enum to string in modern C++11 / C++14 / C++17 and

Question

Contrary to all other similar questions, this question is about using the new C++ features.

• 2008 c Is there a simple way to convert C++ enum to string?
• 2008 c Easy way to use variables of enum types as string in C?
• 2008 c++ How to easily map c++ enums to strings
• 2008 c++ Making something both a C identifier and a string?
• 2008 c++ Is there a simple script to convert C++ enum to string?
• 2009 c++ How to use enums as flags in C++?
• 2011 c++ How to convert an enum type variable to a string?
• 2011 c++ Enum to String C++
• 2011 c++ How to convert an enum type variable to a string?
• 2012 c How to convert enum names to string in c
• 2013 c Stringifying an conditionally compiled enum in C

After reading many answers, I did not yet find any:

• Elegant way using C++11, C++14 or C++17 new features
• Or something ready-to-use in Boost
• Else something planned for C++20

Example

An example is often better than a long explanation.
You can compile and run this snippet on Coliru.
^{(Another former example is also available)}

#include <map>
#include <iostream>

struct MyClass
{
    enum class MyEnum : char {
        AAA = -8,
        BBB = '8',
        CCC = AAA + BBB
    };
};

// Replace magic() by some faster compile-time generated code
// (you're allowed to replace the return type with std::string
// if that's easier for you)
const char* magic (MyClass::MyEnum e)
{
    const std::map<MyClass::MyEnum,const char*> MyEnumStrings {
        { MyClass::MyEnum::AAA, "MyClass::MyEnum::AAA" },
        { MyClass::MyEnum::BBB, "MyClass::MyEnum::BBB" },
        { MyClass::MyEnum::CCC, "MyClass::MyEnum::CCC" }
    };
    auto   it  = MyEnumStrings.find(e);
    return it == MyEnumStrings.end() ? "Out of range" : it->second;
}

int main()
{
   std::cout << magic(MyClass::MyEnum::AAA) <<'\n';
   std::cout << magic(MyClass::MyEnum::BBB) <<'\n';
   std::cout << magic(MyClass::MyEnum::CCC) <<'\n';
}

Constraints

• Please no invaluable duplication of other answers or basic link.
• Please avoid bloat macro-based answer, or try to reduce the #define overhead as minimum as possible.
• Please no manual enum -> string mapping.

Nice to have

• Support enum values starting from a number different from zero
• Support negative enum values
• Support fragmented enum values
• Support class enum (C++11)
• Support class enum : <type> having any allowed <type> (C++11)
• Compile-time (not run-time) conversions to a string,
  or at least fast execution at run-time (e.g. std::map is not a great idea...)
• constexpr (C++11, relaxed in C++14)
• noexcept (C++11)
• snippet C++14/C++17 friendly
• C++ State of the art

One possible idea could be using the C++ compiler capabilities to generate C++ code at compilation-time using meta-programming tricks based on variadic template class and constexpr functions...

Answer 1

You could use a reflection library, like Ponder:

enum class MyEnum
{
    Zero = 0,
    One  = 1,
    Two  = 2
};

ponder::Enum::declare<MyEnum>()
    .value("Zero", MyEnum::Zero)
    .value("One",  MyEnum::One)
    .value("Two",  MyEnum::Two);

ponder::EnumObject zero(MyEnum::Zero);

zero.name(); // -> "Zero"

Answer 2

Just generate your enums. Writing a generator for that purpose is about five minutes' work.

Generator code in java and python, super easy to port to any language you like, including C++.

