Regular Cast Vs. Static_Cast Vs. Dynamic_Cast [Duplicate]

Question

I've been writing C and C++ code for almost twenty years, but there's one aspect of these languages that I've never really understood. I've obviously used regular casts i.e.

MyClass *m = (MyClass *)ptr;

all over the place, but there seem to be two other types of casts, and I don't know the difference. What's the difference between the following lines of code?

MyClass *m = (MyClass *)ptr;
MyClass *m = static_cast<MyClass *>(ptr);
MyClass *m = dynamic_cast<MyClass *>(ptr);

Accepted Answer

Must Read

static_cast

static_cast is used for cases where you basically want to reverse an implicit conversion, with a few restrictions and additions. static_cast performs no runtime checks. This should be used if you know that you refer to an object of a specific type, and thus a check would be unnecessary. Example:

void func(void *data) {
  // Conversion from MyClass* -> void* is implicit
  MyClass *c = static_cast<MyClass*>(data);
  ...
}

int main() {
  MyClass c;
  start_thread(&func, &c)  // func(&c) will be called
      .join();
}

In this example, you know that you passed a MyClass object, and thus there isn't any need for a runtime check to ensure this.

Regular Cast Vs. Static_Cast Vs. Dynamic_Cast [Duplicate]

8 Answers

Must Read

static_cast

Sarah Jenkins