Boost C++ Libraries

template <class T>
struct is_pod : public true_type-or-false_type {};

Inherits: If T is a (possibly cv-qualified) POD type then inherits from true_type, otherwise inherits from false_type.

POD stands for "Plain old data". Arithmetic types, and enumeration types, a pointers and pointer to members are all PODs. Classes and unions can also be POD's if they have no non-static data members that are of reference or non-POD type, no user defined constructors, no user defined assignment operators, no private or protected non-static data members, no virtual functions and no base classes. Finally, a cv-qualified POD is still a POD, as is an array of PODs.

C++ Standard Reference: 3.9p10 and 9p4 (Note that POD's are also aggregates, see 8.5.1).

Compiler Compatibility: If the compiler does not support partial-specialization of class templates, then this template can not be used with function types.

Without some (as yet unspecified) help from the compiler, is_pod will never report that a class or struct is a POD; this is always safe, if possibly sub-optimal. Currently (May 2011) compilers more recent than Visual C++ 8, GCC-4.3, Greenhills 6.0, Intel-11.0, and Codegear have the necessary compiler intrinsics to ensure that this trait "just works". You may also test to see if the necessary intrinsics are available by checking to see if the macro BOOST_IS_POD is defined.

Header: #include <boost/type_traits/is_pod.hpp> or #include <boost/type_traits.hpp>

Examples: