Errors C++ is a C++ package that provides utilities for error handling. This package mainly consists of the errors::Error class, representing an object that may contain an error.

This package serves as an alternative to error handling using try-catch exceptions, commonly found in C++ code. It facilitates error handling by returning values, following the style of Go's error handling.

This package provides the following key features:

• Error handling in the style of Go by returning an errors::Error.
• Support for creating errors in the style of fmtlib using errors::format.
• Direct printing of errors::Error using C++ streams and fmtlib.

To integrate this package into your C++ project, you can build and install it locally using CMake:

cmake -B build .
cmake --build build --config Release
cmake --install build

Once installed, you can use it in your CMake project as the Errors package:

find_package(Errors 1.0.0 REQUIRED CONFIG)
add_executable(foo foo.cpp)
target_link_libraries(foo PRIVATE errors::errors)

Alternatively, you can also integrate this package using CPM.cmake:

cpmaddpackage(gh:threeal/errors-cpp@1.0.0)
add_executable(foo foo.cpp)
target_link_libraries(foo PRIVATE errors)

This package contains an errors::Error class, which represents an error object. Functions that may produce errors should return this object so that the error can be handled properly.

errors::Error read_file(const char* filepath);
int main() {
  const auto err = read_file(filepath);
  if (err) {
    // Handle the error.
  }
  // Continue processing if no error.
}

For functions returning errors::Error, use errors::nil function to signify no error or return an error object created from the errors::make function.

errors::Error read_file(const char* filepath) {
  std::ifstream file(filepath);
  if (!file.is_open()) {
    return errors::make("failed to open file");
  }
  // Process with no error.
  return errors::nil();
}

Alternatively, an error object can also be created with a formatted message in the style of fmtlib using errors::format function.

if (!file.is_open()) {
  return errors::format("failed to open '{}'", filepath);
}

For more details and examples, refer to the examples directory.

This project is licensed under the terms of the MIT License.

Copyright © 2023-2025 Alfi Maulana