C++ – Handling Non-Copyable Elements in Vector

c++c++11move-semanticsstl

I have a non-copyable class (i.e. the copy constructor & assignment operator are marked as 'delete'). I would like to keep these in a std::vector.

It is a RAII class so simply storing the pointer or reference to it is not what I am looking for.

My knowledge of the new initialiser lists & move constructors is somewhat limited, is this possible?

Best Answer

Yes you can have std::vector<NotCopyable> if NotCopyable is movable:

struct NotCopyable
{
    NotCopyable() = default;
    NotCopyable(const NotCopyable&) = delete;
    NotCopyable& operator = (const NotCopyable&) = delete;

    NotCopyable(NotCopyable&&) = default;
    NotCopyable& operator = (NotCopyable&&) = default;
};

int main()
{
    std::vector<NotCopyable> v;
    NotCopyable nc;

    v.push_back(NotCopyable{});
    v.emplace_back();
    v.push_back(std::move(nc));
}

Live example.

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