 _   _                             __    _____
| \ | |                           / _|  / ____|_     _
|  \| | __ _ _ __ ___   ___  ___ | |_  | |   _| |_ _| |_
| . ` |/ _` | '_ ` _ \ / _ \/ _ \|  _| | |  |_   _|_   _|
| |\  | (_| | | | | | |  __/ (_) | |   | |____|_|   |_|
|_| \_|\__,_|_| |_| |_|\___|\___/|_|    \_____|

Nameof C++

Header-only C++17 library provides nameof macros and functions to simply obtain the name of a variable, type, function, macro, and enum.

Features

C++17
Header-only
Dependency-free
Compile-time
Name of variable, member variable
Name of type, variable type
Name of function, member function
Name of enum, enum variable
Name of macro
Enum to string

Documentation

Examples

Nameof

// Name of variable.
NAMEOF(somevar) -> "somevar"

// Name of member variable.
NAMEOF(person.address.zip_code) -> "zip_code"

// Name of function.
NAMEOF(foo<int, float>()) -> "foo"

// Name of member function.
NAMEOF(somevar.some_method()) -> "some_method"
NAMEOF(somevar.some_method<int>()) -> "some_method"

// Name of macro.
NAMEOF(__LINE__) -> "__LINE__"
NAMEOF(NAMEOF(structvar)) -> "NAMEOF"

Nameof enum

enum class Color { RED = 1, BLUE = 2, GREEN = 4 };

auto color = Color::RED;
// Name of enum variable.
NAMEOF_ENUM(color) -> "RED"
nameof::nameof_enum(color) -> "RED"

// Static storage enum variable to string.
// This version is much lighter on the compile times and is not restricted to the enum_range limitation.
NAMEOF_ENUM_CONST(Color::GREEN) -> "GREEN"
nameof::nameof_enum<Color::GREEN>() -> "GREEN"

// Enum flag variable to string.
NAMEOF_ENUM_FLAG(Color::GREEN | Color::BLUE) -> "GREEN|BLUE"
nameof::nameof_enum_flag<Color::GREEN>() -> "GREEN|BLUE"

Nameof type

const my::detail::SomeClass<int>& var_ref = var;
// Name of variable type.
NAMEOF_TYPE_EXPR(var_ref) -> "my::detail::SomeClass<int>"
nameof::nameof_type<decltype(var_ref)>() -> "my::detail::SomeClass<int>"
NAMEOF_FULL_TYPE_EXPR(var_ref) -> "const my::detail::SomeClass<int>&"
nameof::nameof_full_type<decltype(var_ref)>() -> "const my::detail::SomeClass<int>&"
NAMEOF_SHORT_TYPE_EXPR(var_ref) -> "SomeClass"
nameof::nameof_short_type<decltype(var_ref)>() -> "SomeClass"

using T = const my::detail::SomeClass<int>&;
// Name of type.
NAMEOF_TYPE(T) ->"my::detail::SomeClass<int>"
nameof::nameof_type<T>() -> "my::detail::SomeClass<int>"
NAMEOF_FULL_TYPE(T) -> "const my::detail::SomeClass<int>&"
nameof::nameof_full_type<T>() -> "const my::detail::SomeClass<int>&"
NAMEOF_SHORT_TYPE(T) -> "SomeClass"
nameof::nameof_short_type<T>() -> "SomeClass"

my::detail::Base* ptr = new my::detail::Derived();
// Name of type, using rtti.
NAMEOF_TYPE_RTTI(*ptr) -> "my::detail::Derived"
NAMEOF_FULL_TYPE_RTTI(*ptr) -> "volatile const my::detail::Derived&"
NAMEOF_SHORT_TYPE_RTTI(*ptr) -> "Derived"

Compile-time

constexpr auto somevar_name = NAMEOF(somevar);
// somevar_name -> "somevar"
constexpr auto color_name = NAMEOF_ENUM(Color::BLUE); // or nameof::nameof_enum(Color::BLUE)
// color_name -> "BLUE"
constexpr auto var_type_name = NAMEOF_TYPE_EXPR(var); // or nameof::nameof_type<decltype(var)>()
// var_type_name -> "int"
constexpr auto type_name = NAMEOF_TYPE(T); // or nameof::nameof_type<T>()
// type_name -> "int"

Remarks

Before use, read the limitations of functionality.

Integration

You should add required file nameof.hpp.

If you are using vcpkg on your project for external dependencies, then you can use the nameof package.

If you are using Conan to manage your dependencies, merely add nameof/x.y.z to your conan's requires, where x.y.z is the release version you want to use.

Archlinux users can install nameof by package manager AUR, using the following command: yay -S nameof.

Alternatively, you can use something like CPM which is based on CMake's Fetch_Content module.

CPMAddPackage(
    NAME nameof
    GITHUB_REPOSITORY Neargye/nameof
    GIT_TAG x.y.z # Where `x.y.z` is the release version you want to use.
)

Compiler compatibility

Clang/LLVM >= 5
MSVC++ >= 14.11 / Visual Studio >= 2017
Xcode >= 10
GCC >= 7 (GCC >= 9 for NAMEOF_ENUM)

xiaoweiChen / nameof