std::is_empty

Defined in header `<type_traits>`
template< class T > struct is_empty;		(since C++11)

If T is an empty type (that is, a non-union class type with no non-static data members other than bit-fields of size 0, no virtual functions, no virtual base classes, and no non-empty base classes), provides the member constant value equal true. For any other type, value is false.

Inherited from std::integral_constant

Member constants

value

[static]

true if T is an empty class type , false otherwise
(public static member constant)

Member functions

operator bool	converts the object to bool, returns `value` (public member function)
operator() (C++14)	returns `value` (public member function)

Member types

Type	Definition
`value_type`	`bool`
`type`	std::integral_constant<bool, value>

[edit] Notes

sizeof(T) always returns 1 if T is empty, but inheriting from empty base classes usually does not increase the size of a class due to empty base optimization.

std::is_empty<T> and all other type traits are empty classes.

[edit] Example

Run this code

#include <iostream>
#include <type_traits>
 
struct A {};
 
struct B {
    int m;
};
 
struct C {
    virtual ~C();
};
 
int main()
{
    std::cout << std::boolalpha;
    std::cout << std::is_empty<A>::value << '\n';
    std::cout << std::is_empty<B>::value << '\n';
    std::cout << std::is_empty<C>::value << '\n';
}

Output:

true
false
false

[edit] See also

is_class

(C++11)

checks if a type is a class type (but not union type)
(class template)

Language
Standard library headers
Concepts
Utilities library
Strings library
Containers library
Algorithms library
Iterators library
Numerics library
Input/output library
Localizations library
Regular expressions library (C++11)
Atomic operations library (C++11)
Thread support library (C++11)

Type support (basic types, RTTI, type traits)
Dynamic memory management
Error handling
Program utilities
Variadic functions
Date and time
Function objects
initializer_list (C++11)
bitset
hash (C++11)
Relational operators
rel_ops::operator!=rel_ops::operator>rel_ops::operator<=rel_ops::operator>=
Pairs and tuples
pair
tuple (C++11)
piecewise_construct_t (C++11)
piecewise_construct (C++11)
Swap, forward and move
swap
forward (C++11)
move (C++11)
move_if_noexcept (C++11)
declval (C++11)