Question

Is there a compiler out there that returns the name of a type in a readable fashion (or library providing that functionality or tool). Essentially what I want is the string corresponding to the type expression you’d write it in your source code.

Answer 1

 typeid(var).name()

is what you are looking for. The output differs from compiler to compiler though… For gcc the output for int is i, for unsigned is j, for example. Here is a small test program:

#include <iostream>
#include <typeinfo>

struct A { virtual ~A() { } };
struct B : A { };

class C { };
class D : public C { };

int main() {
  B b;
  A* ap = &b;
  A& ar = b;
  std::cout << "ap: " << typeid(*ap).name() << std::endl;
  std::cout << "ar: " << typeid(ar).name() << std::endl;

  D d;
  C* cp = &d;
  C& cr = d;
  std::cout << "cp: " << typeid(*cp).name() << std::endl;
  std::cout << "cr: " << typeid(cr).name() << std::endl;

  int e;
  unsigned f;
  char g;
  float h;
  double i;
  std::cout << "int:\t" << typeid(e).name() << std::endl;
  std::cout << "unsigned:\t" << typeid(f).name() << std::endl;
  std::cout << "char:\t" << typeid(g).name() << std::endl;
  std::cout << "float:\t" << typeid(h).name() << std::endl;
  std::cout << "double:\t" << typeid(i).name() << std::endl;
}

See also this question: typeid(T).name() alternative in c++11?