Why you can’t list-initialize containers of non-copyable types

Have you ever wondered why you can’t list-initialize containers of non-copyable types? This is for instance not possible:

    vector<unique_ptr<int>> vu{
        make_unique<int>(1), make_unique<int>(2)};
    //error: call to implicitly-deleted copy constructor of unique_ptr

If you ever wondered, or if you now are, read on!

List-initialization

Since C++11, you’re probably used to intitalizing containers like this:

    vector<int> vi1{1,2,3};
    vector<int> vi2 = {1,2,3};

This of course also works with user defined types. Let’s say you have a class Copyable, then you can for instance do:

    Copyable c1(1);
    Copyable c2(2);
    vector<Copyable> vc1{c1, c2};
    vector<Copyable> vc2 = {c1, c2};

(Copyable is just an arbitrary class which can be copied. It’s reproduced at the end of the post.)

Now what happens if we have a non-copyable class NonCopyable? (NonCopyable is just an arbitrary class which can be moved but not copied, it too is reproduced at the end of the post.)

    NonCopyable n1(1);
    NonCopyable n2(2);
    vector<NonCopyable> vn1{n1, n2}; //error: call to deleted constructor of 'const NonCopyable'
    vector<NonCopyable> vn2 = {n1, n2}; //error: call to deleted constructor of 'const NonCopyable'

Well, n1 and n2 are lvalues, so no wonder it tries to copy them. What if we turn them into rvalues, either with std::move or by creating temporaries?

    vector<NonCopyable> vn3{std::move(n1), std::move(n2)}; //error: call to deleted constructor of 'const NonCopyable'
    vector<NonCopyable> vn3{NonCopyable(4), NonCopyable(5)}; //error: call to deleted constructor of 'const NonCopyable'

So what’s going on here, why is it trying to copy our rvalues? Let’s see what the standard has to say in [dcl.init.list]¶1:

List-initialization is initialization of an object or reference from a braced-init-list.

A braced-init-list is the {element1, element2, ...} syntax we saw above. The standard continues:

Such an initializer is called an initializer list. (…) List-initialization can occur in direct-initialization or copy-initialization contexts.

So list-initialization applies both to the forms vector<Copyable> vc1{c1, c2} and vector<Copyable> vc2 = {c1, c2}, which we saw above. The former is an example of direct-initialization, the latter of copy-initialization. In both cases, {c1, c2} is the braced-init-list.

(Note that the word copy-initialization here is not what causes a copy. Copy-initialization simply refers to the form T t = expression, which doesn’t necessarily invoke the copy constructor.)

Creating the initializer_list

Now what exactly happens with the braced_init_list, and how do its elements end up inside the container we’re initializing?

[dcl.init.list]¶5

An object of type std::initializer_list<E> is constructed from an initializer list as if the implementation generated and materialized (7.4) a prvalue of type “array ofN const E“, where N is the number of elements in the initializer list. Each element of that array is copy-initialized with the corresponding element of the initializer list, and thestd::initializer_list<E> object is constructed to refer to that array.

So the initializer_list can be thought of as just a wrapper for a temporary array we initialize with the elements in the braced-init-list. Sort of like if we’d been doing this:

    const Copyable arr[2] = {c1, c2};    
    vector<Copyable> vc3(initializer_list<Copyable>(arr, arr+2));

Consuming the initializer_list

Now that our initializer_list has been created and passed to the vector constructor, what can that constructor do with it? How does it get the elements out of the initializer_list and into the vector?

[initializer_list.syn] lists the very sparse interface of std::initializer_list:

constexpr const E* begin() const noexcept; // first element
constexpr const E* end() const noexcept; // one past the last element

There’s no access to the elements as rvalue references, only iterators of pointers to const, so we only get lvalues, and we need to copy. Why is there no access as rvalue references?

As we saw in the quote above, “the std::initializer_list<E> object is constructed to refer to that array.” So it only refers to it, and does not own the elements. In particular, this means that if we copy the initializer_list, we do not copy the elements, we only copy a reference to them. In fact, this is spelled out in a note [initializer_list.syn]¶1:

Copying an initializer list does not copy the underlying elements.

So even if we get passed the initializer_list by value, we do not get a copy of the elements themselves, and it would not be safe to move them out, as another copy of the initializer_list could be used again somewhere else. This is why initializer_list offers no rvalue reference access.

Summary

In summary: When you do T t{elm1, elm2}, an initializer_list is created, referring to those elements. Copying that initializer_list does not copy the elements. When a constructor takes an initializer_list, it does not know whether it’s the only consumer of those elements, so it’s not safe to move them out of the initializer_list. The only safe way to get the elements out is by copy, so a copy constructor needs to be available.

As usual, the code for this blog post is available on GitHub.

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Appendix: The Copyable and Uncopyable classes:

class Copyable {
public:
    Copyable(int i): i(i){}
    Copyable(const Copyable&) = default;
    Copyable(Copyable&&) = default;
    Copyable& operator=(const Copyable&) = default;
    Copyable& operator=(Copyable&&) = default;
    ~Copyable() = default;
    int i;
};

class NonCopyable {
public:
    NonCopyable(int i): i(i){}
    NonCopyable(const NonCopyable&) = delete;
    NonCopyable(NonCopyable&&) = delete;
    NonCopyable& operator=(const NonCopyable&) = default;
    NonCopyable& operator=(NonCopyable&&) = default;
    ~NonCopyable() = default;
    int i;
};