# std::ios_base::Init

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< cpp‎ | io‎ | ios base

class Init; |  |

This class is used to ensure that the default C++ streams (std::cin, std::cout, etc.) are properly initialized and destructed. The class tracks how many instances of it are created and initializes the C++ streams when the first instance is constructed as well as flushes the output streams when the last instance is destructed.

The header `<iostream>` behaves as if it defines (directly or indirectly) an instance of `std::ios_base::Init` with static storage duration: this makes it safe to access the standard I/O streams in the constructors and destructors of static objects with ordered initialization (as long as `<iostream>` is included in the translation unit before these objects were defined).

Each C++ library module in a hosted implementation behaves as if it contains an interface unit that defines an unexported `std::ios_base::Init` variable with ordered initialization. As a result, the definition of that variable is appearance-ordered before any declaration following the point of importation of a C++ library module. Whether such a definition exists is unobservable by a program that does not reference any of the standard iostream objects. | (since C++23)

### Member functions

(constructor) | initializes the default C++ streams if they have not been created yet (public member function)
(destructor) | flushes the default C++ streams if *this is the last instance to be destroyed (public member function)

### Defect reports

The following behavior-changing defect reports were applied retroactively to previously published C++ standards.

DR | Applied to | Behavior as published | Correct behavior
--- | --- | --- | ---
LWG 1123 | C++98 | the behaviors of the constructor and the destructor depend on an exposition-only static data member `init_cnt` | removed the dependency

### See also

cin wcin | reads from the standard C input stream stdin (global object)
cout wcout | writes to the standard C output stream stdout (global object)
cerr wcerr | writes to the standard C error stream stderr, unbuffered (global object)
clog wclog | writes to the standard C error stream stderr (global object)

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