Also super easy to extend by whatever functionality you want.

example input:

First = 5
Second
Third = 7
Fourth
Fifth=11

generated header:

#include <iosfwd>

enum class Hallo
{
    First = 5,
    Second = 6,
    Third = 7,
    Fourth = 8,
    Fifth = 11
};

std::ostream & operator << (std::ostream &, const Hallo&);

generated cpp file

#include <ostream>

#include "Hallo.h"

std::ostream & operator << (std::ostream &out, const Hallo&value)
{
    switch(value)
    {
    case Hallo::First:
        out << "First";
        break;
    case Hallo::Second:
        out << "Second";
        break;
    case Hallo::Third:
        out << "Third";
        break;
    case Hallo::Fourth:
        out << "Fourth";
        break;
    case Hallo::Fifth:
        out << "Fifth";
        break;
    default:
        out << "<unknown>";
    }

    return out;
}

And the generator, in a very terse form as a template for porting and extension. This example code really tries to avoid overwriting any files but still use it at your own risk.

package cppgen;

import java.io.BufferedReader;
import java.io.File;
import java.io.FileInputStream;
import java.io.FileOutputStream;
import java.io.InputStreamReader;
import java.io.OutputStreamWriter;
import java.io.PrintWriter;
import java.nio.charset.Charset;
import java.util.LinkedHashMap;
import java.util.Map;
import java.util.Map.Entry;
import java.util.regex.Matcher;
import java.util.regex.Pattern;

public class EnumGenerator
{
    static void fail(String message)
    {
        System.err.println(message);
        System.exit(1);
    }

    static void run(String[] args)
    throws Exception
    {
        Pattern pattern = Pattern.compile("\\s*(\\w+)\\s*(?:=\\s*(\\d+))?\\s*", Pattern.UNICODE_CHARACTER_CLASS);
        Charset charset = Charset.forName("UTF8");
        String tab = "    ";

        if (args.length != 3)
        {
            fail("Required arguments: <enum name> <input file> <output dir>");
        }

        String enumName = args[0];

        File inputFile = new File(args[1]);

        if (inputFile.isFile() == false)
        {
            fail("Not a file: [" + inputFile.getCanonicalPath() + "]");
        }

        File outputDir = new File(args[2]);

        if (outputDir.isDirectory() == false)
        {
            fail("Not a directory: [" + outputDir.getCanonicalPath() + "]");
        }

        File headerFile = new File(outputDir, enumName + ".h");
        File codeFile = new File(outputDir, enumName + ".cpp");

        for (File file : new File[] { headerFile, codeFile })
        {
            if (file.exists())
            {
                fail("Will not overwrite file [" + file.getCanonicalPath() + "]");
            }
        }

        int nextValue = 0;

        Map<String, Integer> fields = new LinkedHashMap<>();

        try
        (
            BufferedReader reader = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(new FileInputStream(inputFile), charset));
        )
        {
            while (true)
            {
                String line = reader.readLine();

                if (line == null)
                {
                    break;
                }

                if (line.trim().length() == 0)
                {
                    continue;
                }

                Matcher matcher = pattern.matcher(line);

                if (matcher.matches() == false)
                {
                    fail("Syntax error: [" + line + "]");
                }

                String fieldName = matcher.group(1);

                if (fields.containsKey(fieldName))
                {
                    fail("Double fiend name: " + fieldName);
                }

                String valueString = matcher.group(2);

                if (valueString != null)
                {
                    int value = Integer.parseInt(valueString);

                    if (value < nextValue)
                    {
                        fail("Not a monotonous progression from " + nextValue + " to " + value + " for enum field " + fieldName);
                    }

                    nextValue = value;
                }

                fields.put(fieldName, nextValue);

                ++nextValue;
            }
        }

        try
        (
            PrintWriter headerWriter = new PrintWriter(new OutputStreamWriter(new FileOutputStream(headerFile), charset));
            PrintWriter codeWriter = new PrintWriter(new OutputStreamWriter(new FileOutputStream(codeFile), charset));
        )
        {
            headerWriter.println();
            headerWriter.println("#include <iosfwd>");
            headerWriter.println();
            headerWriter.println("enum class " + enumName);
            headerWriter.println('{');
            boolean first = true;
            for (Entry<String, Integer> entry : fields.entrySet())
            {
                if (first == false)
                {
                    headerWriter.println(",");
                }

                headerWriter.print(tab + entry.getKey() + " = " + entry.getValue());

