A destructor is a member function that is automatically called when an object is ____________________.

A destructor is a special member function of a class that is executed whenever an object of its class goes out of scope or is explicitly deleted. Its main purpose is to perform cleanup tasks such as releasing memory or closing open file handles, ensuring that there are no resource leaks.

A destructor is automatically called when an object is "destroyed", which can happen in the following situations: 1. When an object goes out of scope: If an object is created within a particular scope (e.g., a function or a block), the destructor is called when the execution leaves that scope. 2. When an object is deleted: If an object is created using the "new" keyword (dynamically allocated), the destructor is called when the "delete" keyword is used to deallocate the memory.

Let's consider the following example: ```cpp class MyClass { public: MyClass() { // Constructor cout << "Object created." << endl; } ~MyClass() { // Destructor cout << "Object destroyed." << endl; } }; void exampleFunction() { MyClass obj; // Object created within the scope of this function } // Destructor called when leaving the scope of the function int main() { exampleFunction(); MyClass* dynamicObj = new MyClass(); // Dynamically allocated object delete dynamicObj; // Destructor called when the object is deleted return 0; } ``` In this example, a destructor is called in two instances: 1. When `obj` goes out of scope after the execution of the `exampleFunction()` function. 2. When `dynamicObj` is explicitly deleted using the "delete" keyword.