other.what()) == 0.(since C++11)

Parameters

other

-

another exception object to copy

std::bad_cast::operator=

bad_cast& operator=( const bad_cast& other ) throw();		(until C++11)
bad_cast& operator=( const bad_cast& other ) noexcept;		(since C++11)

Assigns the contents with those of other. If *this and other both have dynamic type std::bad_cast then std::strcmp(what(), other.what()) == 0 after assignment.(since C++11)

Parameters

other

-

another exception object to assign with

Return value

*this

std::bad_cast::what

virtual const char* what() const throw();		(until C++11)
virtual const char* what() const noexcept;		(since C++11) (constexpr since C++26)

Returns the explanatory string.

Return value

Pointer to an implementation-defined null-terminated string with explanatory information. The string is suitable for conversion and display as a std::wstring. The pointer is guaranteed to be valid at least until the exception object from which it is obtained is destroyed, or until a non-const member function (e.g. copy assignment operator) on the exception object is called.

The returned string is encoded with the ordinary literal encoding during constant evaluation.

(since C++26)

Notes

Implementations are allowed but not required to override what().

Inherited from std::exception

Member functions

(destructor) [virtual]	destroys the exception object (virtual public member function of std::exception)
what [virtual]	returns an explanatory string (virtual public member function of std::exception)

Notes

Feature-test macro	Value	Std	Feature
__cpp_lib_constexpr_exceptions	202411L	(C++26)	constexpr for exception types

Example

Run this code

#include <iostream>
#include <typeinfo>
 
struct Foo { virtual ~Foo() {} };
struct Bar { virtual ~Bar() { std::cout << "~Bar\n"; } };
struct Pub : Bar { ~Pub() override { std::cout << "~Pub\n"; } };
 
int main()
{
    Pub pub;
    try
    {
        [[maybe_unused]]
        Bar& r1 = dynamic_cast<Bar&>(pub); // OK, upcast
 
        [[maybe_unused]]
        Foo& r2 = dynamic_cast<Foo&>(pub); // throws
    }
    catch (const std::bad_cast& e)
    {
        std::cout << "e.what(): " << e.what() << '\n';
    }
}

Possible output:

e.what(): std::bad_cast
~Pub
~Bar