                first = false;
            }
            if (first == false)
            {
                headerWriter.println();
            }
            headerWriter.println("};");
            headerWriter.println();
            headerWriter.println("std::ostream & operator << (std::ostream &, const " + enumName + "&);");
            headerWriter.println();

            codeWriter.println();
            codeWriter.println("#include <ostream>");
            codeWriter.println();
            codeWriter.println("#include \"" + enumName + ".h\"");
            codeWriter.println();
            codeWriter.println("std::ostream & operator << (std::ostream &out, const " + enumName + "&value)");
            codeWriter.println('{');
            codeWriter.println(tab + "switch(value)");
            codeWriter.println(tab + '{');
            first = true;
            for (Entry<String, Integer> entry : fields.entrySet())
            {
                codeWriter.println(tab + "case " + enumName + "::" + entry.getKey() + ':');
                codeWriter.println(tab + tab + "out << \"" + entry.getKey() + "\";");
                codeWriter.println(tab + tab + "break;");

                first = false;
            }
            codeWriter.println(tab + "default:");
            codeWriter.println(tab + tab + "out << \"<unknown>\";");
            codeWriter.println(tab + '}');
            codeWriter.println();
            codeWriter.println(tab + "return out;");
            codeWriter.println('}');
            codeWriter.println();
        }
    }

    public static void main(String[] args)
    {
        try
        {
            run(args);
        }
        catch(Exception exc)
        {
            exc.printStackTrace();
            System.exit(1);
        }
    }
}

And a port to Python 3.5 because different enough to be potentially helpful

import re
import collections
import sys
import io
import os

def fail(*args):
    print(*args)
    exit(1)

pattern = re.compile(r'\s*(\w+)\s*(?:=\s*(\d+))?\s*')
tab = "    "

if len(sys.argv) != 4:
    n=0
    for arg in sys.argv:
        print("arg", n, ":", arg, " / ", sys.argv[n])
        n += 1
    fail("Required arguments: <enum name> <input file> <output dir>")

enumName = sys.argv[1]

inputFile = sys.argv[2]

if not os.path.isfile(inputFile):
    fail("Not a file: [" + os.path.abspath(inputFile) + "]")

outputDir = sys.argv[3]

if not os.path.isdir(outputDir):
    fail("Not a directory: [" + os.path.abspath(outputDir) + "]")

headerFile = os.path.join(outputDir, enumName + ".h")
codeFile = os.path.join(outputDir, enumName + ".cpp")

for file in [ headerFile, codeFile ]:
    if os.path.exists(file):
        fail("Will not overwrite file [" + os.path.abspath(file) + "]")

nextValue = 0

fields = collections.OrderedDict()

for line in open(inputFile, 'r'):
    line = line.strip()

    if len(line) == 0:
        continue

    match = pattern.match(line)

    if match == None:
        fail("Syntax error: [" + line + "]")

    fieldName = match.group(1)

    if fieldName in fields:
        fail("Double field name: " + fieldName)

    valueString = match.group(2)

    if valueString != None:
        value = int(valueString)

        if value < nextValue:
            fail("Not a monotonous progression from " + nextValue + " to " + value + " for enum field " + fieldName)

        nextValue = value

    fields[fieldName] = nextValue

    nextValue += 1

headerWriter = open(headerFile, 'w')
codeWriter = open(codeFile, 'w')

try:
    headerWriter.write("\n")
    headerWriter.write("#include <iosfwd>\n")
    headerWriter.write("\n")
    headerWriter.write("enum class " + enumName + "\n")
    headerWriter.write("{\n")
    first = True
    for fieldName, fieldValue in fields.items():
        if not first:
            headerWriter.write(",\n")

        headerWriter.write(tab + fieldName + " = " + str(fieldValue))

        first = False
    if not first:
        headerWriter.write("\n")
    headerWriter.write("};\n")
    headerWriter.write("\n")
    headerWriter.write("std::ostream & operator << (std::ostream &, const " + enumName + "&);\n")
    headerWriter.write("\n")

