Implicit conversions - cppreference.com (original) (raw)

Implicit conversions are performed whenever an expression of some type T1 is used in context that does not accept that type, but accepts some other type T2; in particular:

The program is well-formed (compiles) only if there exists one unambiguous implicit conversion sequence from T1 to T2.

If there are multiple overloads of the function or operator being called, after the implicit conversion sequence is built from T1 to each available T2, overload resolution rules decide which overload is compiled.

Note: in arithmetic expressions, the destination type for the implicit conversions on the operands to binary operators is determined by a separate set of rules: usual arithmetic conversions.

Contents

[edit] Order of the conversions

Implicit conversion sequence consists of the following, in this order:

  1. zero or one standard conversion sequence;

  2. zero or one user-defined conversion;

  3. zero or one standard conversion sequence (only if a user-defined conversion is used).

When considering the argument to a constructor or to a user-defined conversion function, only one standard conversion sequence is allowed (otherwise user-defined conversions could be effectively chained). When converting from one non-class type to another non-class type, only a standard conversion sequence is allowed.

A standard conversion sequence consists of the following, in this order:

  1. zero or one conversion from the following set:
  1. zero or one numeric promotion or numeric conversion;
3) zero or one function pointer conversion; (since C++17)
  1. zero or one qualification conversion.

A user-defined conversion consists of zero or one non-explicit single-argument converting constructor or non-explicit conversion function call.

An expression e is said to be implicitly convertible to T2 if and only if T2 can be copy-initialized from e, that is the declaration T2 t = e; is well-formed (can be compiled), for some invented temporary t. Note that this is different from direct initialization (T2 t(e)), where explicit constructors and conversion functions would additionally be considered.

[edit] Contextual conversions

| In the following contexts, the type bool is expected and the implicit conversion is performed if the declaration bool t(e); is well-formed (that is, an explicit conversion function such as explicit T::operator bool() const; is considered). Such expression e is said to be contextually converted to bool. the controlling expression of if, while, for; the operands of the built-in logical operators !, && and ||; the first operand of the conditional operator ?:; the predicate in a static_assert declaration; the expression in a noexcept specifier; the expression in an explicit specifier; (since C++20) | (since C++11) | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------- |

In the following contexts, a context-specific type T is expected, and the expression e of class type E is only allowed if

E has a single non-explicit(since C++11) user-defined conversion function to an allowable type. (until C++14)
there is exactly one type T among the allowable types such that E has non-explicit conversion functions whose return types are (possibly cv-qualified) T or reference to (possibly cv-qualified) T, and e is implicitly convertible to T. (since C++14)

Such expression e is said to be contextually implicitly converted to the specified type T. Note that explicit conversion functions are not considered, even though they are considered in contextual conversions to bool.(since C++11)

#include   template class zero_init { T val; public: zero_init() : val(static_cast(0)) {} zero_init(T val) : val(val) {} operator T&() { return val; } operator T() const { return val; } };   int main() { zero_init i; assert(i == 0);   i = 7; assert(i == 7);   switch (i) {} // error until C++14 (more than one conversion function) // OK since C++14 (both functions convert to the same type int) switch (i + 0) {} // always okay (implicit conversion) }

[edit] Value transformations

Value transformations are conversions that change the value category of an expression. They take place whenever an expression appears as an operand of an operator that expects an expression of a different value category:

Unless otherwise specified, whenever a prvalue appears as an operand of an operator that expects a glvalue for that operand, the temporary materialization conversion is applied to convert the expression to an xvalue. (since C++17)

[edit] Lvalue-to-rvalue conversion

An lvalue(until C++11)A glvalue(since C++11) of any non-function, non-array type T can be implicitly converted to an rvalue(until C++11)a prvalue(since C++11):

If an lvalue-to-rvalue conversion from an incomplete type is required by a program, that program is ill-formed.

