std::allocator

 

C++

Compiler support

Freestanding and hosted

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)

Regular expressions library (C++11)

Concurrency support library (C++11)

Execution support library (C++26)

Technical specifications

Symbols index

External libraries

 

Dynamic memory management

Uninitialized memory algorithms uninitialized_copy uninitialized_fill uninitialized_move (C++17) uninitialized_default_construct (C++17) uninitialized_value_construct (C++17) destroy (C++17) destroy_at (C++17) voidify (C++20) uninitialized_copy_n (C++11) uninitialized_fill_n uninitialized_move_n (C++17) uninitialized_default_construct_n (C++17) uninitialized_value_construct_n (C++17) destroy_n (C++17) construct_at (C++20) Constrained uninitialized memory algorithms ranges::uninitialized_copy (C++20) ranges::uninitialized_fill (C++20) ranges::uninitialized_move (C++20) ranges::construct_at (C++20) ranges::destroy (C++20) ranges::destroy_n (C++20) ranges::destroy_at (C++20) ranges::uninitialized_copy_n (C++20) ranges::uninitialized_fill_n (C++20) ranges::uninitialized_move_n (C++20) ranges::uninitialized_default_construct (C++20) ranges::uninitialized_value_construct (C++20) ranges::uninitialized_default_construct_n (C++20)   ranges::uninitialized_value_construct_n (C++20) Allocators allocator allocator_traits (C++11) allocation_result (C++23) allocator_arg (C++11) uses_allocator (C++11) uses_allocator_construction_args (C++20) make_obj_using_allocator (C++20) uninitialized_construct_using_allocator (C++20) scoped_allocator_adaptor (C++11) pmr::polymorphic_allocator (C++17) Memory resources pmr::memory_resource (C++17) pmr::get_default_resource (C++17) pmr::set_default_resource (C++17) pmr::new_delete_resource (C++17) pmr::null_memory_resource (C++17) pmr::synchronized_pool_resource (C++17) pmr::unsynchronized_pool_resource (C++17)   pmr::monotonic_buffer_resource (C++17) pmr::pool_options (C++17) Garbage collection support declare_reachable (C++11)(until C++23) undeclare_reachable (C++11)(until C++23) declare_no_pointers (C++11)(until C++23) undeclare_no_pointers (C++11)(until C++23) pointer_safety (C++11)(until C++23) get_pointer_safety (C++11)(until C++23) Uninitialized storage raw_storage_iterator (until C++20*) get_temporary_buffer (until C++20*) return_temporary_buffer (until C++20*) Explicit lifetime management start_lifetime_asstart_lifetime_as_array (C++23)(C++23)

Smart pointers unique_ptr (C++11) shared_ptr (C++11) weak_ptr (C++11) auto_ptr (until C++17*) owner_less (C++11) owner_less<void> (C++17) owner_hash (C++26) owner_equal (C++26) enable_shared_from_this (C++11) bad_weak_ptr (C++11) default_delete (C++11) out_ptr_t (C++23) inout_ptr_t (C++23) Low level memory management operator new operator new[] operator delete operator delete[] get_new_handler (C++11) set_new_handler launder (C++17) bad_alloc bad_array_new_length (C++11) nothrow_t align_val_t (C++17) destroying_delete_t (C++20) new_handler nothrow Miscellaneous pointer_traits (C++11) to_address (C++20) addressof (C++11) align (C++11) assume_aligned (C++20) C Library malloc calloc realloc    aligned_alloc (C++17) free

 

std::allocator

Member functions

allocator::allocator

allocator::~allocator

allocator::address (until C++20)

allocator::allocate

allocator::allocate_at_least (C++23)

allocator::deallocate

allocator::max_size (until C++20)

allocator::construct (until C++20)

allocator::destroy (until C++20)

Non-member functions

operator==operator!= (until C++20)

 

Defined in header <memory>
template< class T > struct allocator;	(1)
template<> struct allocator<void>;	(2)	(deprecated in C++17) (removed in C++20)

The std::allocator class template is the default Allocator used by all standard library containers if no user-specified allocator is provided. The default allocator is stateless, that is, all instances of the given allocator are interchangeable, compare equal and can deallocate memory allocated by any other instance of the same allocator type.