    codeWriter.write("\n")
    codeWriter.write("#include <ostream>\n")
    codeWriter.write("\n")
    codeWriter.write("#include \"" + enumName + ".h\"\n")
    codeWriter.write("\n")
    codeWriter.write("std::ostream & operator << (std::ostream &out, const " + enumName + "&value)\n")
    codeWriter.write("{\n")
    codeWriter.write(tab + "switch(value)\n")
    codeWriter.write(tab + "{\n")
    for fieldName in fields.keys():
        codeWriter.write(tab + "case " + enumName + "::" + fieldName + ":\n")
        codeWriter.write(tab + tab + "out << \"" + fieldName + "\";\n")
        codeWriter.write(tab + tab + "break;\n")
    codeWriter.write(tab + "default:\n")
    codeWriter.write(tab + tab + "out << \"<unknown>\";\n")
    codeWriter.write(tab + "}\n")
    codeWriter.write("\n")
    codeWriter.write(tab + "return out;\n")
    codeWriter.write("}\n")
    codeWriter.write("\n")
finally:
    headerWriter.close()
    codeWriter.close()

Answer 3

My answer is here.

You can get enum value names and these indices simultaneously as deque of string.

This method only needs little copy and paste and edit.

Obtained result needs type-casting from size_t to enum class type when you need enum class type value, but I think it is a very portable and powerful way to treat enum class.

enum class myenum
{
  one = 0,
  two,
  three,
};

deque<string> ssplit(const string &_src, boost::regex &_re)
{
  boost::sregex_token_iterator it(_src.begin(), _src.end(), _re, -1);
  boost::sregex_token_iterator e;
  deque<string> tokens;
  while (it != e)
    tokens.push_back(*it++);
  return std::move(tokens);
}

int main()
{
  regex re(",");
  deque<string> tokens = ssplit("one,two,three", re);
  for (auto &t : tokens) cout << t << endl;
    getchar();
  return 0;
}

Answer 4

This is similar to Yuri Finkelstein; but does not required boost. I am using a map so you can assign any value to the enums, any order.

Declaration of enum class as:

DECLARE_ENUM_WITH_TYPE(TestEnumClass, int32_t, ZERO = 0x00, TWO = 0x02, ONE = 0x01, THREE = 0x03, FOUR);

The following code will automatically create the enum class and overload:

• '+' '+=' for std::string
• '<<' for streams
• '~' just to convert to string (Any unary operator will do, but I personally don't like it for clarity)
• '*' to get the count of enums

No boost required, all required functions provided.

Code:

#include <algorithm>
#include <iostream>
#include <map>
#include <sstream>
#include <string>
#include <vector>

#define STRING_REMOVE_CHAR(str, ch) str.erase(std::remove(str.begin(), str.end(), ch), str.end())

std::vector<std::string> splitString(std::string str, char sep = ',') {
    std::vector<std::string> vecString;
    std::string item;

    std::stringstream stringStream(str);

    while (std::getline(stringStream, item, sep))
    {
        vecString.push_back(item);
    }

    return vecString;
}

#define DECLARE_ENUM_WITH_TYPE(E, T, ...)                                                                     \
    enum class E : T                                                                                          \
    {                                                                                                         \
        __VA_ARGS__                                                                                           \
    };                                                                                                        \
    std::map<T, std::string> E##MapName(generateEnumMap<T>(#__VA_ARGS__));                                    \
    std::ostream &operator<<(std::ostream &os, E enumTmp)                                                     \
    {                                                                                                         \
        os << E##MapName[static_cast<T>(enumTmp)];                                                            \
        return os;                                                                                            \
    }                                                                                                         \
    size_t operator*(E enumTmp) { (void) enumTmp; return E##MapName.size(); }                                 \
    std::string operator~(E enumTmp) { return E##MapName[static_cast<T>(enumTmp)]; }                          \
    std::string operator+(std::string &&str, E enumTmp) { return str + E##MapName[static_cast<T>(enumTmp)]; } \
    std::string operator+(E enumTmp, std::string &&str) { return E##MapName[static_cast<T>(enumTmp)] + str; } \
    std::string &operator+=(std::string &str, E enumTmp)                                                      \
    {                                                                                                         \
        str += E##MapName[static_cast<T>(enumTmp)];                                                           \
        return str;                                                                                           \
    }                                                                                                         \
    E operator++(E &enumTmp)                                                                                  \
    {                                                                                                         \
        auto iter = E##MapName.find(static_cast<T>(enumTmp));                                                 \
        if (iter == E##MapName.end() || std::next(iter) == E##MapName.end())                                  \
            iter = E##MapName.begin();                                                                        \
        else                                                                                                  \
        {                                                                                                     \
            ++iter;                                                                                           \
        }                                                                                                     \
        enumTmp = static_cast<E>(iter->first);                                                                \
        return enumTmp;                                                                                       \
    }                                                                                                         \
    bool valid##E(T value) { return (E##MapName.find(value) != E##MapName.end()); }