Given the object to which the lvalue(until C++11)glvalue(since C++11) refers as obj:

When an lvalue-to-rvalue conversion occurs within the operand of sizeof, the value contained in obj is not accessed, since that operator does not evaluate its operand. The result of the conversion is the value contained in obj. If one of T and the type of obj is a signed integer type, and the other is the corresponding unsigned integer type, the result is the value of type T with the same value representation of obj. (until C++11)
When an lvalue-to-rvalue conversion is applied to an expression E, the value contained in obj is not accessed if: E is not potentially evaluated, or the evaluation of E results in the evaluation of a member Ex of the set of potential results of E, and Ex names a variable x that is not odr-used by Ex. The result of the conversion is determined as follows: If T is (possibly cv-qualified) std::nullptr_t, the result is a null pointer constant. obj is not accessed by the conversion, so there is no side effect even if T is volatile-qualified, and the glvalue can refer to an inactive member of a union. Otherwise, if T is a class type: Otherwise, if obj contains an invalid pointer value, the behavior is implementation-defined. Otherwise, if the bits in the value representation of obj are not valid for obj's type, the behavior is undefined. Otherwise, obj is read, and(since C++20) the result is the value contained in obj. If one of T and the type of obj is a signed integer type, and the other is the corresponding unsigned integer type, the result is the value of type T with the same value representation of obj. (since C++11)

This conversion models the act of reading a value from a memory location into a CPU register.

[edit] Array-to-pointer conversion

An lvalue or rvalue of type “array of N T” or “array of unknown bound of T” can be implicitly converted to a prvalue of type “pointer to T”. If the array is a prvalue, temporary materialization occurs.(since C++17) The resulting pointer refers to the first element of the array (see Array-to-pointer decay for details).

[edit] Function-to-pointer conversion

An lvalue of function type can be implicitly converted to a prvalue pointer to that function. This does not apply to non-static member functions because lvalues that refer to non-static member functions do not exist.

Temporary materialization A prvalue of any complete type T can be converted to an xvalue of the same type T. This conversion initializes a temporary object of type T from the prvalue by evaluating the prvalue with the temporary object as its result object, and produces an xvalue denoting the temporary object.If T is a class or array of class type, it must have an accessible and non-deleted destructor. struct S { int m; }; int i = S().m; // member access expects glvalue as of C++17; // S() prvalue is converted to xvalue Temporary materialization occurs in the following situations: when binding a reference to a prvalue; when accessing a non-static data member of a class prvalue; when invoking an implicit object member function of a class prvalue; when performing an array-to-pointer conversion (see above) or subscripting on an array prvalue; when initializing an object of type std::initializer_list<T> from a braced-enclosed initializer list; when a prvalue appears as a discarded-value expression. Note that temporary materialization does not occur when initializing an object from a prvalue of the same type (by direct-initialization or copy-initialization): such object is initialized directly from the initializer. This ensures “guaranteed copy elision”. (since C++17)

[edit] Integral promotion

prvalues of small integral types (such as char) and unscoped enumeration types may be converted to prvalues of larger integral types (such as int). In particular, arithmetic operators do not accept types smaller than int as arguments, and integral promotions are automatically applied after lvalue-to-rvalue conversion, if applicable. This conversion always preserves the value.

The following implicit conversions in this section are classified as integral promotions.

Note that for a given source type, the destination type of integral promotion is unique, And all other conversions are not promotions. For example, overload resolution chooses char -> int (promotion) over char -> short (conversion).

[edit] Promotion from integral types

A prvalue of type bool can be converted to a prvalue of type int, with false becoming ​0​ and true becoming 1.

For a prvalue val of an integral type T except bool:

  1. If val is the result of an lvalue-to-rvalue conversion applied to a bit-field,
  1. Otherwise (val is not converted from a bit-field),
  1. In the cases specified by item (1) (a converted bit-field not fitting unsigned int) or item (2) (T is one of the given character types), val can be converted to a prvalue of the first of the following types that can represent all the values of its underlying type:
long long unsigned long long the underlying type of T (since C++11)

[edit] Promotion from enumeration types

A prvalue of an unscoped enumeration type whose underlying type is not fixed can be converted to a prvalue of the first type from the following list able to hold their entire value range:

long long unsigned long long the extended integer type such that its integer conversion rank is greater than the rank of long long, its integer conversion rank is the lowest among all extended integer types, and it is signed if there are two types with the lowest integer conversion rank among all extended integer types. (since C++11)
A prvalue of an unscoped enumeration type whose underlying type is fixed can be converted to its underlying type. Moreover, if the underlying type is also subject to integral promotion, to the promoted underlying type. Conversion to the unpromoted underlying type is better for the purposes of overload resolution. (since C++11)

[edit] Floating-point promotion

A prvalue of type float can be converted to a prvalue of type double. The value does not change.

