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# std::cout, std::wcout

From cppreference.com
< cpp‎ | io

Defined in header `<iostream>` |  |
extern std::ostream cout; | (1) |
extern std::wostream wcout; | (2) |

The global objects `std::cout` and `std::wcout` control output to a stream buffer of implementation-defined type (derived from std::streambuf), associated with the standard C output stream stdout.

These objects are guaranteed to be initialized during or before the first time an object of type std::ios_base::Init is constructed and are available for use in the constructors and destructors of static objects with ordered initialization (as long as `<iostream>` is included before the object is defined).

Unless sync_with_stdio(false) has been issued, it is safe to concurrently access these objects from multiple threads for both formatted and unformatted output.

Once initialized, `std::cout` is tie()'d to std::cin and `std::wcout` is tie()'d to std::wcin, meaning that any input operation on std::cin executes std::cout.flush() (via std::basic_istream::sentry's constructor).

Once initialized, `std::cout` is also tie()'d to std::cerr and `std::wcout` is tie()'d to std::wcerr, meaning that any output operation on std::cerr executes std::cout.flush() (via std::basic_ostream::sentry's constructor) (since C++11)

### [edit] Notes

The 'c' in the name refers to "character" (stroustrup.com FAQ); `cout` means "character output" and `wcout` means "wide character output"

### [edit] Example

Run this code

    #include <iostream>
    struct Foo {
        int n;
        Foo() {
           std::cout << "static constructor\n";
        }
        ~Foo() {
           std::cout << "static destructor\n";
        }
    };
    Foo f; // static object
    int main()
    {
        std::cout << "main function\n";
    }

Output:

    static constructor
    main function
    static destructor

### [edit] See also

Init | initializes standard stream objects (public member class of `std::ios_base`) [edit]
cerrwcerr | writes to the standard C error stream stderr, unbuffered (global object) [edit]
clogwclog | writes to the standard C error stream stderr (global object) [edit]

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