std::unique_ptr<T,Deleter>::release

 

C++

Compiler support

Freestanding and hosted

Language

Standard library

Standard library headers

Named requirements

Feature test macros (C++20)

Language support library

Concepts library (C++20)

Metaprogramming library (C++11)

Diagnostics library

General utilities library

Strings library

Containers library

Iterators library

Ranges library (C++20)

Algorithms library

Numerics library

Localizations library

Input/output library

Filesystem library (C++17)

Regular expressions library (C++11)

Concurrency support library (C++11)

Technical specifications

Symbols index

External libraries

 

Utilities library

Language support Type support (basic types, RTTI) Library feature-test macros (C++20) Dynamic memory management launder (C++17) Program utilities Coroutine support (C++20) Variadic functions is_constant_evaluated (C++20) initializer_list (C++11) source_location (C++20) Three-way comparison (C++20) three_way_comparablethree_way_comparable_with (C++20)(C++20) strong_ordering (C++20) weak_ordering (C++20) partial_ordering (C++20) common_comparison_category (C++20) compare_three_way_result (C++20) compare_three_way (C++20) strong_order (C++20) weak_order (C++20) partial_order (C++20) compare_strong_order_fallback (C++20) compare_weak_order_fallback (C++20) compare_partial_order_fallback (C++20)    is_eqis_neqis_ltis_lteqis_gtis_gteq (C++20)(C++20)(C++20)(C++20)(C++20)(C++20)

General utilities Date and time Function objects Formatting library (C++20) bitset hash (C++11) Relational operators (deprecated in C++20) rel_ops::operator!=rel_ops::operator> rel_ops::operator<=rel_ops::operator>= Integer comparison functions cmp_equalcmp_lesscmp_less_than (C++20)(C++20)(C++20)    cmp_not_equalcmp_greatercmp_greater_than (C++20)(C++20)(C++20) in_range (C++20) Swap and type operations swap ranges::swap (C++20) exchange (C++14) declval (C++11) to_underlying (C++23) forward (C++11) forward_like (C++23) move (C++11) move_if_noexcept (C++11) as_const (C++17) Common vocabulary types pair tuple (C++11) optional (C++17) any (C++17) variant (C++17) tuple_size (C++11) tuple_element (C++11) apply (C++17) make_from_tuple (C++17) expected (C++23) Elementary string conversions to_chars (C++17) from_chars (C++17) chars_format (C++17)

 

Dynamic memory management

Smart pointers unique_ptr (C++11) shared_ptr (C++11) weak_ptr (C++11) auto_ptr (until C++17) owner_less (C++11) enable_shared_from_this (C++11) bad_weak_ptr (C++11) default_delete (C++11) out_ptr_t (C++23) inout_ptr_t (C++23) Allocators allocator allocator_traits (C++11) allocation_result (C++23) allocator_arg (C++11) uses_allocator (C++11) uses_allocator_construction_args (C++20) make_obj_using_allocator (C++20) uninitialized_construct_using_allocator (C++20)   scoped_allocator_adaptor (C++11) pmr::polymorphic_allocator (C++17) Memory resources pmr::memory_resource (C++17) pmr::get_default_resource (C++17) pmr::set_default_resource (C++17) pmr::new_delete_resource (C++17) pmr::null_memory_resource (C++17) pmr::synchronized_pool_resource (C++17) pmr::unsynchronized_pool_resource (C++17) pmr::monotonic_buffer_resource (C++17) pmr::pool_options (C++17) Uninitialized storage raw_storage_iterator (until C++20) get_temporary_buffer (until C++20) return_temporary_buffer (until C++20)

Uninitialized memory algorithms uninitialized_copy uninitialized_fill uninitialized_move (C++17) uninitialized_default_construct (C++17) uninitialized_value_construct (C++17) destroy (C++17) destroy_at (C++17) uninitialized_copy_n (C++11) uninitialized_fill_n uninitialized_move_n (C++17) uninitialized_default_construct_n (C++17) uninitialized_value_construct_n (C++17) destroy_n (C++17) construct_at (C++20) Constrained uninitialized memory algorithms ranges::uninitialized_copy (C++20) ranges::uninitialized_fill (C++20) ranges::uninitialized_move (C++20) ranges::uninitialized_default_construct (C++20)   ranges::uninitialized_value_construct (C++20) ranges::destroy (C++20) ranges::destroy_at (C++20) ranges::uninitialized_copy_n (C++20) ranges::uninitialized_fill_n (C++20) ranges::uninitialized_move_n (C++20) ranges::uninitialized_default_construct_n (C++20) ranges::uninitialized_value_construct_n (C++20) ranges::destroy_n (C++20) ranges::construct_at (C++20) Garbage collection support declare_reachable (C++11)(until C++23) undeclare_reachable (C++11)(until C++23) declare_no_pointers (C++11)(until C++23) undeclare_no_pointers (C++11)(until C++23) pointer_safety (C++11)(until C++23) get_pointer_safety (C++11)(until C++23) Miscellaneous pointer_traits (C++11) to_address (C++20) addressof (C++11) align (C++11) assume_aligned (C++20) C Library malloc aligned_alloc (C++17) calloc realloc free Low level memory management operator new operator new[] operator delete operator delete[] get_new_handler set_new_handler launder (C++17) bad_alloc bad_array_new_length nothrow_t align_val_t destroying_delete_t new_handler nothrow

 

std::unique_ptr

Member functions

unique_ptr::unique_ptr

unique_ptr::~unique_ptr

unique_ptr::operator=

Modifiers

unique_ptr::release

unique_ptr::reset

unique_ptr::swap

Observers

unique_ptr::get

unique_ptr::get_deleter

unique_ptr::operator bool

unique_ptr::operator*unique_ptr::operator->

unique_ptr::operator[]

Non-member functions

make_uniquemake_unique_for_overwrite (C++14)(C++20)

operator==operator!=operator<operator>operator<=operator>=operator<=> (until C++20)(C++20)

operator<< (C++20)

std::swap

std::hash

 

pointer release() noexcept;		(since C++11) (constexpr since C++23)

Releases the ownership of the managed object, if any.

get() returns nullptr after the call.

The caller is responsible for deleting the object.

Parameters

(none)

Return value

Pointer to the managed object or nullptr if there was no managed object, i.e. the value which would be returned by get() before the call.

Example

Run this code

#include <memory>
#include <iostream>
#include <cassert>
 
struct Foo {
    Foo() { std::cout << "Foo\n"; }
    ~Foo() { std::cout << "~Foo\n"; }
};
 
int main()
{
    std::cout << "Creating new Foo...\n";
    std::unique_ptr<Foo> up(new Foo());
 
    std::cout << "About to release Foo...\n";
    Foo* fp = up.release();
 
    assert (up.get() == nullptr);
    assert (up == nullptr);
 
    std::cout << "Foo is no longer owned by unique_ptr...\n";
 
    delete fp;
}

Output:

Creating new Foo...
Foo
About to release Foo...
Foo is no longer owned by unique_ptr...
~Foo

See also

get	returns a pointer to the managed object (public member function)
reset	replaces the managed object (public member function)