This conversion is called floating-point promotion.

[edit] Numeric conversions

Unlike the promotions, numeric conversions may change the values, with potential loss of precision.

[edit] Integral conversions

A prvalue of an integer type or of an unscoped enumeration type can be converted to any other integer type. If the conversion is listed under integral promotions, it is a promotion and not a conversion.

  1. This only applies if the arithmetic is two's complement which is only required for the exact-width integer types. Note, however, that at the moment all platforms with a C++ compiler use two's complement arithmetic.

[edit] Floating-point conversions

A prvalue of a floating-point type can be converted to a prvalue of any other floating-point type. (until C++23)
A prvalue of a floating-point type can be converted to a prvalue of any other floating-point type with a greater or equal floating-point conversion rank.A prvalue of a standard floating-point type can be converted to a prvalue of any other standard floating-point type.static_cast can be used to explicitly convert a prvalue of floating-point type to any other floating-point type. (since C++23)

If the conversion is listed under floating-point promotions, it is a promotion and not a conversion.

[edit] Floating–integral conversions

A prvalue of floating-point type can be converted to a prvalue of any integer type. The fractional part is truncated, that is, the fractional part is discarded.

A prvalue of integer or unscoped enumeration type can be converted to a prvalue of any floating-point type. The result is exact if possible.

[edit] Pointer conversions

A null pointer constant can be converted to any pointer type, and the result is the null pointer value of that type. Such conversion (known as null pointer conversion) is allowed to convert to a cv-qualified type as a single conversion, that is, it is not considered a combination of numeric and qualifying conversions.

A prvalue pointer to any (optionally cv-qualified) object type T can be converted to a prvalue pointer to (identically cv-qualified) void. The resulting pointer represents the same location in memory as the original pointer value.

A prvalue ptr of type “pointer to (possibly cv-qualified) Derived” can be converted to a prvalue of type “pointer to (possibly cv-qualified) Base”, where Base is a base class of Derived, and Derived is a complete class type. If the Base is inaccessible or ambiguous, the program is ill-formed.

[edit] Pointer-to-member conversions

A null pointer constant can be converted to any pointer-to-member type, and the result is the null member pointer value of that type. Such conversion (known as null member pointer conversion) is allowed to convert to a cv-qualified type as a single conversion, that is, it is not considered a combination of numeric and qualifying conversions.

A prvalue of type “pointer to member of Base of type (possibly cv-qualified) T” can be converted to a prvalue of type “pointer to member of Derived of type (identically cv-qualified) T”, where Base is a base class of Derived, and Derived is a complete class type. If Base is inaccessible, ambiguous, or virtual base of Derived or is a base of some intermediate virtual base of Derived, the program is ill-formed.

[edit] Boolean conversions

A prvalue of integral, floating-point, unscoped enumeration, pointer, and pointer-to-member types can be converted to a prvalue of type bool.

The value zero (for integral, floating-point, and unscoped enumeration) and the null pointer and the null pointer-to-member values become false. All other values become true.

In the context of a direct-initialization, a bool object may be initialized from a prvalue of type std::nullptr_t, including nullptr. The resulting value is false. However, this is not considered to be an implicit conversion. (since C++11)

[edit] Qualification conversions

Generally speaking:

The formal definition of “qualification conversion” is given below.

[edit] Similar types

Informally, two types are similar if, ignoring top-level cv-qualification:

For example:

Formally, type similarity is defined in terms of qualification-decomposition.

A qualification-decomposition of a type T is a sequence of components cv_i and P_i such that T is “cv_0 P_0 cv_1 P_1 ... cv_n−1 P_n−1 cv_n U” for non-negative n, where

If P_i designates an array, the cv-qualifiers cv_i+1 on the element type are also taken as the cv-qualifiers cv_i of the array.

