explicit specifier - cppreference.com (original) (raw)

[edit] Syntax

explicit (1)
explicit ( expression ) (2) (since C++20)
2) The explicit specifier may be used with a constant expression. The function is explicit if and only if that constant expression evaluates to true. (since C++20)

The explicit specifier may only appear within the decl-specifier-seq of the declaration of a constructor or conversion function(since C++11) within its class definition.

[edit] Notes

A constructor with a single non-default parameter(until C++11) that is declared without the function specifier explicit is called a converting constructor.

Both constructors (other than copy/move) and user-defined conversion functions may be function templates; the meaning of explicit does not change.

A ( token that follows explicit is always parsed as part of the explicit specifier: struct S { explicit (S)(const S&); // error in C++20, OK in C++17 explicit (operator int)(); // error in C++20, OK in C++17 }; (since C++20)
Feature-test macro Value Std Feature
__cpp_conditional_explicit 201806L (C++20) conditional explicit

[edit] Keywords

explicit

[edit] Example

struct A { A(int) {} // converting constructor A(int, int) {} // converting constructor (C++11) operator bool() const { return true; } };   struct B { explicit B(int) {} explicit B(int, int) {} explicit operator bool() const { return true; } };   int main() { A a1 = 1; // OK: copy-initialization selects A::A(int) A a2(2); // OK: direct-initialization selects A::A(int) A a3 {4, 5}; // OK: direct-list-initialization selects A::A(int, int) A a4 = {4, 5}; // OK: copy-list-initialization selects A::A(int, int) A a5 = (A)1; // OK: explicit cast performs static_cast if (a1) { } // OK: A::operator bool() bool na1 = a1; // OK: copy-initialization selects A::operator bool() bool na2 = static_cast(a1); // OK: static_cast performs direct-initialization   // B b1 = 1; // error: copy-initialization does not consider B::B(int) B b2(2); // OK: direct-initialization selects B::B(int) B b3 {4, 5}; // OK: direct-list-initialization selects B::B(int, int) // B b4 = {4, 5}; // error: copy-list-initialization does not consider B::B(int, int) B b5 = (B)1; // OK: explicit cast performs static_cast if (b2) { } // OK: B::operator bool() // bool nb1 = b2; // error: copy-initialization does not consider B::operator bool() bool nb2 = static_cast(b2); // OK: static_cast performs direct-initialization   {}(a4, a5, na1, na2, b5, nb2); // suppresses “unused variable” warnings }

[edit] See also