.. _std_variant:

std::variant
============
Introduced in C++17, ``std::variant`` is a type safe Union. A variant can hold a single value of one of its supported types.

Since a Ruby variable can point to a value of any type, Ruby does not need or have an equivalent type. Thus Rice unwraps ``std::variant`` instances and converts the stored value to the appropriate Ruby type.

When passing a Ruby instance to ``std::variant``, Rice will convert a Ruby type into the appropriate C++ type and store it inside the variant.