How to throw std::exceptions with variable messages?

The standard exceptions can be constructed from a std::string:

#include <stdexcept>

char const * configfile = "hardcode.cfg";
std::string const anotherfile = get_file();

throw std::runtime_error(std::string("Failed: ") + configfile);
throw std::runtime_error("Error: " + anotherfile);

Note that the base class std::exception can not be constructed thus; you have to use one of the concrete, derived classes.

Here is my solution:

#include <stdexcept>
#include <sstream>

class Formatter
{
public:
    Formatter() {}
    ~Formatter() {}

    template <typename Type>
    Formatter & operator << (const Type & value)
    {
        stream_ << value;
        return *this;
    }

    std::string str() const         { return stream_.str(); }
    operator std::string () const   { return stream_.str(); }

    enum ConvertToString 
    {
        to_str
    };
    std::string operator >> (ConvertToString) { return stream_.str(); }

private:
    std::stringstream stream_;

    Formatter(const Formatter &);
    Formatter & operator = (Formatter &);
};

Example:

throw std::runtime_error(Formatter() << foo << 13 << ", bar" << myData);   // implicitly cast to std::string
throw std::runtime_error(Formatter() << foo << 13 << ", bar" << myData >> Formatter::to_str);    // explicitly cast to std::string

There are different exceptions such as runtime_error, range_error, overflow_error, logic_error, etc.. You need to pass the string into its constructor, and you can concatenate whatever you want to your message. That's just a string operation.

std::string errorMessage = std::string("Error: on file ")+fileName;
throw std::runtime_error(errorMessage);

You can also use boost::format like this:

throw std::runtime_error(boost::format("Error processing file %1") % fileName);