How do I check for C++11 support?

Question

Is there a way to detect at compile-time if the compiler supports certain features of C++11? For example, something like this:

#ifndef VARIADIC_TEMPLATES_SUPPORTED  #error "Your compiler doesn't support variadic templates.  :("  #else  template <typename... DatatypeList> class Tuple {     // ... }  #endif 

Answer 1

There is a constant named __cplusplus that C++ compilers should set to the version of the C++ standard supported see this

#if __cplusplus <= 199711L   #error This library needs at least a C++11 compliant compiler #endif 

It is set to 199711L in Visual Studio 2010 SP1, but I do not know if vendors will be so bold to increase it already if they just have (partial) compiler-level support versus a standard C++ library with all the C++11 changes.

So Boost's defines mentioned in another answer remain the only sane way to figure out if there is, for example, support for C++11 threads and other specific parts of the standard.