Standard library header <iostream>

 

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Standard library headers

Language support <cfloat> <climits> <compare> (C++20) <coroutine> (C++20) <csetjmp> <csignal> <cstdarg> <cstddef> <cstdint> (C++11) <cstdlib> <exception> <initializer_list> (C++11)    <limits> <new> <source_location> (C++20) <stdfloat> (C++23) <typeinfo> <version> (C++20) Concepts <concepts> (C++20) Diagnostics <cassert> <cerrno> <debugging> (C++26) <stacktrace> (C++23) <stdexcept> <system_error> (C++11) Memory management <memory> <memory_resource> (C++17) <scoped_allocator> (C++11) Metaprogramming <type_traits> (C++11) <ratio> (C++11)

General utilities <any> (C++17) <bitset> <bit> (C++20) <charconv> (C++17) <expected> (C++23) <format> (C++20) <functional> <optional> (C++17) <tuple> (C++11) <typeindex> (C++11) <utility> <variant> (C++17) Containers <array> (C++11) <deque> <flat_map> (C++23) <flat_set> (C++23) <forward_list> (C++11) <inplace_vector> (C++26)    <list> <map> <mdspan> (C++23) <queue> <set> <span> (C++20) <stack> <unordered_map> (C++11) <unordered_set> (C++11) <vector> Iterators <iterator> Ranges <generator> (C++23) <ranges> (C++20)

Algorithms <algorithm> <numeric> Strings <cctype> <cstring> <cuchar> (C++11) <cwchar> <cwctype> <string_view> (C++17) <string> Text processing <clocale> <codecvt> (C++11/17/26*) <locale> <regex> (C++11) <text_encoding> (C++26)    Numerics <cfenv> (C++11) <cmath> <complex> <linalg> (C++26) <numbers> (C++20) <random> (C++11) <valarray> Time <chrono> (C++11) <ctime> C compatibility <ccomplex> (C++11/17/20*) <ciso646> (until C++20) <cstdalign> (C++11/17/20*) <cstdbool> (C++11/17/20*) <ctgmath> (C++11/17/20*)

Input/output <cinttypes> (C++11) <cstdio> <filesystem> (C++17) <fstream> <iomanip> <iosfwd> <iostream> <ios> <istream> <ostream> <print> (C++23) <spanstream> (C++23) <sstream> <streambuf> <strstream> (C++98/26*) <syncstream> (C++20) Concurrency support <atomic> (C++11) <barrier> (C++20) <condition_variable> (C++11) <future> (C++11) <hazard_pointer> (C++26) <latch> (C++20) <mutex> (C++11) <rcu> (C++26) <semaphore> (C++20) <shared_mutex> (C++14) <stdatomic.h> (C++23) <stop_token> (C++20) <thread> (C++11) Execution support <execution> (C++17)

 

This header is part of the Input/output library.

Including <iostream> behaves as if it defines a static storage duration object of type std::ios_base::Init, whose constructor initializes the standard stream objects if it is the first std::ios_base::Init object to be constructed, and whose destructor flushes those objects (except for cin and wcin) if it is the last std::ios_base::Init object to be destroyed.

Includes
<ios> (C++11)	std::ios_base class, std::basic_ios class template and typedefs
<streambuf> (C++11)	std::basic_streambuf class template
<istream> (C++11)	std::basic_istream class template and typedefs
<ostream> (C++11)	std::basic_ostream, std::basic_iostream class templates and typedefs
Objects
cinwcin	reads from the standard C input stream stdin (global object)
coutwcout	writes to the standard C output stream stdout (global object)
cerrwcerr	writes to the standard C error stream stderr, unbuffered (global object)
clogwclog	writes to the standard C error stream stderr (global object)

Synopsis

#include <ios>
#include <streambuf>
#include <istream>
#include <ostream>
 
namespace std {
  extern istream cin;
  extern ostream cout;
  extern ostream cerr;
  extern ostream clog;
 
  extern wistream wcin;
  extern wostream wcout;
  extern wostream wcerr;
  extern wostream wclog;
}

Defect reports

The following behavior-changing defect reports were applied retroactively to previously published C++ standards.

DR	Applied to	Behavior as published	Correct behavior
LWG 155	C++98	the type of the static object was std::basic_ios::Init (not strictly wrong, but the wording was misleading)	corrected to std::ios_base::Init
LWG 1123	C++98	including <iostream> did not guarantee the construction of std::ios_base::Init objects	guarantees