#define DECLARE_ENUM(E, ...) DECLARE_ENUM_WITH_TYPE(E, int32_t, __VA_ARGS__)
template <typename T>
std::map<T, std::string> generateEnumMap(std::string strMap)
{
    STRING_REMOVE_CHAR(strMap, ' ');
    STRING_REMOVE_CHAR(strMap, '(');

    std::vector<std::string> enumTokens(splitString(strMap));
    std::map<T, std::string> retMap;
    T inxMap;

    inxMap = 0;
    for (auto iter = enumTokens.begin(); iter != enumTokens.end(); ++iter)
    {
        // Token: [EnumName | EnumName=EnumValue]
        std::string enumName;
        T enumValue;
        if (iter->find('=') == std::string::npos)
        {
            enumName = *iter;
        }
        else
        {
            std::vector<std::string> enumNameValue(splitString(*iter, '='));
            enumName = enumNameValue[0];
            //inxMap = static_cast<T>(enumNameValue[1]);
            if (std::is_unsigned<T>::value)
            {
                inxMap = static_cast<T>(std::stoull(enumNameValue[1], 0, 0));
            }
            else
            {
                inxMap = static_cast<T>(std::stoll(enumNameValue[1], 0, 0));
            }
        }
        retMap[inxMap++] = enumName;
    }

    return retMap;
}

Example:

DECLARE_ENUM_WITH_TYPE(TestEnumClass, int32_t, ZERO = 0x00, TWO = 0x02, ONE = 0x01, THREE = 0x03, FOUR);

int main(void) {
    TestEnumClass first, second;
    first = TestEnumClass::FOUR;
    second = TestEnumClass::TWO;

    std::cout << first << "(" << static_cast<uint32_t>(first) << ")" << std::endl; // FOUR(4)

    std::string strOne;
    strOne = ~first;
    std::cout << strOne << std::endl; // FOUR

    std::string strTwo;
    strTwo = ("Enum-" + second) + (TestEnumClass::THREE + "-test");
    std::cout << strTwo << std::endl; // Enum-TWOTHREE-test

    std::string strThree("TestEnumClass: ");
    strThree += second;
    std::cout << strThree << std::endl; // TestEnumClass: TWO
    std::cout << "Enum count=" << *first << std::endl;
}

You can run the code here

Answer 5

If your enum looks like

enum MyEnum
{
  AAA = -8,
  BBB = '8',
  CCC = AAA + BBB
};

You can move the content of the enum to a new file:

AAA = -8,
BBB = '8',
CCC = AAA + BBB

And then the values can be surrounded by a macro:

// default definition
#ifned ITEM(X,Y)
#define ITEM(X,Y)
#endif

// Items list
ITEM(AAA,-8)
ITEM(BBB,'8')
ITEM(CCC,AAA+BBB)

// clean up
#undef ITEM

Next step may be include the items in the enum again:

enum MyEnum
{
  #define ITEM(X,Y) X=Y,
  #include "enum_definition_file"
};

And finally you can generate utility functions about this enum:

std::string ToString(MyEnum value)
{
  switch( value )
  {
    #define ITEM(X,Y) case X: return #X;
    #include "enum_definition_file"
  }

  return "";
}

MyEnum FromString(std::string const& value)
{
  static std::map<std::string,MyEnum> converter
  {
    #define ITEM(X,Y) { #X, X },
    #include "enum_definition_file"
  };

  auto it = converter.find(value);
  if( it != converter.end() )
    return it->second;
  else
    throw std::runtime_error("Value is missing");
}

The solution can be applied to older C++ standards and it does not use modern C++ elements but it can be used to generate lot of code without too much effort and maintenance.

