In c++ what does a tilde “~” before a function name signify?

Question

 template 
 class Stack
 {
 public:
    Stack(int = 10) ; 
    ~Stack() { delete [] stackPtr ; }  //<--- What does the \"~\" signify?
    int push(         


        

Answer 1

It's a destructor. The function is guaranteed to be called when the object goes out of scope.

Answer 2

As others have noted, in the instance you are asking about it is the destructor for class Stack.

But taking your question exactly as it appears in the title:

In c++ what does a tilde “~” before a function name signify?

there is another situation. In any context except immediately before the name of a class (which is the destructor context), ~ is the one's complement (or bitwise not) operator. To be sure it does not come up very often, but you can imagine a case like

if (~getMask()) { ...

which looks similar, but has a very different meaning.

Answer 3

This is a destructor. It's called when the object is destroyed (out of life scope or deleted).

To be clear, you have to use ~NameOfTheClass like for the constructor, other names are invalid.

Answer 4

It's the destructor, it destroys the instance, frees up memory, etc. etc.

Here's a description from ibm.com:

Destructors are usually used to deallocate memory and do other cleanup for a class object and its class members when the object is destroyed. A destructor is called for a class object when that object passes out of scope or is explicitly deleted.

See https://www.ibm.com/support/knowledgecenter/en/ssw_ibm_i_74/rzarg/cplr380.htm

Answer 5

It's the destructor. This method is called when the instance of your class is destroyed:

Stack<int> *stack= new Stack<int>;
//do something
delete stack; //<- destructor is called here;

Answer 6

That would be the destructor(freeing up any dynamic memory)