// T is “pointer to pointer to const int”, it has 3 qualification-decompositions: // n = 0 -> cv_0 is empty, U is “pointer to pointer to const int” // n = 1 -> cv_0 is empty, P_0 is “pointer to”, // cv_1 is empty, U is “pointer to const int” // n = 2 -> cv_0 is empty, P_0 is “pointer to”, // cv_1 is empty, P_1 is “pointer to”, // cv_2 is “const", U is “int” using T = const int**;   // substitute any of the following type to U gives one of the decompositions: // U = U0 -> the decomposition with n = 0: U0 // U = U1 -> the decomposition with n = 1: pointer to [U1] // U = U2 -> the decomposition with n = 2: pointer to [pointer to [const U2]] using U2 = int; using U1 = const U2*; using U0 = U1*;

Two types T1 and T2 are similar if there exists a qualification-decomposition for each of them, where all following conditions are satisfied for the two qualification-decompositions:

// the qualification-decomposition with n = 2: // pointer to [volatile pointer to [const int]] using T1 = const int* volatile ;   // the qualification-decomposition with n = 2: // const pointer to [pointer to [int]] using T2 = int* const;   // For the two qualification-decompositions above // although cv_0, cv_1 and cv_2 are all different, // they have the same n, U, P_0 and P_1, // therefore types T1 and T2 are similar.

[edit] Combining cv-qualifications

In the description below, the longest qualification-decomposition of type Tn is denoted as Dn, and its components are denoted as cvn_i and Pn_i.

A prvalue expression of type T1 can be converted to type T2 if all following conditions are satisfied: T1 and T2 are similar. For every non-zero i, if const is in cv1_i, then const is also in cv2_i, and similarly for volatile. For every non-zero i, if cv1_i and cv2_i are different, then const is in cv2_k for every k in [1, i). The qualification-combined type of two types T1 and T2 is a type T3 similar to T1 such that cv3_0 is empty, for every non-zero i, cv3_i is the union of cv1_i and cv2_i, and if cv3_i is different from cv1_i or c2_i, then const is added to cv3_k for every k in [1, i). (until C++20)
The qualification-combined type of two types T1 and T2 is a type T3 similar to T1, where D3 satisfies all following conditions: cv3_0 is empty. For every non-zero i, cv3_i is the union of cv1_i and cv2_i. If P1_i or P2_i is “array of unknown bound of”, P3_i is “array of unknown bound of”, otherwise it is P1_i. If cv3_i is different from cv1_i or cv2_i, or P3_i is different from P1_i or P2_i, then const is added to cv3_k for every k in [1, i). A prvalue of type T1 can be converted to type T2 if the qualification-combined type of T1 and T2 is cv-unqualified T2. (since C++20)

// longest qualification-decomposition of T1 (n = 2): // pointer to [pointer to [char]] using T1 = char**;   // longest qualification-decomposition of T2 (n = 2): // pointer to [pointer to [const char]] using T2 = const char**;   // Determining the cv3_i and T_i components of D3 (n = 2): // cv3_1 = empty (union of empty cv1_1 and empty cv2_1) // cv3_2 = “const” (union of empty cv1_2 and “const” cv2_2) // P3_0 = “pointer to” (no array of unknown bound, use P1_0) // P3_1 = “pointer to” (no array of unknown bound, use P1_1) // All components except cv_2 are the same, cv3_2 is different from cv1_2, // therefore add “const” to cv3_k for each k in [1, 2): cv3_1 becomes “const”. // T3 is “pointer to const pointer to const char”, i.e., const char* const . using T3 = / the qualification-combined type of T1 and T2 /;   int main() { const char c = 'c'; char pc; T1 ppc = &pc; T2 pcc = ppc; // Error: T3 is not the same as cv-unqualified T2, // no implicit conversion.   *pcc = &c; *pc = 'C'; // If the erroneous assignment above is allowed, // the const object “c” may be modified. }

Note that in the C programming language, const/volatile can be added to the first level only:

char** p = 0; char * const* p1 = p; // OK in C and C++ const char* const * p2 = p; // error in C, OK in C++

