constexpr specifier (since C++11)

• constexpr - specifies that the value of a variable or function can appear in constant expressions

Explanation

The constexpr specifier declares that it is possible to evaluate the value of the function or variable at compile time. Such variables and functions can then be used where only compile time constant expressions are allowed (provided that appropriate function arguments are given). A constexpr specifier used in an object declaration or non-static member function (until C++14) implies const. A constexpr specifier used in a function or static member variable (since C++17) declaration implies inline. If any declaration of a function or function template has a constexpr specifier, then every declaration must contain that specifier.

A constexpr variable must satisfy the following requirements:

• its type must be a LiteralType.
• it must be immediately initialized
• the full-expression of its initialization, including all implicit conversions, constructors calls, etc, must be a constant expression

A constexpr function must satisfy the following requirements:

• its return type must be a LiteralType
• each of its parameters must be a LiteralType
• there exists at least one set of argument values such that an invocation of the function could be an evaluated subexpression of a core constant expression (for constructors, use in a constant initializer is sufficient) (since C++14). No diagnostic is required for a violation of this bullet.

A constexpr constructor must satisfy the following requirements:

• each of its parameters must be a LiteralType.
• the class must have no virtual base classes

• for the constructor of a class or struct, every base class sub-object and every non-variant non-static data member must be initialized. If the class is a union-like class, for each of its non-empty anonymous union members, exactly one variant member must be initialized
• for the constructor of a non-empty union, exactly one non-static data member must be initialized
• every constructor selected to initializing non-static members and base class must be a constexpr constructor.

For constexpr function templates and constexpr member functions of class templates, at least one specialization must satisfy the abovementioned requirements. Other specializations are still considered as constexpr, even though a call to such a function cannot appear in a constant expression.

Notes

constexpr int f(); 
constexpr bool b1 = noexcept(f()); // false, undefined constexpr function
constexpr int f() { return 0; }
constexpr bool b2 = noexcept(f()); // true, f() is a constant expression

Constexpr constructors are permitted for classes that aren't literal types. For example, the default constructor of std::unique_ptr is constexpr, allowing constant initialization.

Reference variables can be declared constexpr (their initializers have to be reference constant expressions):

static constexpr int const& x = 42; // constexpr reference to a const int object
                                    // (the object has static storage duration
                                    //  due to life extension by a static reference)

Keywords

constexpr

Example

#include <iostream>
#include <stdexcept>
 
// C++11 constexpr functions use recursion rather than iteration
// (C++14 constexpr functions may use local variables and loops)
constexpr int factorial(int n)
{
    return n <= 1 ? 1 : (n * factorial(n - 1));
}
 
// literal class
class conststr {
    const char* p;
    std::size_t sz;
public:
    template<std::size_t N>
    constexpr conststr(const char(&a)[N]): p(a), sz(N - 1) {}
 
    // constexpr functions signal errors by throwing exceptions
    // in C++11, they must do so from the conditional operator ?:
    constexpr char operator[](std::size_t n) const
    {
        return n < sz ? p[n] : throw std::out_of_range("");
    }
    constexpr std::size_t size() const { return sz; }
};
 
// C++11 constexpr functions had to put everything in a single return statement
// (C++14 doesn't have that requirement)
constexpr std::size_t countlower(conststr s, std::size_t n = 0,
                                             std::size_t c = 0)
{
    return n == s.size() ? c :
           'a' <= s[n] && s[n] <= 'z' ? countlower(s, n + 1, c + 1) :
                                       countlower(s, n + 1, c);
}
 
// output function that requires a compile-time constant, for testing
template<int n>
struct constN
{
    constN() { std::cout << n << '\n'; }
};
 
int main()
{
    std::cout << "4! = " ;
    constN<factorial(4)> out1; // computed at compile time
 
    volatile int k = 8; // disallow optimization using volatile
    std::cout << k << "! = " << factorial(k) << '\n'; // computed at run time
 
    std::cout << "the number of lowercase letters in \"Hello, world!\" is ";
    constN<countlower("Hello, world!")> out2; // implicitly converted to conststr
}

4! = 24
8! = 40320
the number of lowercase letters in "Hello, world!" is 9

Defect reports

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

See also

• constant expression