c++: generating string literals from template parameters

Question

template < unsigned int i >
struct t {
  static const char *s;
};
template < unsigned int i >
const char* t<i>::s = ...;

where ... is "0 1 2 ... i-1", for example "0 1 2 3 4" for i == 5.

Is this possible? (no solutions doing this at run-time, please!)

• Question asked out of curiosity (doing it with preprocessor macros / constants would be easy, but how about template parameters)?
• The meaning is: compile-time generated string literal. I see now that const does not force this, but could take any run-time evaluated function for string generation.

Answer 1

This is technically possible, it's just very very ugly. Here's a sample that generates a string literal for an unsigned int. It does not (yet) create a string of the form "1 2 3 ... i-1", however I'm sure it is possible if you're willing to spend the effort.

#include <iostream>
#include <string>
#include <limits>

///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
// exponentiation calculations
template <int accum, int base, int exp> struct POWER_CORE : POWER_CORE<accum * base, base, exp - 1>{};

template <int accum, int base>
struct POWER_CORE<accum, base, 0>
{
    enum : int { val = accum };
};

template <int base, int exp> struct POWER : POWER_CORE<1, base, exp>{};

///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
// # of digit calculations
template <int depth, unsigned int i> struct NUM_DIGITS_CORE : NUM_DIGITS_CORE<depth + 1, i / 10>{};

template <int depth>
struct NUM_DIGITS_CORE<depth, 0>
{
    enum : int { val = depth};
};

template <int i> struct NUM_DIGITS : NUM_DIGITS_CORE<0, i>{};

template <>
struct NUM_DIGITS<0>
{
    enum : int { val = 1 };
};

///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
// Convert digit to character (1 -> '1')
template <int i>
struct DIGIT_TO_CHAR
{
    enum : char{ val = i + 48 };
};

///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
// Find the digit at a given offset into a number of the form 0000000017
template <unsigned int i, int place> // place -> [0 .. 10]
struct DIGIT_AT
{
    enum : char{ val = (i / POWER<10, place>::val) % 10 };
};

struct NULL_CHAR
{
    enum : char{ val = '\0' };
};

///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
// Convert the digit at a given offset into a number of the form '0000000017' to a character
template <unsigned int i, int place> // place -> [0 .. 9]
    struct ALT_CHAR : DIGIT_TO_CHAR< DIGIT_AT<i, place>::val >{};

///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
// Convert the digit at a given offset into a number of the form '17' to a character

// Template description, with specialization to generate null characters for out of range offsets
template <unsigned int i, int offset, int numDigits, bool inRange>  
    struct OFFSET_CHAR_CORE_CHECKED{};
template <unsigned int i, int offset, int numDigits>                
    struct OFFSET_CHAR_CORE_CHECKED<i, offset, numDigits, false> : NULL_CHAR{};
template <unsigned int i, int offset, int numDigits>                
    struct OFFSET_CHAR_CORE_CHECKED<i, offset, numDigits, true>  : ALT_CHAR<i, (numDigits - offset) - 1 >{};

// Perform the range check and pass it on
template <unsigned int i, int offset, int numDigits>
    struct OFFSET_CHAR_CORE : OFFSET_CHAR_CORE_CHECKED<i, offset, numDigits, offset < numDigits>{};

// Calc the number of digits and pass it on
template <unsigned int i, int offset>
    struct OFFSET_CHAR : OFFSET_CHAR_CORE<i, offset, NUM_DIGITS<i>::val>{};

///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
// Integer to char* template. Works on unsigned ints.
template <unsigned int i>
struct IntToStr
{
    const static char str[];
};

template <unsigned int i>
const char IntToStr<i>::str[] = 
{
    OFFSET_CHAR<i, 0>::val,
    OFFSET_CHAR<i, 1>::val,
    OFFSET_CHAR<i, 2>::val,
    OFFSET_CHAR<i, 3>::val,
    OFFSET_CHAR<i, 4>::val,
    OFFSET_CHAR<i, 5>::val,
    OFFSET_CHAR<i, 6>::val,
    OFFSET_CHAR<i, 7>::val,
    OFFSET_CHAR<i, 8>::val,
    OFFSET_CHAR<i, 9>::val,
    NULL_CHAR::val
};


///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
// Tests
int _tmain(int argc, _TCHAR* argv[])
{
    std::wcout << IntToStr<17>::str << std::endl;
    std::wcout << IntToStr<173457>::str << std::endl;
    std::wcout << IntToStr< INT_MAX >::str << std::endl;
    std::wcout << IntToStr<0>::str << std::endl;
    std::wcout << IntToStr<1>::str << std::endl;
    std::wcout << IntToStr<-1>::str << std::endl;

    return 0;
}