nameof() c++11

C++ alternative to nameof operator in C#.

Branch	Linux/OSX	Windows
master

Used to obtain the simple name of a variable, type, member or function and etc. Before, you had to use string literals to refer to definitions, which is brittle when renaming code elements because tools do not know to check these string literals.

A nameof macros expression has this form:

std::cout << NAMEOF(person.address.zip_code) << std::endl; // prints "zip_code"

Features

• Simple name
• C++11
• Header-only
• Dependency-free
• Compile-time
• Compilation check

Example & Key Use Cases

• Name of a variable, member or function and etc

NAMEOF(someVar) -> "someVar"
NAMEOF(someVar.SomeField) -> "SomeField"

NAMEOF(someVar.SomeMethod1()) -> "SomeMethod1()"
NAMEOF(&SomeStruct::SomeMethod2) -> "SomeMethod2"

• Name of enum

NAMEOF(SomeEnum::RED) -> "RED"
NAMEOF(SomeEnum::GREEN) -> "GREEN"

• Name of type

NAMEOF(int[]) -> "int[]"
NAMEOF(std::string) -> "string"

• Constexpr

void f() {
  int i;
  constexpr auto constexpr_work_fine = NAMEOF(i); -> "i"
}

• Compilation check

void f() {
  int i;
  NAMEOF(i); -> "i"
  NAMEOF(iii); -> error identifier "iii" is undefined
  NAMEOF(std::stringgg) -> error namespace "std" has no member "stringgg"
}

• Validate parameters

void f(char* s) {
  if (s == nullptr)
    throw std::invalid_argument(NAMEOF(s));
}

• Serialization, for example json:

void to_json(json& j, const person& p) {
  j = json{{NAMEOF(p.name), p.name},
           {NAMEOF(p.address), p.address},
           {NAMEOF(p.age), p.age}};
}

void from_json(const json& j, person& p) {
  p.name = j.at(NAMEOF(p.name));
  p.address = j.at(NAMEOF(p.address));
  p.age = j.at(NAMEOF(p.age));
}

• Logging

void f() {
  Log(NAMEOF(f), " method entry");
}

Remarks

• If you need to get the fully-qualified name, you could use the NAMEOF_FULL().

NAMEOF_FULL(someVar.SomeField) -> "someVar.SomeField"
NAMEOF_FULL(&SomeStruct::SomeMethod2) -> "&SomeStruct::SomeMethod2"
NAMEOF_FULL(std::string) -> "std::string"

• By default nameof work with RTTI, but can work without RTTI. If compiling without RTTI, you need use the NAMEOF_TYPE() for get name of type.

NAMEOF_TYPE(int[]) -> "int[]"
NAMEOF_TYPE(std::string) -> "string"

NAMEOF_TYPE_FULL(std::string) -> "std::string"

License MIT