Question

I used to think that in C++, if a constructor throws an exception, the destructor of this “partially constructed” class is not called.

But it seems that it is not true anymore in C++11: I compiled the following code with g++ and it prints “X destructor” to the console. Why is this?

#include <exception>
#include <iostream>
#include <stdexcept>
using namespace std;

class X
{
public:
    X() : X(10)
    {
        throw runtime_error("Exception thrown in X::X()");    
    }
    X(int a)
    {
        cout << "X::X(" << a << ")" << endl;
    }
    ~X()
    {
        cout << "X destructor" << endl;
    }
};

int main()
{
    try
    {
        X x;
    }
    catch(const exception& e)
    {
        cerr << "*** ERROR: " << e.what() << endl;
    }
}

Output

Standard out:
X::X(10) 
X destructor
Standard error: 
*** ERROR: Exception thrown in X::X()

Answer 1

Delegating constuctors are indeed a new feature that introduces a new destruction logic.

Let us revisit the lifetime of an object: An object’s lifetime begins when some constructor has finished. (See 15.2/2. The standard calls this the “principal constructor”.) In your case, this is the constructor X(int). The second, delegating constructor X() acts as just a plain member function now. Upon scope unwinding, the destructors of all fully-constructed objects are called, and this includes x.

The implications of this are actually quite profound: You can now put “complex” work loads into a constructor and take full advantage of the usual exception propagation, as long as you make your constructor delegate to another constructor. Such a design can obviate the need for various “init”-functions that used to be popular whenever it wasn’t desired to put too much work into a regular constructor.

The specific language that defines the behaviour you’re seeing is:

[C++11: 15.2/2]: [..] Similarly, if the non-delegating constructor for an object
has completed execution and a delegating constructor for that object exits with an exception, the object’s destructor will be invoked. [..]