Date: Sun, 14 Dec 2025 16:00:00 -0500
In the current draft, [optional.monadic] specifies that
std::optional<T>::transform(F &&f) & shall do the following:
> Let U be remove_cv_t<invoke_result_t<F, decltype(*val)>>.
> Mandates: ...
> [Note 1: There is no requirement that U is movable ([dcl.init.general]).
> Returns: If *this contains a value, an optional<U> object whose contained value is direct-non-list-initialized with invoke(std::forward<F>(f), *val); otherwise, optional<U>().
I'm wondering how this is supposed to be implemented. None of the
standard constructors of std::optional<U> directly support
initializing the contained object with an invocable. Both GCC
libstdc++ [1a] [1b] [1c] and LLVM libc++ [2a] [2b] [2c] get around
this by adding an internal-use-only (using a tag type that has a
reserved name) constructor to std::optional<T> that takes the
invocable and calls it to initialize the contained object. But this
means that std::optional<T> relies on the *different specialization*
std::optional<U> supporting this nonstandard constructor.
As a consequence, neither library can fully cope with me defining my
own specialization of std::optional. I hoped this was just an
implementation bug and filed an issue with LLVM about it, [3], which
contains a code example and my proposed solution (see also on
[Godbolt]), but someone else pointed out that my proposed solution
also has an edge case. So as far as I can tell right now, it seems
impossible to implement std::optional<T>::transform while using only
the standard interface of the other specialization std::optional<U>.
If this really is the case, then the standard seems to have
inadvertently prohibited program-defined specializations of
std::optional with the addition of std::optional<T>::transform. I'm
hoping to get more eyes on this question. If someone in this list
could come up with a way to implement std::optional<T>::transform in a
way that permits program-defined specializations (or say with more
certainty that it's in fact not possible), that'd be great. Have I
found a standard defect?
- Rasheeq Azad
[1a]: https://github.com/gcc-mirror/gcc/blob/ffa98429b93934be87f58bc3af481a69310aedaf/libstdc%2B%2B-v3/include/std/optional#L97
[1b]: https://github.com/gcc-mirror/gcc/blob/ffa98429b93934be87f58bc3af481a69310aedaf/libstdc%2B%2B-v3/include/std/optional#L1490-L1493
[1c]: https://github.com/gcc-mirror/gcc/blob/ffa98429b93934be87f58bc3af481a69310aedaf/libstdc%2B%2B-v3/include/std/optional#L1391
[2a]: https://github.com/llvm/llvm-project/blob/9975cb166ea3925738abb8d0db0028e418315eda/libcxx/include/optional#L369