Answer 6

I don't know if you're going to like this or not, I'm not pretty happy with this solution but it is a C++14 friendly approach because it is using template variables and abusing template specialization:

enum class MyEnum : std::uint_fast8_t {
   AAA,
   BBB,
   CCC,
};

template<MyEnum> const char MyEnumName[] = "Invalid MyEnum value";
template<> const char MyEnumName<MyEnum::AAA>[] = "AAA";
template<> const char MyEnumName<MyEnum::BBB>[] = "BBB";
template<> const char MyEnumName<MyEnum::CCC>[] = "CCC";

int main()
{
    // Prints "AAA"
    std::cout << MyEnumName<MyEnum::AAA> << '\n';
    // Prints "Invalid MyEnum value"
    std::cout << MyEnumName<static_cast<MyEnum>(0x12345678)> << '\n';
    // Well... in fact it prints "Invalid MyEnum value" for any value
    // different of MyEnum::AAA, MyEnum::BBB or MyEnum::CCC.

    return 0;
}

The worst about this approach is that is a pain to maintain, but it is also a pain to maintain some of other similar aproaches, aren't they?

Good points about this aproach:

• Using variable tempates (C++14 feature)
• With template specialization we can "detect" when an invalid value is used (but I'm not sure if this could be useful at all).
• It looks neat.
• The name lookup is done at compile time.

Live example

Edit

Misterious user673679 you're right; the C++14 variable template approach doesn't handles the runtime case, it was my fault to forget it :(

But we can still use some modern C++ features and variable template plus variadic template trickery to achieve a runtime translation from enum value to string... it is as bothersome as the others but still worth to mention.

Let's start using a template alias to shorten the access to a enum-to-string map:

// enum_map contains pairs of enum value and value string for each enum
// this shortcut allows us to use enum_map<whatever>.
template <typename ENUM>
using enum_map = std::map<ENUM, const std::string>;

// This variable template will create a map for each enum type which is
// instantiated with.
template <typename ENUM>
enum_map<ENUM> enum_values{};

Then, the variadic template trickery:

template <typename ENUM>
void initialize() {}

template <typename ENUM, typename ... args>
void initialize(const ENUM value, const char *name, args ... tail)
{
    enum_values<ENUM>.emplace(value, name);
    initialize<ENUM>(tail ...);
}

The "best trick" here is the use of variable template for the map which contains the values and names of each enum entry; this map will be the same in each translation unit and have the same name everywhere so is pretty straightforward and neat, if we call the initialize function like this:

initialize
(
    MyEnum::AAA, "AAA",
    MyEnum::BBB, "BBB",
    MyEnum::CCC, "CCC"
);

We are asigning names to each MyEnum entry and can be used in runtime:

std::cout << enum_values<MyEnum>[MyEnum::AAA] << '\n';

But can be improved with SFINAE and overloading << operator:

template<typename ENUM, class = typename std::enable_if<std::is_enum<ENUM>::value>::type>
std::ostream &operator <<(std::ostream &o, const ENUM value)
{
    static const std::string Unknown{std::string{typeid(ENUM).name()} + " unknown value"};
    auto found = enum_values<ENUM>.find(value);

    return o << (found == enum_values<ENUM>.end() ? Unknown : found->second);
}

With the correct operator << now we can use the enum this way:

std::cout << MyEnum::AAA << '\n';

This is also bothersome to maintain and can be improved, but hope you get the idea.

Live example