std::get_temporary_buffer

Defined in header `<memory>`
template< class T > std::pair<T*, std::ptrdiff_t> get_temporary_buffer( std::ptrdiff_t count );		(until C++11)
template< class T > std::pair<T*, std::ptrdiff_t> get_temporary_buffer( std::ptrdiff_t count ) noexcept;		(since C++11) (deprecated in C++17) (removed in C++20)

Allocates uninitialized contiguous storage, which should be sufficient to store up to count adjacent objects of type T. The request is non-binding and the implementation may allocate less or more than necessary to store count adjacent objects.

It is implementation-defined whether over-aligned types are supported.

(since C++11)

Parameters

count

-

the desired number of objects

Return value

A std::pair holding a pointer to the beginning of the allocated storage and the number of objects that fit in the storage that was actually allocated.

If count <= 0, no memory could be allocated, or allocated storage is not enough to store a single element of type T, the first element of the result is a null pointer and the second element is zero.

Notes

This API was originally designed with the intent of providing a more efficient implementation than the general-purpose operator new, but no such implementation was created and the API was deprecated and removed.

Example

Run this code

#include <algorithm>
#include <iostream>
#include <iterator>
#include <memory>
#include <string>
 
int main()
{
    const std::string s[] = {"string", "1", "test", "..."};
    const auto p = std::get_temporary_buffer<std::string>(4);
    // requires that p.first is passed to return_temporary_buffer
    // (beware of early exit points and exceptions), or better use:
    std::unique_ptr<std::string, void(*)(std::string*)> on_exit(p.first,
    [](std::string* p)
    {
        std::cout << "returning temporary buffer...\n";
        std::return_temporary_buffer(p);
    });
 
    std::copy(s, s + p.second,
              std::raw_storage_iterator<std::string*, std::string>(p.first));
    // has same effect as: std::uninitialized_copy(s, s + p.second, p.first);
    // requires that each string in p is individually destroyed
    // (beware of early exit points and exceptions)
 
    std::copy(p.first, p.first + p.second,
              std::ostream_iterator<std::string>{std::cout, "\n"});
 
    std::for_each(p.first, p.first + p.second, [](std::string& e)
    {
        e.~basic_string<char>();
    }); // same as: std::destroy(p.first, p.first + p.second);
 
    // manually reclaim memory if unique_ptr-like technique is not used:
    // std::return_temporary_buffer(p.first);
}

Output:

string
1
test
...
returning temporary buffer...

Defect reports

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

DR	Applied to	Behavior as published	Correct behavior
LWG 425	C++98	the behavior when count <= 0 was unclear	made clear

Compiler support
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Language
Standard library
Standard library headers
Named requirements
Feature test macros (C++20)
Language support library
Concepts library (C++20)
Metaprogramming library (C++11)
Diagnostics library
General utilities library
Strings library
Containers library
Iterators library
Ranges library (C++20)
Algorithms library
Numerics library
Localizations library
Input/output library
Filesystem library (C++17)
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Concurrency support library (C++11)
Technical specifications
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External libraries

return_temporary_buffer (deprecated in C++17)(removed in C++20)	frees uninitialized storage (function template)
allocate_at_least [static] (C++23)	allocates storage at least as large as the requested size via an allocator (public static member function of `std::allocator_traits<Alloc>`)