[2b]: https://github.com/llvm/llvm-project/blob/9975cb166ea3925738abb8d0db0028e418315eda/libcxx/include/optional#L925-L927
[2c]: https://github.com/llvm/llvm-project/blob/9975cb166ea3925738abb8d0db0028e418315eda/libcxx/include/optional#L1144
[3]: https://github.com/llvm/llvm-project/issues/172197
[Godbolt]: https://godbolt.org/#z:OYLghAFBqd5QCxAYwPYBMCmBRdBLAF1QCcAaPECAMzwBtMA7AQwFtMQByARg9KtQYEAysib0QXACx8BBAKoBnTAAUAHpwAMvAFYgATKVpMGoZAFI9AIQuXSS%2BsgJ4BlRugDCqWgFcWDCaRuADJ4DJgAcr4ARpjEIACs8aQADqgKhM4Mnj5%2BAanpTgIhYZEsMXGJdpgOhQxCBEzEBNm%2B/lxVNZn1jQTFEdGxCUkKDU0tue0jPX2l5UMAlHao3sTI7BwWAMyhyD5YANRmm%2B78xCxMBEfYZhoAgls7e5iHx84jxJisVzf3etsMu28ByO7neoWA3zuPweAKeL08yVqYkh9zuuyYCgU%2BxYAE8APpRVBeQ4Adks%2BwA9BT9kx9sliKhgMRWABaLA0MLofYEHHJZ4ASWxeGACAI%2BwA7sYxUR9go%2Bcg8GI8AAvZ4jdAgECoRGZMT7U4/fb7ZAIRr7VRHax3ZLeKK0PDIECG/aYVTJe0KsW4glE2gQQnE1TzfYgc0QIOk8lmEkAEWd3oDfoTvosADY08GjjH9lh6ARMJbnQA/ZNeCCZsmkuObK2o25G13uh2Efba2IXEj7RPl40CEaR/YfAgrBjmy1V%2BP4xOtvnMojEMCQYNoBj96Pkocj7FT30QRfdoPzcfRuNQ2OFqF3fMsd0XAvHK7GoyY2UEDVanUCZHHUu0R/r513m8RwaSiJRBDxMV12NU1iFlRgnDCWgXmzPRj3PGtnW8BhMgHX86Q%2BcDLhrUCiMg0iEPQ6tySpWUmAAN0wLlaSiHF80OAAxDQzAATg4sxbniMxLE2RcfhtO0HSdO4jVoj56HoqVsUwMpYgUZ0VxGRs4O1JE/WDBhUFdNZERDCjBB7aCTw0vt8zdHTP2YP0GG8WhaF0yCDKM1QTLFUNdN1fSB2smSZz0iAAq/ZDNMuPRU0zTZs1zTB8wvOsjWvW9UuOdEXwAOgKgAVR8PgAR28PBCP2PAFDxGLiGApw7UwPF6JBX9SH2QqCrylEjRi7SXTdD0W0ipyIFCPFbzWSDOsKw44rTHqCGDUN6UwIiIHVTVTklYh0BBYrNmwCAVp6iso3PS9625FSsvvdxcqxIJOqe/YeqO7BB0wcrKo26ravqxq8Ga1r2p3LxOtCDIlVVYg8XtEYQSCb44rmnq%2Bt7Vc7PpIam09MLAomhgpqMGaCChnCnFh2IEZq4j3BR479loOaFvTOLltWgiNoQiBWdfd9dsaA7jk%2B075nO4Krpu2iV0YppwSxoDHBILFjC5VACAQWJ9mAEgcRzFKmDoLFUBYQh8wO67%2Btswbp1NWrFJ8TAexi/ZDOMzBTIA0KjU3YhRyYMCELyojQmqfYxMS8yCEg8sw4QiO/0w0KQpugb7P2IsxrESzKzwKgIEd1qxG8V35mDdaiLyksIf0qjoVCzKjGy9weT5Zg2H2fjmcz3GmG8GUCGZVdThYCAOPZtMqEzRbU/uDDax%2BWiEFQcV9gAKn5TeJWWWguTwG96DYQRuVHhRx/2CLtd11AFfcph0CxdILaMYgjyvO7W4ejvGFYZ4vcvoqzFD/OCvsbpTyoGlI0bY5ydiwLsP%2BEBB5EHmJZRacUBwB1HNtEALB76u1nuWRuZ5qI/BbneEEf8u6AMfP3OCqDUCC01LnFO7hfxXE1CPYwl8SATynmmGec9UyRiwukEw%2Bw5AoW%2BgQxidV6IfCoJBEEoR6KoAANYtUIq5OODMOKdU4fPa4x0YHVSLiXZ25dywXWdP7FKW48FsJBHIK4xNSZMDWJ1MBEAzDxGsIteI2YWSPmkRAo0ETvrDkDiwkAajNGuzwcLfaIIgHUEWDzIiR4F6RJPJXMxJ4XS0CUFExxb5WGOW/O4Vxx0SEL3Tj8UIXoTYMHzrWI0TjKnsM4czMoW1ylxJJtNTAnUR7l2ye02Jzifz10fGUPQMiyh5R4WPfhvi4q/gqe2eci4JlNxup0vSII8FghMI%2BKgLAoIxyWSsvhZxfH%2BL8TGFBQ9mHuzTGUC6pSYlJP4RcdZaEyTWXiO4BgFgDBdl3J8iZVY9mhULtQS5wY8FoCHvCEEW8LnEXJNUEpKLlhXPcBi8FwciJ%2BNBeCtKgEBnTPcImR8qAoiLKiMsi%2B491mpk2R%2BbZnZExwtltSW47gADSi5r72iiOYKwNgpldMOlwkAtyr41W5DrVsVAqBuFiJ/A5NK5UzJ9F4