Visiting an std::variant
std::variant
is a new standard container that was added to C++17 based on the boost.variant
library. A variant is a type-safe union that holds the value of one of its alternative types. Although in the previous recipe we have seen various operations with variants, the variants we used were rather simple, with POD types mostly, which is not the actual purpose for which std::variant
was created. Variants are intended to be used for holding alternatives of similar non-polymorphic and non-POD types. In this recipe, we will see a more real-world example of using variants and will learn how to visit variants.
Getting ready
For this recipe, you should be familiar with the std::variant
type. It is recommended that you first read the previous recipe, Using std::variant as a type-safe union.
To explain how variant visitation can be done, we will consider a variant for representing a media DVD. Let's suppose we want to model a store or library that has...