How can I use std::optional to return a NULL value?

Question

How can I return a value, similar to null, with std::optional? My function receives an int index as parameter to iterate through a list, if the index value is not valid, how this std::optional can be used to return a value similar to null?

Crumby

return {}; doesn't work for you? – Obsolescent

That's pretty much the whole point of optional. So I'm not quite sure what you're asking. – Tion

If std::optional doesn't quite fit your use case (which isn't described in detail), you might consider using std::variant with std::monostate as one of the variant types. – Literal

Answer 1

nullptr is to pointers what std::nullopt is to std::optional.

Weisman