How to enable C++17 compiling in Visual Studio?

I want to use C++17 features.

How can I switch compiling from C++14 to C++17 in Microsoft Visual Studio?

Or it's not avaiable in release versions of VS?

There's now a drop down (at least since VS 2017.3.5) where you can specifically select C++17. The available options are (under project > Properties > C/C++ > Language > C++ Language Standard)

• ISO C++14 Standard. msvc command line option: /std:c++14
• ISO C++17 Standard. msvc command line option: /std:c++17

Visual Studio 2022 (MSVC C++20 and the /std:c++20 Switch - C++ Team Blog):

• ISO C++20 Standard. msvc command line option: /std:c++20

Any Visual Studio:

• The latest draft standard. msvc command line option: /std:c++latest

MSBuild (Visual Studio project/solution *.vcproj/*.sln):

Add to Additional options in Project Settings: /std:c++latest to enable latest features - currently C++17 as of VS2017, VS2015 Update 3.

https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/vcblog/2016/06/07/standards-version-switches-in-the-compiler/

/permissive- will disable non-standard C++ extensions and will enable standard conformance in VS2017.

https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/vcblog/2016/11/16/permissive-switch/

EDIT (Oct 2018): The latest VS2017 features are documented here:

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-gb/cpp/build/reference/std-specify-language-standard-version

VS2017 supports: /std:[c++14|c++17|c++latest] now. These flags can be set via the project's property pages:

> To set this compiler option in the Visual Studio development > environment > > 1. Open the project's Property Pages dialog box. For details, see Working > with Project Properties. > 2. Select Configuration Properties, C/C++, > Language. > 3. In C++ Language Standard, choose the language standard to > support from the dropdown control, then choose OK or Apply to save > your changes.

CMake:

Visual Studio 2017 (15.7+) supports CMake projects. CMake makes it possible to enable modern C++ features in various ways. The most basic option is to enable a modern C++ standard by setting a target's property in CMakeLists.txt:

add_library (${PROJECT_NAME})
set_property (TARGET ${PROJECT_NAME}
  PROPERTY
    # Enable C++17 standard compliance
    CXX_STANDARD 17
)

In the case of an interface library:

add_library (${PROJECT_NAME} INTERFACE)
target_compile_features (${PROJECT_NAME}
  INTERFACE
    # Enable C++17 standard compliance
    cxx_std_17
)

Visual Studio 2015 Update 3 does not support the C++17 feature you are looking for (emplace_back() returning a reference).

Support For C++11/14/17 Features (Modern C++)

C++11/14/17 Features In VS 2015 RTM

VS 2015 Update 2’s STL is C++17-so-far Feature Complete

Visual Studio 2015 Update 3

STL Fixes In VS 2015 Update 3

Visual studio 2019 version:

The drop down menu was moved to:

• Right click on project (not solution)
• Properties (or Alt + Enter)
• From the left menu select Configuration Properties
• General
• In the middle there is an option called "C++ Language Standard"
• Next to it is the drop down menu
• Here you can select Default, ISO C++ 14, 17 or latest

If bringing existing Visual Studio 2015 solution into Visual Studio 2017 and you want to build it with c++17 native compiler, you should first Retarget the solution/projects to v141 , THEN the dropdown will appear as described above ( Configuration Properties -> C/C++ -> Language -> Language Standard)

I configured it to c++17 in project properties, still I get the same issue of "There is no execution library". I am first time experimenting with C++17 parallel features. This is I am doing on window with visual studio 2017.

VS Code 2020 version

In tasks.json file, (after you build and debug with the g++-9)

Add -std=c++2a for 2020 features (c++1z for 2017 features). Add -fconcepts to use concept keyword

"args": [
   "-std=c++2a",
   "-fconcepts",
   "-g",
   "${file}",
   "-o",
   "${fileDirname}/${fileBasenameNoExtension}"
],

now compile and you can use the 2020 features.