auto_ptr

template <class X> class auto_ptr;

This class provides a limited garbage collection facility for pointers, by allowing pointers to have the elements they point to automatically destroyed when the auto_ptr object is itself destroyed.

auto_ptr objects have the peculiarity of taking ownership of the pointers assigned to them: An auto_ptr object that has ownership over one element is in charge of destroying the element it points to and to deallocate the memory allocated to it when itself is destroyed. The destructor does this by calling operator delete automatically.

Therefore, no two auto_ptr objects should own the same element, since both would try to destruct them at some point. When an assignment operation takes place between two auto_ptr objects, ownership is transferred, which means that the object losing ownership is reset to no longer point to the element (it is set to the null pointer).

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