Creating a new object from dynamic type info

Question

In C++, is there any way to query the type of an object and then use that information to dynamically create a new object of the same type?

For example, say I have a

Answer 1

In C++, is there any way to query the type of an object...

Yes, use typeid() operator

For example:

// typeid, polymorphic class
 #include 
 #include 
 #include 
 using namespace std;

 class CBase { virtual void f(){} };
 class CDerived : public CBase {};

 int main () {
   try {
     CBase* a = new CBase;
     CBase* b = new CDerived;
      cout << "a is: " << typeid(a).name() << '\n';
     cout << "b is: " << typeid(b).name() << '\n';
     cout << "*a is: " << typeid(*a).name() << '\n';
     cout << "*b is: " << typeid(*b).name() << '\n';
    } catch (exception& e) { cout << "Exception: " << e.what() << endl; }
    return 0;
  }

Output:

a is: class CBase *
b is: class CBase *
*a is: class CBase
*b is: class CDerived

If the type typeid evaluates is a pointer preceded by the dereference operator (*), and this pointer has a null value, typeid throws a bad_typeid exception

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