How to tell if template type is an instance of a template class?

Question

I have a function that takes a template type to determine a return value. Is there any way to tell at compile time if the template type is some instantiation of a template c

Answer 1

Here's an option:

#include <iostream>
#include <type_traits>
#include <string>

template <class, template <class> class>
struct is_instance : public std::false_type {};

template <class T, template <class> class U>
struct is_instance<U<T>, U> : public std::true_type {};

template <class>
class Second 
{};

int main()
{
    using A = Second<int>;
    using B = Second<std::string>;
    using C = float;
    std::cout << is_instance<A, Second>{} << '\n'; // prints 1
    std::cout << is_instance<B, Second>{} << '\n'; // prints 1
    std::cout << is_instance<C, Second>{} << '\n'; // prints 0
}

It's basically specializing the is_instance struct for types that are instantiations of a template.

Answer 2

Yet another improvement to the answer of @RichardHodges: Usually, one also wants to capture not only plain types, but rather all cv-qualified and ref-qualified types.

Put differently, if is_instance<A, Second>{} is true, also is_instance<A const&, Second>{} or is_instance<A&&, Second>{} should be true. The current implementations in this thread don't support that.

The following code accounts for all cv-ref-qualified types, by adding another indirection and a std::decay_t:

namespace
{
    template <typename, template <typename...> typename>
    struct is_instance_impl : public std::false_type {};

    template <template <typename...> typename U, typename...Ts>
    struct is_instance_impl<U<Ts...>, U> : public std::true_type {};
}

template <typename T, template <typename ...> typename U>
using is_instance = is_instance_impl<std::decay_t<T>, U>;

Use it as

#include <iostream>

template <typename ...> struct foo{};
template <typename ...> struct bar{};

int main()
{
    std::cout << is_instance<foo<int>, foo>{} << std::endl;           // prints 1
    std::cout << is_instance<foo<float> const&, foo>{} <<std::endl;   // prints 1
    std::cout << is_instance<foo<double,int> &&, foo>{} << std::endl; // prints 1
    std::cout << is_instance<bar<int> &&, foo>{} << std::endl;        // prints 0
}

Answer 3

Another option, picking up on Henri's comment:

#include <iostream>
#include <type_traits>
#include <string>

template <class, template <class, class...> class>
struct is_instance : public std::false_type {};

template <class...Ts, template <class, class...> class U>
struct is_instance<U<Ts...>, U> : public std::true_type {};

template <class>
class Second 
{};

template <class, class, class>
class Third 
{};

int main()
{
    using A = Second<int>;
    using B = Second<std::string>;
    using C = float;
    using D = Third<std::string, int, void>;
    std::cout << is_instance<A, Second>{} << '\n'; // prints 1
    std::cout << is_instance<B, Second>{} << '\n'; // prints 1
    std::cout << is_instance<C, Second>{} << '\n'; // prints 0
    std::cout << is_instance<D, Third>{} << '\n'; // prints 1
}