Tip of the Week #123: absl::optional and std::unique_ptr

Originally posted as totw/123 on 2016-09-06

By Alexey Sokolov ([email protected]) and Etienne Dechamps ([email protected])

How to Store Values

This tip discusses several ways of storing values. Here we use class member variables as an example, but many of the points below also apply to local variables.

#include <memory>
#include "third_party/absl/types/optional.h"
#include ".../bar.h"

class Foo {
  Bar val_;
  absl::optional<Bar> opt_;
  std::unique_ptr<Bar> ptr_;

As a Bare Object

This is the simplest way. val_ is constructed and destroyed at the beginning of Foo’s constructor and at the end of Foo’s destructor, respectively. If Bar has a default constructor, it doesn’t even need to be initialized explicitly.

val_ is very safe to use, because its value can’t be null. This removes a class of potential bugs.

But bare objects are not very flexible:

  • The lifetime of val_ is fundamentally tied to the lifetime of its parent Foo object, which is sometimes not desirable. If Bar supports move or swap operations, the contents of val_ can be replaced using these operations, while any existing pointers or references to val_ continue pointing or referring to the same val_ object (as a container), not to the value stored in it.
  • Any arguments that need to be passed to Bar’s constructor need to be computed inside the initializer list of Foo’s constructor, which can be difficult if complicated expressions are involved.

As absl::optional<Bar>

This is a good middle ground between the simplicity of bare objects and the flexibility of std::unique_ptr. The object is stored inside Foo but, unlike bare objects, absl::optional can be empty. It can be populated at any time by assignment (opt_ = ...) or by constructing the object in place (opt_.emplace(...)).

Because the object is stored inline, the usual caveats about allocating large objects on the stack apply, just like for a bare object. Also be aware that an empty absl::optional uses as much memory as a populated one.

Compared to a bare object, absl::optional has a few downsides:

  • It’s less obvious for the reader where object construction and destruction occur.
  • There is a risk of accessing an object which does not exist.

As std::unique_ptr<Bar>

This is the most flexible way. The object is stored outside of Foo. Just like absl::optional, a std::unique_ptr can be empty. However, unlike absl::optional, it is possible to transfer ownership of the object to something else (through a move operation), to take ownership of the object from something else (at construction or through assignment), or to assume ownership of a raw pointer (at construction or through ptr_ = absl::WrapUnique(...), see TotW 126.

When std::unique_ptr is null, it doesn’t have the object allocated, and consumes only the size of a pointer1.

Wrapping an object in a std::unique_ptr is necessary if the object may need to outlive the scope of the std::unique_ptr (ownership transfer).

This flexibility comes with some costs:

  • Increased cognitive load on the reader:
    • It’s less obvious what’s stored inside (Bar, or something derived from Bar). However, it may also decrease the cognitive load, as the reader can focus only on the base interface held by the pointer.
    • It’s even less obvious than with absl::optional where object construction and destruction occur, because ownership of the object can be transferred.
  • As with absl::optional, there is a risk of accessing an object which does not exist - the famous null pointer dereference.
  • The pointer introduces an additional level of indirection, which requires a heap allocation, and is not friendly to CPU caches; Whether this matters or not depends a lot on particular use cases.
  • std::unique_ptr<Bar> is not copyable even if Bar is. This also prevents Foo from being copyable.


As always, strive to avoid unnecessary complexity, and use the simplest thing that works. Prefer bare object, if it works for your case. Otherwise, try absl::optional. As a last resort, use std::unique_ptr.

Bar absl::optional<Bar> std::unique_ptr<Bar>
Supports delayed construction
Always safe to access
Can transfer ownership of Bar
Can store subclasses of Bar
Movable If Bar is movable If Bar is movable
Copyable If Bar is copyable If Bar is copyable
Friendly to CPU caches
No heap allocation overhead
Memory usage sizeof(Bar) sizeof(Bar) + sizeof(bool)2 sizeof(Bar*) when null, sizeof(Bar*) + sizeof(Bar) otherwise
Object lifetime Same as enclosing scope Restricted to enclosing scope Unrestricted
Call f(Bar*) f(&val_) f(&opt_.value()) or f(&*opt_) f(ptr_.get()) or f(&*ptr_)
Remove value N/A opt_.reset(); or opt_ = absl::nullopt; ptr_.reset(); or ptr_ = nullptr;
  1. In case of a non-empty custom deleter there is also an additional space for that deleter. 

  2. Also padding may be added. 

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