All Standard Exceptions

Use this page as a fast scan. For grouped explanations, see Standard exceptions and errors.

Core exception bases

• std::exception
• std::bad_exception
• std::nested_exception

Logic error family

• std::logic_error
• std::invalid_argument
• std::domain_error
• std::length_error
• std::out_of_range

Runtime error family

• std::runtime_error
• std::range_error
• std::overflow_error
• std::underflow_error

Allocation, RTTI, and cast failures

• std::bad_alloc
• std::bad_array_new_length
• std::bad_cast
• std::bad_typeid

Callable and vocabulary-type failures

• std::bad_function_call
• std::bad_optional_access
• std::bad_variant_access
• std::bad_any_cast
• std::bad_expected_access<E>

I/O, filesystem, and system-related failures

• std::ios_base::failure
• std::filesystem::filesystem_error
• std::system_error

Error-code support types

• std::error_code
• std::error_condition
• std::error_category
• std::errc

Exception transport helpers

• std::exception_ptr
• std::current_exception
• std::rethrow_exception
• std::make_exception_ptr

Adjacent C facilities

• errno
• perror
• strerror

Practical split

• Use exceptions when failure should unwind and cannot be ignored safely.
• Use std::error_code when callers are expected to branch locally without throwing.
• Use std::expected<T, E> when failure is part of the ordinary API contract.

Small worked example

#include <optional>
#include <stdexcept>

int require_count(std::optional<int> count) {
	if (!count) {
		throw std::invalid_argument{"count was missing"};
	}
	if (*count < 0) {
		throw std::out_of_range{"count must be non-negative"};
	}
	return *count;
}

The useful habit is choosing the exception family by contract. Invalid caller input often maps to invalid_argument; broken bounds or indexing often map to out_of_range; system or environment failures often land in runtime_error or more specific derived types.

Fast exception-choice habit

• use a logic-error family type when the caller violated an API contract
• use a runtime-error family type when the environment, system state, or external input caused failure
• use vocabulary-type exceptions like bad_optional_access or bad_variant_access when the standard type itself defines the misuse