OZURNgyMZay3h7K/HWCCf6X0XYvk4O3Iav0UQYV5KpbGDgixaCcHiLwfwHAtCkFQJwIl0qrCymWKsZ4Ww9C8AIJob1iwdZP0GOWUgGiQCpk2HlRIqY9AaAAByphJBoDQPFEhcCSL6jgkheAsAkOW0ggbg2ho4LwBQIANCkETUG71pA4CwCQK6TAyBXlkAoCg4gwAFDKGMNUIQa9xSBp4KQNAN46AXEyPOpCS716tt4Bu5IdBBjohMJBBqDANHrvNie%2BgxBwgAM4Eeu9p7iAAHkh77pXUmwIqgx23BnV2jt/6x31HwIG3g/BBAiDEOwKQMhBCKBUOoftpBdDtCMCYFANgbCGBBl2pcIbHIgZZOqLMUqAmWD0MgfY5G3wSqzBKqjNheCEOIMQPAWAiMZqvU4NghVfS8cWAoaNax9B2DfKEXdi7l2roTR8dgPbxTMmSJwHgPq/UBr/e27AAHx3znNCWlkqZJBPmMMAa%2BYzr3BggOG6jnVcCEE7HG%2BYCak2V0zSATYqY8qSEkJsEkPEuCbD0DxHiGgAtFprZwetLbdMvrsN23tnmtMcHjQl9D7aPP9q8wrdILhJBAA%3D%3D
std::optional<T>::transform(F &&f) & shall do the following:
> Let U be remove_cv_t<invoke_result_t<F, decltype(*val)>>.
> Mandates: ...
> [Note 1: There is no requirement that U is movable ([dcl.init.general]).
> Returns: If *this contains a value, an optional<U> object whose contained value is direct-non-list-initialized with invoke(std::forward<F>(f), *val); otherwise, optional<U>().
I'm wondering how this is supposed to be implemented. None of the
standard constructors of std::optional<U> directly support
initializing the contained object with an invocable. Both GCC
libstdc++ [1a] [1b] [1c] and LLVM libc++ [2a] [2b] [2c] get around
this by adding an internal-use-only (using a tag type that has a
reserved name) constructor to std::optional<T> that takes the
invocable and calls it to initialize the contained object. But this
means that std::optional<T> relies on the *different specialization*
std::optional<U> supporting this nonstandard constructor.
As a consequence, neither library can fully cope with me defining my
own specialization of std::optional. I hoped this was just an
implementation bug and filed an issue with LLVM about it, [3], which
contains a code example and my proposed solution (see also on
[Godbolt]), but someone else pointed out that my proposed solution
also has an edge case. So as far as I can tell right now, it seems
impossible to implement std::optional<T>::transform while using only
the standard interface of the other specialization std::optional<U>.
If this really is the case, then the standard seems to have
inadvertently prohibited program-defined specializations of
std::optional with the addition of std::optional<T>::transform. I'm
hoping to get more eyes on this question. If someone in this list
could come up with a way to implement std::optional<T>::transform in a
way that permits program-defined specializations (or say with more
certainty that it's in fact not possible), that'd be great. Have I
found a standard defect?
