std.meta

template AliasSeq(TList...)

Creates a sequence of zero or more aliases. This is most commonly used as template parameters or arguments.

Examples:

import std.meta;
alias TL = AliasSeq!(int, double);

int foo(TL td)  // same as int foo(int, double);
{
    return td[0] + cast(int)td[1];
}

Examples:

alias TL = AliasSeq!(int, double);

alias Types = AliasSeq!(TL, char);
static assert(is(Types == AliasSeq!(int, double, char)));

template Alias(alias a)

template Alias(T)

Allows aliasing of any single symbol, type or compile-time expression.

Not everything can be directly aliased. An alias cannot be declared of - for example - a literal:

alias a = 4; //Error

With this template any single entity can be aliased:

alias b = Alias!4; //OK

See Also:

To alias more than one thing at once, use AliasSeq

Examples:

// Without Alias this would fail if Args[0] was e.g. a value and
// some logic would be needed to detect when to use enum instead
alias Head(Args ...) = Alias!(Args[0]);
alias Tail(Args ...) = Args[1 .. $];

alias Blah = AliasSeq!(3, int, "hello");
static assert(Head!Blah == 3);
static assert(is(Head!(Tail!Blah) == int));
static assert((Tail!Blah)[1] == "hello");

Examples:

alias a = Alias!(123);
static assert(a == 123);

enum abc = 1;
alias b = Alias!(abc);
static assert(b == 1);

alias c = Alias!(3 + 4);
static assert(c == 7);

alias concat = (s0, s1) => s0 ~ s1;
alias d = Alias!(concat("Hello", " World!"));
static assert(d == "Hello World!");

alias e = Alias!(int);
static assert(is(e == int));

alias f = Alias!(AliasSeq!(int));
static assert(!is(typeof(f[0]))); //not an AliasSeq
static assert(is(f == int));

auto g = 6;
alias h = Alias!g;
++h;
assert(g == 7);

enum auto staticIndexOf(T, TList...);

enum auto staticIndexOf(alias T, TList...);

Returns the index of the first occurrence of type T in the sequence of zero or more types TList. If not found, -1 is returned.

Examples:

import std.stdio;

void foo()
{
    writefln("The index of long is %s",
             staticIndexOf!(long, AliasSeq!(int, long, double)));
    // prints: The index of long is 1
}

alias IndexOf = staticIndexOf(T, TList...);

Kept for backwards compatibility

template Erase(T, TList...)

template Erase(alias T, TList...)

Returns a typetuple created from TList with the first occurrence, if any, of T removed.

Examples:

alias Types = AliasSeq!(int, long, double, char);
alias TL = Erase!(long, Types);
static assert(is(TL == AliasSeq!(int, double, char)));

template EraseAll(T, TList...)

template EraseAll(alias T, TList...)

Returns a typetuple created from TList with the all occurrences, if any, of T removed.

Examples:

alias Types = AliasSeq!(int, long, long, int);

alias TL = EraseAll!(long, Types);
static assert(is(TL == AliasSeq!(int, int)));

template NoDuplicates(TList...)

Returns a typetuple created from TList with the all duplicate types removed.

Examples:

alias Types = AliasSeq!(int, long, long, int, float);

alias TL = NoDuplicates!(Types);
static assert(is(TL == AliasSeq!(int, long, float)));

template Replace(T, U, TList...)

template Replace(alias T, U, TList...)

template Replace(T, alias U, TList...)

template Replace(alias T, alias U, TList...)

Returns a typetuple created from TList with the first occurrence of type T, if found, replaced with type U.

Examples:

alias Types = AliasSeq!(int, long, long, int, float);

alias TL = Replace!(long, char, Types);
static assert(is(TL == AliasSeq!(int, char, long, int, float)));

template ReplaceAll(T, U, TList...)

template ReplaceAll(alias T, U, TList...)

template ReplaceAll(T, alias U, TList...)

template ReplaceAll(alias T, alias U, TList...)

Returns a typetuple created from TList with all occurrences of type T, if found, replaced with type U.

Examples:

alias Types = AliasSeq!(int, long, long, int, float);

alias TL = ReplaceAll!(long, char, Types);
static assert(is(TL == AliasSeq!(int, char, char, int, float)));

template Reverse(TList...)

Returns a typetuple created from TList with the order reversed.