The explicit specialization for void lacks the member typedefs reference, const_reference, size_type and difference_type. This specialization declares no member functions.

(until C++20)

The default allocator satisfies allocator completeness requirements.

(since C++17)

Member types

Type	Definition
value_type	T
pointer (deprecated in C++17)(removed in C++20)	T*
const_pointer (deprecated in C++17)(removed in C++20)	const T*
reference (deprecated in C++17)(removed in C++20)	T&
const_reference (deprecated in C++17)(removed in C++20)	const T&
size_type	std::size_t
difference_type	std::ptrdiff_t
propagate_on_container_move_assignment (C++11)	std::true_type
rebind (deprecated in C++17)(removed in C++20)	template< class U > struct rebind {     typedef allocator<U> other; };
is_always_equal (C++11)(deprecated in C++23)(removed in C++26)	std::true_type

Member functions

(constructor)	creates a new allocator instance (public member function)
(destructor)	destructs an allocator instance (public member function)
address (until C++20)	obtains the address of an object, even if operator& is overloaded (public member function)
allocate	allocates uninitialized storage (public member function)
allocate_at_least (C++23)	allocates uninitialized storage at least as large as requested size (public member function)
deallocate	deallocates storage (public member function)
max_size (until C++20)	returns the largest supported allocation size (public member function)
construct (until C++20)	constructs an object in allocated storage (public member function)
destroy (until C++20)	destructs an object in allocated storage (public member function)

Non-member functions

operator==operator!= (removed in C++20)

compares two allocator instances (public member function)

Notes

The member template class rebind provides a way to obtain an allocator for a different type. For example, std::list<T, A> allocates nodes of some internal type Node<T>, using the allocator A::rebind<Node<T>>::other(until C++11)std::allocator_traits<A>::rebind_alloc<Node<T>>, which is implemented in terms of A::rebind<Node<T>>::other if A is an std::allocator(since C++11).

Member type is_always_equal is deprecated via LWG issue 3170, because it makes custom allocators derived from std::allocator treated as always equal by default. std::allocator_traits<std::allocator<T>>::is_always_equal is not deprecated and its member constant value is true for any T.

Example

Run this code

#include <iostream>
#include <memory>
#include <string>
 
int main()
{
    // default allocator for ints
    std::allocator<int> alloc1;
 
    // demonstrating the few directly usable members
    static_assert(std::is_same_v<int, decltype(alloc1)::value_type>);
    int* p1 = alloc1.allocate(1); // space for one int
    alloc1.deallocate(p1, 1);     // and it is gone
 
    // Even those can be used through traits though, so no need
    using traits_t1 = std::allocator_traits<decltype(alloc1)>; // The matching trait
    p1 = traits_t1::allocate(alloc1, 1);
    traits_t1::construct(alloc1, p1, 7);  // construct the int
    std::cout << *p1 << '\n';
    traits_t1::deallocate(alloc1, p1, 1); // deallocate space for one int
 
    // default allocator for strings
    std::allocator<std::string> alloc2;
    // matching traits
    using traits_t2 = std::allocator_traits<decltype(alloc2)>;
 
    // Rebinding the allocator using the trait for strings gets the same type
    traits_t2::rebind_alloc<std::string> alloc_ = alloc2;
 
    std::string* p2 = traits_t2::allocate(alloc2, 2); // space for 2 strings
 
    traits_t2::construct(alloc2, p2, "foo");
    traits_t2::construct(alloc2, p2 + 1, "bar");
 
    std::cout << p2[0] << ' ' << p2[1] << '\n';
 
    traits_t2::destroy(alloc2, p2 + 1);
    traits_t2::destroy(alloc2, p2);
    traits_t2::deallocate(alloc2, p2, 2);
}

Output:

7
foo bar

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 2103	C++11	redundant comparison between allocator might be required	propagate_on_container_move_assignment provided
LWG 2108	C++11	there was no way to show allocator is stateless	is_always_equal provided

See also

allocator_traits (C++11)	provides information about allocator types (class template)
scoped_allocator_adaptor (C++11)	implements multi-level allocator for multi-level containers (class template)
uses_allocator (C++11)	checks if the specified type supports uses-allocator construction (class template)