How to create a copy of an object by pointer?

Question

C++ / C#

I would like to get a new object identical to the initial one, which I can change without touching the given one, the problem is that I do not know in advance the type of this object.

Answer 1

To get a copy of an object by its own means, you must call the copy constructor, if one is defined:

T *src = .... ;
T *dst = new T(*src);

If no copy constructor is defined, then the object must be copied manually.