Programmatically determine whether exceptions are enabled

Question

Most C++ compilers allow for exceptions to be disabled. Is there a way to determine it from the code without using compiler-specific preprocessor macros, such as _CPPUNWIND for MSVC? Ideally at compile time.

Answer 1

Since WG21 in 2014, there is a recommended macro to use

__cpp_exceptions

It will have the value 199711 if exceptions are supported and the compiler conforms to C++98. Other similar feature macros are shown here.

Answer 2

No. Exceptions are part of C++. The fact that some compilers allow you to disable them is quite irrelevant and the Standard will not provide for you to detect if they're enabled- as far as it's concerned, they're always enabled. If you want to know about implementation-specific behaviour, the only way to go is to ask the implementation.