The simplest and neatest c++11 ScopeGuard

Even shorter: I don’t know why you guys insist on putting the template on the guard class.

#include <functional>

class scope_guard {
public: 
    template<class Callable> 
    scope_guard(Callable && undo_func) try : f(std::forward<Callable>(undo_func)) {
    } catch(...) {
        undo_func();
        throw;
    }

    scope_guard(scope_guard && other) : f(std::move(other.f)) {
        other.f = nullptr;
    }

    ~scope_guard() {
        if(f) f(); // must not throw
    }

    void dismiss() noexcept {
        f = nullptr;
    }

    scope_guard(const scope_guard&) = delete;
    void operator = (const scope_guard&) = delete;

private:
    std::function<void()> f;
};

Note that it is essential that the cleanup code does not throw, otherwise you get in similar situations as with throwing destructors.

Usage:

// do step 1
step1();
scope_guard guard1 = [&]() {
    // revert step 1
    revert1();
};

// step 2
step2();
guard1.dismiss();

My inspiration was the same DrDobbs article as for the OP.

---

Edit 2017/2018: After watching (some of) Andrei’s presentation that André linked to (I skipped to the end where it said “Painfully Close to Ideal!”) I realized that it’s doable. Most of the time you don’t want to have extra guards for everything. You just do stuff, and in the end it either succeeds or rollback should happen.

Edit 2018: Added execution policy which removed the necessity of the dismiss call.

#include <functional>
#include <deque>

class scope_guard {
public:
    enum execution { always, no_exception, exception };

    scope_guard(scope_guard &&) = default;
    explicit scope_guard(execution policy = always) : policy(policy) {}

    template<class Callable>
    scope_guard(Callable && func, execution policy = always) : policy(policy) {
        this->operator += <Callable>(std::forward<Callable>(func));
    }

    template<class Callable>
    scope_guard& operator += (Callable && func) try {
        handlers.emplace_front(std::forward<Callable>(func));
        return *this;
    } catch(...) {
        if(policy != no_exception) func();
        throw;
    }

    ~scope_guard() {
        if(policy == always || (std::uncaught_exception() == (policy == exception))) {
            for(auto &f : handlers) try {
                f(); // must not throw
            } catch(...) { /* std::terminate(); ? */ }
        }
    }

    void dismiss() noexcept {
        handlers.clear();
    }

private:
    scope_guard(const scope_guard&) = delete;
    void operator = (const scope_guard&) = delete;

    std::deque<std::function<void()>> handlers;
    execution policy = always;
};

Usage:

scope_guard scope_exit, scope_fail(scope_guard::execution::exception);

action1();
scope_exit += [](){ cleanup1(); };
scope_fail += [](){ rollback1(); };

action2();
scope_exit += [](){ cleanup2(); };
scope_fail += [](){ rollback2(); };

// ...