Examples:

alias Types = AliasSeq!(int, long, long, int, float);

alias TL = Reverse!(Types);
static assert(is(TL == AliasSeq!(float, int, long, long, int)));

template MostDerived(T, TList...)

Returns the type from TList that is the most derived from type T. If none are found, T is returned.

Examples:

class A { }
class B : A { }
class C : B { }
alias Types = AliasSeq!(A, C, B);

MostDerived!(Object, Types) x;  // x is declared as type C
static assert(is(typeof(x) == C));

template DerivedToFront(TList...)

Returns the typetuple TList with the types sorted so that the most derived types come first.

Examples:

class A { }
class B : A { }
class C : B { }
alias Types = AliasSeq!(A, C, B);

alias TL = DerivedToFront!(Types);
static assert(is(TL == AliasSeq!(C, B, A)));

template staticMap(alias F, T...)

Evaluates to AliasSeq!(F!(T[0]), F!(T[1]), ..., F!(T[$ - 1])).

Examples:

import std.traits : Unqual;
alias TL = staticMap!(Unqual, int, const int, immutable int);
static assert(is(TL == AliasSeq!(int, int, int)));

template allSatisfy(alias F, T...)

Tests whether all given items satisfy a template predicate, i.e. evaluates to F!(T[0]) && F!(T[1]) && ... && F!(T[$ - 1]).

Evaluation is not short-circuited if a false result is encountered; the template predicate must be instantiable with all the given items.

Examples:

import std.traits : isIntegral;

static assert(!allSatisfy!(isIntegral, int, double));
static assert( allSatisfy!(isIntegral, int, long));

template anySatisfy(alias F, T...)

Tests whether any given items satisfy a template predicate, i.e. evaluates to F!(T[0]) || F!(T[1]) || ... || F!(T[$ - 1]).

Evaluation is not short-circuited if a true result is encountered; the template predicate must be instantiable with all the given items.

Examples:

import std.traits : isIntegral;

static assert(!anySatisfy!(isIntegral, string, double));
static assert( anySatisfy!(isIntegral, int, double));

template Filter(alias pred, TList...)

Filters an AliasSeq using a template predicate. Returns a AliasSeq of the elements which satisfy the predicate.

Examples:

import std.traits : isNarrowString, isUnsigned;

alias Types1 = AliasSeq!(string, wstring, dchar[], char[], dstring, int);
alias TL1 = Filter!(isNarrowString, Types1);
static assert(is(TL1 == AliasSeq!(string, wstring, char[])));

alias Types2 = AliasSeq!(int, byte, ubyte, dstring, dchar, uint, ulong);
alias TL2 = Filter!(isUnsigned, Types2);
static assert(is(TL2 == AliasSeq!(ubyte, uint, ulong)));

template templateNot(alias pred)

Negates the passed template predicate.

Examples:

import std.traits : isPointer;

alias isNoPointer = templateNot!isPointer;
static assert(!isNoPointer!(int*));
static assert(allSatisfy!(isNoPointer, string, char, float));

template templateAnd(Preds...)

Combines several template predicates using logical AND, i.e. constructs a new predicate which evaluates to true for a given input T if and only if all of the passed predicates are true for T.

The predicates are evaluated from left to right, aborting evaluation in a short-cut manner if a false result is encountered, in which case the latter instantiations do not need to compile.

Examples:

import std.traits : isNumeric, isUnsigned;

alias storesNegativeNumbers = templateAnd!(isNumeric, templateNot!isUnsigned);
static assert(storesNegativeNumbers!int);
static assert(!storesNegativeNumbers!string && !storesNegativeNumbers!uint);

// An empty list of predicates always yields true.
alias alwaysTrue = templateAnd!();
static assert(alwaysTrue!int);

template templateOr(Preds...)

Combines several template predicates using logical OR, i.e. constructs a new predicate which evaluates to true for a given input T if and only at least one of the passed predicates is true for T.

The predicates are evaluated from left to right, aborting evaluation in a short-cut manner if a true result is encountered, in which case the latter instantiations do not need to compile.

Examples:

import std.traits : isPointer, isUnsigned;

alias isPtrOrUnsigned = templateOr!(isPointer, isUnsigned);
static assert( isPtrOrUnsigned!uint &&  isPtrOrUnsigned!(short*));
static assert(!isPtrOrUnsigned!int  && !isPtrOrUnsigned!(string));

// An empty list of predicates never yields true.
alias alwaysFalse = templateOr!();
static assert(!alwaysFalse!int);

template aliasSeqOf(alias range)

Converts an input range range to an alias sequence.

