C++ Exceptions questions on rethrow of original exception

Question

In both cases, since you catch by reference, you are effectively altering the state of the original exception object (which you can think of as residing in a magical memory location which will stay valid during the subsequent unwinding -- 0x98e7058 in the example below). However,

1. In the first case, since you rethrow with throw; (which, unlike throw err;, preserves the original exception object, with your modifications, in said "magical location" at 0x98e7058) will reflect the call to append()
2. In the second case, since you throw something explicitly, a copy of err will be created then thrown anew (at a different "magical location" 0x98e70b0 -- because for all the compiler knows err could be an object on the stack about to be unwinded, like e was at 0xbfbce430, not in the "magical location" at 0x98e7058), so you will lose derived-class-specific data during the copy-construction of a base class instance.

Simple program to illustrate what's happening:

#include <stdio.h>

struct MyErr {
  MyErr() {
    printf("  Base default constructor, this=%p\n", this);
  }
  MyErr(const MyErr& other) {
    printf("  Base copy-constructor, this=%p from that=%p\n", this, &other);
  }
  virtual ~MyErr() {
    printf("  Base destructor, this=%p\n", this);
  }
};

struct MyErrDerived : public MyErr {
  MyErrDerived() {
    printf("  Derived default constructor, this=%p\n", this);
  }
  MyErrDerived(const MyErrDerived& other) {
    printf("  Derived copy-constructor, this=%p from that=%p\n", this, &other);
  }
  virtual ~MyErrDerived() {
    printf("  Derived destructor, this=%p\n", this);
  }
};

int main() {
  try {
    try {
      MyErrDerived e;
      throw e;
    } catch (MyErr& err) {
      printf("A Inner catch, &err=%p\n", &err);
      throw;
    }
  } catch (MyErr& err) {
    printf("A Outer catch, &err=%p\n", &err);
  }
  printf("---\n");
  try {
    try {
      MyErrDerived e;
      throw e;
    } catch (MyErr& err) {
      printf("B Inner catch, &err=%p\n", &err);
      throw err;
    }
  } catch (MyErr& err) {
    printf("B Outer catch, &err=%p\n", &err);
  }
  return 0;
}

Result:

  Base default constructor, this=0xbfbce430
  Derived default constructor, this=0xbfbce430
  Base default constructor, this=0x98e7058
  Derived copy-constructor, this=0x98e7058 from that=0xbfbce430
  Derived destructor, this=0xbfbce430
  Base destructor, this=0xbfbce430
A Inner catch, &err=0x98e7058
A Outer catch, &err=0x98e7058
  Derived destructor, this=0x98e7058
  Base destructor, this=0x98e7058
---
  Base default constructor, this=0xbfbce430
  Derived default constructor, this=0xbfbce430
  Base default constructor, this=0x98e7058
  Derived copy-constructor, this=0x98e7058 from that=0xbfbce430
  Derived destructor, this=0xbfbce430
  Base destructor, this=0xbfbce430
B Inner catch, &err=0x98e7058
  Base copy-constructor, this=0x98e70b0 from that=0x98e7058
  Derived destructor, this=0x98e7058
  Base destructor, this=0x98e7058
B Outer catch, &err=0x98e70b0
  Base destructor, this=0x98e70b0

Also see:

• Scope of exception object in C++
• Throwing ... "by reference"

This question is rather old and has an answer appropriate to the time it was asked. However, I just want to add a note on how to do proper exception handling since C++11 and I believe this corresponds very well to what you were trying to achieve with your append function:

Use std::nested_exception and std::throw_with_nested

It is described on StackOverflow here and here, how you can get a backtrace on your exceptions inside your code without need for a debugger or cumbersome logging, by simply writing a proper exception handler which will rethrow nested exceptions.

Since you can do this with any derived exception class, you can add a lot of information to such a backtrace! You may also take a look at my MWE on GitHub, where a backtrace would look something like this:

Library API: Exception caught in function 'api_function'
Backtrace:
~/Git/mwe-cpp-exception/src/detail/Library.cpp:17 : library_function failed
~/Git/mwe-cpp-exception/src/detail/Library.cpp:13 : could not open file "nonexistent.txt"

Yes, rethrowing rethrows the original exception object, which you have modified by a reference. You can also catch a base class reference, modify by it and still be able to rethrow the original derived exception type by throw;.

for first question, yes.

but for second, refer to Vlad answer. you will need to carefully design your exception object to handle copy ctor. by convention, base class doesn't recognize its child so you will most likely lose the additional data carried by derived class.