enum to string in modern C++11 / C++14 / C++17 and future C++20

Question

Contrary to all other similar questions, this question is about using the new C++ features.

• 2008 c Is there a simple way to convert C++ enum to string?
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Answer 1

This gist provides a simple mapping based on C++ variadic templates.

This is a C++17-simplified version of the type-based map from the gist:

#include  // http://stackoverflow.com/q/24520781

template
struct map {
  static constexpr typename KeyValue::key_t get(const char* val) noexcept {
    if constexpr (sizeof...(RestOfKeyValues)==0)  // C++17 if constexpr
      return KeyValue::key; // Returns last element
    else {
      static_assert(KeyValue::val != nullptr,
                  "Only last element may have null name");
      return strcmp(val, KeyValue::val()) 
            ? map::get(val) : KeyValue::key;
    }
  }
  static constexpr const char* get(typename KeyValue::key_t key) noexcept {
    if constexpr (sizeof...(RestOfKeyValues)==0)
      return (KeyValue::val != nullptr) && (key == KeyValue::key)
            ? KeyValue::val() : "";
    else
      return (key == KeyValue::key) 
            ? KeyValue::val() : map::get(key);
  }
};

template
class names {
  typedef map Map;
public:
  static constexpr Enum get(const char* nam) noexcept {
    return Map::get(nam);
  }
  static constexpr const char* get(Enum key) noexcept {
    return Map::get(key);
  }
};

An example usage:

enum class fasion {
    fancy,
    classic,
    sporty,
    emo,
    __last__ = emo,
    __unknown__ = -1
};

#define NAME(s) static inline constexpr const char* s() noexcept {return #s;}
namespace name {
    NAME(fancy)
    NAME(classic)
    NAME(sporty)
    NAME(emo)
}

template  // C++17 template
struct _ {
    typedef decltype(K) key_t;
    typedef decltype(V) name_t;
    static constexpr key_t  key = K; // enum id value
    static constexpr name_t val = V; // enum id name
};

typedef names,
    _,
    _,
    _,
    _
> fasion_names;

The map can be used in both directions:

• fasion_names::get(fasion::emo)
• fasion_names::get("emo")

This example is available on godbolt.org

int main ()
{
  constexpr auto str = fasion_names::get(fasion::emo);
  constexpr auto fsn = fasion_names::get(str);
  return (int) fsn;
}

Result from gcc-7 -std=c++1z -Ofast -S

main:
        mov     eax, 3
        ret