Examples:

import std.algorithm : map, sort;
import std.string : capitalize;

struct S
{
    int a;
    int c;
    int b;
}

alias capMembers = aliasSeqOf!([__traits(allMembers, S)].sort().map!capitalize());
static assert(capMembers[0] == "A");
static assert(capMembers[1] == "B");
static assert(capMembers[2] == "C");

Examples:

enum REF = [0, 1, 2, 3];
foreach(I, V; aliasSeqOf!([0, 1, 2, 3]))
{
    static assert(V == I);
    static assert(V == REF[I]);
}

template ApplyLeft(alias Template, args...)

template ApplyRight(alias Template, args...)

Partially applies Template by binding its first (left) or last (right) arguments to args.

Behaves like the identity function when args is empty.

Parameters:

Template	template to partially apply
args	arguments to bind

Returns:

Template with arity smaller than or equal to Template

Examples:

import std.traits : isImplicitlyConvertible;

static assert(allSatisfy!(
    ApplyLeft!(isImplicitlyConvertible, ubyte),
    short, ushort, int, uint, long, ulong));

static assert(is(Filter!(ApplyRight!(isImplicitlyConvertible, short),
    ubyte, string, short, float, int) == AliasSeq!(ubyte, short)));

Examples:

import std.traits : hasMember, ifTestable;

struct T1
{
    bool foo;
}

struct T2
{
    struct Test
    {
        bool opCast(T : bool)() { return true; }
    }

    Test foo;
}

static assert(allSatisfy!(ApplyRight!(hasMember, "foo"), T1, T2));
static assert(allSatisfy!(ApplyRight!(ifTestable, a => a.foo), T1, T2));

Examples:

import std.traits : Largest;

alias Types = AliasSeq!(byte, short, int, long);

static assert(is(staticMap!(ApplyLeft!(Largest, short), Types) ==
            AliasSeq!(short, short, int, long)));
static assert(is(staticMap!(ApplyLeft!(Largest, int), Types) ==
            AliasSeq!(int, int, int, long)));

Examples:

import std.traits : FunctionAttribute, SetFunctionAttributes;

static void foo() @system;
static int bar(int) @system;

alias SafeFunctions = AliasSeq!(
    void function() @safe,
    int function(int) @safe);

static assert(is(staticMap!(ApplyRight!(
    SetFunctionAttributes, "D", FunctionAttribute.safe),
    typeof(&foo), typeof(&bar)) == SafeFunctions));

template Repeat(size_t n, TList...) if (n > 0)

Creates an AliasSeq which repeats a type or an AliasSeq exactly n times.

Examples:

alias ImInt1 = Repeat!(1, immutable(int));
static assert(is(ImInt1 == AliasSeq!(immutable(int))));

alias Real3 = Repeat!(3, real);
static assert(is(Real3 == AliasSeq!(real, real, real)));

alias Real12 = Repeat!(4, Real3);
static assert(is(Real12 == AliasSeq!(real, real, real, real, real, real,
    real, real, real, real, real, real)));

alias Composite = AliasSeq!(uint, int);
alias Composite2 = Repeat!(2, Composite);
static assert(is(Composite2 == AliasSeq!(uint, int, uint, int)));

Examples:

auto staticArray(T, size_t n)(Repeat!(n, T) elems)
{
    T[n] a = [elems];
    return a;
}

auto a = staticArray!(long, 3)(3, 1, 4);
assert(is(typeof(a) == long[3]));
assert(a == [3, 1, 4]);

template staticSort(alias cmp, Seq...)

Sorts a AliasSeq using cmp.

Parameters: cmp = A template that returns a bool (if its first argument is less than the second one) or an int (-1 means less than, 0 means equal, 1 means greater than)

Seq = The AliasSeq to sort

Returns:

The sorted alias sequence

Examples:

alias Nums = AliasSeq!(7, 2, 3, 23);
enum Comp(int N1, int N2) = N1 < N2;
static assert(AliasSeq!(2, 3, 7, 23) == staticSort!(Comp, Nums));

Examples:

alias Types = AliasSeq!(uint, short, ubyte, long, ulong);
enum Comp(T1, T2) = __traits(isUnsigned, T2) - __traits(isUnsigned, T1);
static assert(is(AliasSeq!(uint, ubyte, ulong, short, long) == staticSort!(Comp,
    Types)));