C++ get description of an exception caught in catch(…) block

Question

can I get description of an exception caught by

catch(...)

block? something like .what() of std::exception.

Answer 1

If you know you only throw std::exception or subclasses, try

catch(std::exception& e) {...e.what()... }

Otherwise, as DeadMG wrote, since you can throw (almost) everything, you cannot assume anything about what you caught.

Normally catch(...) should only be used as the last defense when using badly written or documented external libraries. So you would use an hierarchy

catch(my::specialException& e) {
      // I know what happened and can handle it
      ... handle special case
      }
catch(my::otherSpecialException& e) {
      // I know what happened and can handle it
      ... handle other special case
      }
catch(std::exception& e) {
      //I can at least do something with it
      logger.out(e.what());
      }
catch(...) {
     // something happened that should not have 
     logger.out("oops");
     }