CWG Issue 492 (original) (raw)

This is an unofficial snapshot of the ISO/IEC JTC1 SC22 WG21 Core Issues List revision 118e. See http://www.open-std.org/jtc1/sc22/wg21/ for the official list.

2025-11-05

492.typeid constness inconsistent with example

Section: 7.6.1.8 [expr.typeid]Status: CD1Submitter: Ron NatalieDate: 15 Dec 2004

[Voted into WP at April, 2006 meeting.]

There is an inconsistency between the normative text in section 7.6.1.8 [expr.typeid] and the example that follows.

Here is the relevant passage (starting with paragraph 4):

When typeid is applied to a type-id, the result refers to a std::type_info object representing the type of the_type-id_. If the type of the type-id is a reference type, the result of the typeid expression refers to astd::type_info object representing the referenced type.

The top-level cv-qualifiers of the lvalue expression or the_type-id_ that is the operand of typeid are always ignored.

and the example:

typeid(D) == typeid(const D&); // yields true

The second paragraph above says the “type-id that is the operand”. This would be const D&. In this case, the const is not at the top-level (i.e., applied to the operand itself).

By a strict reading, the above should yield false.

My proposal is that the strict reading of the normative test is correct. The example is wrong. Different compilers here give different answers.

Proposed resolution (April, 2005):

Change the second sentence of 7.6.1.8 [expr.typeid] paragraph 4 as follows:

If the type of the type-id is a reference to a possibly cv-qualified type, the result of the typeid expression refers to a std::type_info object representing thecv-unqualified referenced type.