Function pointer conversions A prvalue of type pointer to non-throwing function can be converted to a prvalue pointer to potentially-throwing function. A prvalue of type pointer to non-throwing member function can be converted to a prvalue pointer to potentially-throwing member function. void (*p)(); void (**pp)() noexcept = &p; // error: cannot convert to pointer to noexcept function   struct S { typedef void (*p)(); operator p(); }; void (*q)() noexcept = S(); // error: cannot convert to pointer to noexcept function (since C++17)

[edit] The safe bool problem

Until C++11, designing a class that should be usable in boolean contexts (e.g. if (obj) { ... }) presented a problem: given a user-defined conversion function, such as T::operator bool() const;, the implicit conversion sequence allowed one additional standard conversion sequence after that function call, which means the resultant bool could be converted to int, allowing such code as obj << 1; or int i = obj;.

One early solution for this can be seen in std::basic_ios, which initially defines operator void*, so that the code such as if (std::cin) {...} compiles because void* is convertible to bool, but int n = std::cout; does not compile because void* is not convertible to int. This still allows nonsense code such as delete std::cout; to compile.

Many pre-C++11 third party libraries were designed with a more elaborate solution, known as the Safe Bool idiom. std::basic_ios also allowed this idiom via LWG issue 468, and operator void* was replaced (see notes).

Since C++11, explicit bool conversion can also be used to resolve the safe bool problem.

[edit] Defect reports

The following behavior-changing defect reports were applied retroactively to previously published C++ standards.

DR Applied to Behavior as published Correct behavior
CWG 170 C++98 the behavior of pointer-to-member conversions was unclearif the derived class does not have the original member made clear
CWG 172 C++98 enumeration type was promoted based on its underlying type based on its value range instead
CWG 330(N4261) C++98 the conversion from double* const (*p)[3]to double const * const (*p)[3] was invalid made valid
CWG 519 C++98 null pointer values were not guaranteed to bepreserved when converting to another pointer type always preserved
CWG 616 C++98 the behavior of lvalue to rvalue conversion ofany uninitialized object and pointer objectsof invalid values was always undefined indeterminate unsigned charis allowed; use of invalid pointersis implementation-defined
CWG 685 C++98 the underlying type of an enumeration type wasnot prioritized in integral promotion if it is fixed prioritized
CWG 707 C++98 integer to floating point conversionhad defined behavior in all cases the behavior is undefined ifthe value being converted isout of the destination range
CWG 1423 C++11 std::nullptr_t was convertible to boolin both direct- and copy-initialization direct-initialization only
CWG 1773 C++11 a name expression that appears in a potentially-evaluatedexpression such that the object named is not odr-used mightstill be evaluated during an lvalue-to-rvalue conversion not evaluated
CWG 1781 C++11 std::nullptr_t to bool was considered an implicitconversion even though it is only valid for direct-initialization no longer consideredan implicit conversion
CWG 1787 C++98 the behavior of reading from an indeterminateunsigned char cached in a register was undefined made well-defined
CWG 1981 C++11 contextual conversions considered explicit conversion functions not considered
CWG 2140 C++11 it was unclear whether lvalue-to-rvalue conversions fromstd::nullptr_t lvalues fetch these lvalues from memory not fetched
CWG 2310 C++98 for derived-to-base pointer conversions andbase-to-derived pointer-to-member conversions,the derived class type could be incomplete must be complete
CWG 2484 C++20 char8_t and char16_t had different integralpromotion strategies, but they can fit both of them char8_t should be promotedin the same way as char16_t
CWG 2485 C++98 integral promotions involving bit-fields were not specified well improved the specification
CWG 2813 C++23 temporary materialization would occur when an explicitobject member function of a class prvalue is invoked will not occurin this case
CWG 2861 C++98 a pointer to a type-inaccessible object could beconverted a pointer to a base class subobject the behavior isundefined in this case
CWG 2879 C++17 temporary materialization conversion was applied on prvalueas an operand of an operator that expects glvalue not applied in some cases
CWG 2899 C++98 lvalue-to-rvalue conversions could be applied to lvaluesdesignating objects with invalid value representations the behavior isundefined in this case
CWG 2901 C++98 the result of lvalue-to-rvalue conversion from an unsigned intlvalue referring to an int object with value -1 was unclear made clear

[edit] See also