- Rasheeq Azad
[1a]: https://github.com/gcc-mirror/gcc/blob/ffa98429b93934be87f58bc3af481a69310aedaf/libstdc%2B%2B-v3/include/std/optional#L97
[1b]: https://github.com/gcc-mirror/gcc/blob/ffa98429b93934be87f58bc3af481a69310aedaf/libstdc%2B%2B-v3/include/std/optional#L1490-L1493
[1c]: https://github.com/gcc-mirror/gcc/blob/ffa98429b93934be87f58bc3af481a69310aedaf/libstdc%2B%2B-v3/include/std/optional#L1391
[2a]: https://github.com/llvm/llvm-project/blob/9975cb166ea3925738abb8d0db0028e418315eda/libcxx/include/optional#L369
[2b]: https://github.com/llvm/llvm-project/blob/9975cb166ea3925738abb8d0db0028e418315eda/libcxx/include/optional#L925-L927
[2c]: https://github.com/llvm/llvm-project/blob/9975cb166ea3925738abb8d0db0028e418315eda/libcxx/include/optional#L1144
[3]: https://github.com/llvm/llvm-project/issues/172197
[Godbolt]: https://godbolt.org/#z:OYLghAFBqd5QCxAYwPYBMCmBRdBLAF1QCcAaPECAMzwBtMA7AQwFtMQByARg9KtQYEAysib0QXACx8BBAKoBnTAAUAHpwAMvAFYgATKVpMGoZAFI9AIQuXSS%2BsgJ4BlRugDCqWgFcWDCaRuADJ4DJgAcr4ARpjEIACs8aQADqgKhM4Mnj5%2BAanpTgIhYZEsMXGJdpgOhQxCBEzEBNm%2B/lxVNZn1jQTFEdGxCUkKDU0tue0jPX2l5UMAlHao3sTI7BwWAMyhyD5YANRmm%2B78xCxMBEfYZhoAgls7e5iHx84jxJisVzf3etsMu28ByO7neoWA3zuPweAKeL08yVqYkh9zuuyYCgU%2BxYAE8APpRVBeQ4Adks%2BwA9BT9kx9sliKhgMRWABaLA0MLofYEHHJZ4ASWxeGACAI%2BwA7sYxUR9go%2Bcg8GI8AAvZ4jdAgECoRGZMT7U4/fb7ZAIRr7VRHax3ZLeKK0PDIECG/aYVTJe0KsW4glE2gQQnE1TzfYgc0QIOk8lmEkAEWd3oDfoTvosADY08GjjH9lh6ARMJbnQA/ZNeCCZsmkuObK2o25G13uh2Efba2IXEj7RPl40CEaR/YfAgrBjmy1V%2BP4xOtvnMojEMCQYNoBj96Pkocj7FT30QRfdoPzcfRuNQ2OFqF3fMsd0XAvHK7GoyY2UEDVanUCZHHUu0R/r513m8RwaSiJRBDxMV12NU1iFlRgnDCWgXmzPRj3PGtnW8BhMgHX86Q%2BcDLhrUCiMg0iEPQ6tySpWUmAAN0wLlaSiHF80OAAxDQzAATg4sxbniMxLE2RcfhtO0HSdO4jVoj56HoqVsUwMpYgUZ0VxGRs4O1JE/WDBhUFdNZERDCjBB7aCTw0vt8zdHTP2YP0GG8WhaF0yCDKM1QTLFUNdN1fSB2smSZz0iAAq/ZDNMuPRU0zTZs1zTB8wvOsjWvW9UuOdEXwAOgKgAVR8PgAR28PBCP2PAFDxGLiGApw7UwPF6JBX9SH2QqCrylEjRi7SXTdD0W0ipyIFCPFbzWSDOsKw44rTHqCGDUN6UwIiIHVTVTklYh0BBYrNmwCAVp6iso3PS9625FSsvvdxcqxIJOqe/YeqO7BB0wcrKo26ravqxq8Ga1r2p3LxOtCDIlVVYg8XtEYQSCb44rmnq%2Bt7Vc7PpIam09MLAomhgpqMGaCChnCnFh2IEZq4j3BR479loOaFvTOLltWgiNoQiBWdfd9dsaA7jk%2B075nO4Krpu2iV0YppwSxoDHBILFjC5VACAQWJ9mAEgcRzFKmDoLFUBYQh8wO67%2Btswbp1NWrFJ8TAexi/ZDOMzBTIA0KjU3YhRyYMCELyojQmqfYxMS8yCEg8sw4QiO/0w0KQpugb7P2IsxrESzKzwKgIEd1qxG8V35mDdaiLyksIf0qjoVCzKjGy9weT5Zg2H2fjmcz3GmG8GUCGZVdThYCAOPZtMqEzRbU/uDDax%2BWiEFQcV9gAKn5TeJWWWguTwG96DYQRuVHhRx/2CLtd11AFfcph0CxdILaMYgjyvO7W4ejvGFYZ4vcvoqzFD/OCvsbpTyoGlI0bY5ydiwLsP%2BEBB5EHmJZRacUBwB1HNtEALB76u1nuWRuZ5qI/BbneEEf8u6AMfP3OCqDUCC01LnFO7hfxXE1CPYwl8SATynmmGec9UyRiwukEw%2Bw5AoW%2BgQxidV6IfCoJBEEoR6KoAANYtUIq5OODMOKdU4fPa4x0YHVSLiXZ25dywXWdP7FKW48FsJBHIK4xNSZMDWJ1MBEAzDxGsIteI2YWSPmkRAo0ETvrDkDiwkAajNGuzwcLfaIIgHUEWDzIiR4F6RJPJXMxJ4XS0CUFExxb5WGOW/O4Vxx0SEL3Tj8UIXoTYMHzrWI0TjKnsM4czMoW1ylxJJtNTAnUR7l2ye02Jzifz10fGUPQMiyh5R4WPfhvi4q/gqe2eci4JlNxup0vSII8FghMI%2BKgLAoIxyWSsvhZxfH%2BL8TGFBQ9mHuzTGUC6pSYlJP4RcdZaEyTWXiO4BgFgDBdl3J8iZVY9mhULtQS5wY8FoCHvCEEW8LnEXJNUEpKLlhXPcBi8FwciJ%2BNBeCtKgEBnTPcImR8qAoiLKiMsi%2B491mpk2R%2BbZnZExwtltSW47gADSi5r72iiOYKwNgpldMOlwkAtyr41W5DrVsVAqBuFiJ/A5NK5UzJ9F4OZURNgyMZay3h7K/HWCCf6X0XYvk4O3Iav0UQYV5KpbGDgixaCcHiLwfwHAtCkFQJwIl0qrCymWKsZ4Ww9C8AIJob1iwdZP0GOWUgGiQCpk2HlRIqY9AaAAByphJBoDQPFEhcCSL6jgkheAsAkOW0ggbg2ho4LwBQIANCkETUG71pA4CwCQK6TAyBXlkAoCg4gwAFDKGMNUIQa9xSBp4KQNAN46AXEyPOpCS716tt4Bu5IdBBjohMJBBqDANHrvNie%2BgxBwgAM4Eeu9p7iAAHkh77pXUmwIqgx23BnV2jt/6x31HwIG3g/BBAiDEOwKQMhBCKBUOoftpBdDtCMCYFANgbCGBBl2pcIbHIgZZOqLMUqAmWD0MgfY5G3wSqzBKqjNheCEOIMQPAWAiMZqvU4NghVfS8cWAoaNax9B2DfKEXdi7l2roTR8dgPbxTMmSJwHgPq/UBr/e27AAHx3znNCWlkqZJBPmMMAa%2BYzr3BggOG6jnVcCEE7HG%2BYCak2V0zSATYqY8qSEkJsEkPEuCbD0DxHiGgAtFprZwetLbdMvrsN23tnmtMcHjQl9D7aPP9q8wrdILhJBAA%3D%3D
Received on 2025-12-14 21:00:18