C Standard Library

Standard headers

The following files contain the declarations of the C++ Standard Library.

Containers

<array>

New in C++11 and TR1. Provides the container class template std::array, a container for a fixed sized array.

<bitset>

Provides the specialized container class std::bitset, a bit array.

<deque>

Provides the container class template std::deque, a double-ended queue.

<forward_list>

New in C++11 and TR1. Provides the container class template std::forward_list, a singly linked list.

<list>

Provides the container class template std::list, a doubly linked list.

<map>

Provides the container class templates std::map and std::multimap, sorted associative array and multimap.

<queue>

Provides the container adapter class std::queue, a single-ended queue, and std::priority_queue, a priority queue.

<set>

Provides the container class templates std::set and std::multiset, sorted associative containers or sets.

<stack>

Provides the container adapter class std::stack, a stack.

<unordered_map>

New in C++11 and TR1. Provides the container class template std::unordered_map and std::unordered_multimap, hash tables.

<unordered_set>

New in C++11 and TR1. Provides the container class template std::unordered_set and std::unordered_multiset.

<vector>

Provides the container class template std::vector, a dynamic array.

General

<algorithm>

Provides definitions of many container algorithms.

<chrono>

Provides time elements, such as std::chrono::duration, std::chrono::time_point, and clocks.

<functional>

Provides several function objects, designed for use with the standard algorithms.

<iterator>

Provides classes and templates for working with iterators.

<memory>

Provides facilities for memory management in C++, including the class template std::unique_ptr.

<stdexcept>

Contains standard exception classes such as std::logic_error and std::runtime_error, both derived from std::exception.

<tuple>

New in C++11 and TR1. Provides a class template std::tuple, a tuple.

<utility>

Provides the template class std::pair, for working with object pairs (two-member tuples), and the namespace std::rel_ops, for easier operator overloading.

Localization

<locale>

Defines classes and declares functions that encapsulate and manipulate the information peculiar to a locale.

<codecvt>

Provides code conversion facets for various character encodings.

Strings

<string>

Provides the C++ standard string classes and templates.

<regex>

New in C++11. Provides utilities for pattern matching strings using regular expressions.

Streams and Input/Output

<fstream>

Provides facilities for file-based input and output. See fstream.

<iomanip>

Provides facilities to manipulate output formatting, such as the base used when formatting integers and the precision of floating point values.

<ios>

Provides several types and functions basic to the operation of iostreams.

<iosfwd>

Provides forward declarations of several I/O-related class templates.

<iostream>

Provides C++ input and output fundamentals. See iostream.

<istream>

Provides the template class std::istream and other supporting classes for input.

<ostream>

Provides the template class std::ostream and other supporting classes for output.

<sstream>

Provides the template class std::stringstream and other supporting classes for string manipulation.

<streambuf>

Provides reading and writing functionality to/from certain types of character sequences, such as external files or strings.

Language support

<exception>

Provides several types and functions related to exception handling, including std::exception, the base class of all exceptions thrown by the Standard Library.

<limits>

Provides the template class std::numeric_limits, used for describing properties of fundamental numeric types.

<new>

Provides operators new and delete and other functions and types composing the fundamentals of C++ memory management.

<typeinfo>

Provides facilities for working with C++ run-time type information.

Thread support library

<thread>

New in C++11. Provide class and namespace for working with threads.

<mutex>

New in C++11. 30.4-1 This section provides mechanisms for mutual exclusion: mutexes, locks, and call once.

<condition_variable>

New in C++11. 30.5-1 Condition variables provide synchronization primitives used to block a thread until notified by some other thread that some condition is met or until a system time is reached.

<future>

New in C++11. 30.6.1-1 Describes components that a C++ program can use to retrieve in one thread the result (value or exception) from a function that has run in the same thread or another thread.

Numerics library

Components that C++ programs may use to perform seminumerical operations.

<complex>

The header defines a class template, and numerous functions for representing and manipulating complex numbers.

<random>

Facility for generating (pseudo-)random numbers

<valarray>

Defines five class templates (valarray, slice_array, gslice_array, mask_array, and indirect_array), two classes (slice and gslice), and a series of related function templates for representing and manipulating arrays of values.

<numeric>

Generalized numeric operations.

C standard library

Each header from the C Standard Library is included in the C++ Standard Library under a different name, generated by removing the .h, and adding a 'c' at the start; for example, 'time.h' becomes 'ctime'. The only difference between these headers and the traditional C Standard Library headers is that where possible the functions should be placed into the std:: namespace. In ISO C, functions in the standard library are allowed to be implemented by macros, which is not allowed by ISO C++.