9 Declarations [dcl.dcl]

9.8 Namespaces [basic.namespace]

9.8.1 Namespace definition [namespace.def]

namespace-name:
	identifier
	namespace-alias

namespace-definition:
	named-namespace-definition
	unnamed-namespace-definition
	nested-namespace-definition

named-namespace-definition:
	inline $_{o p t}$  namespace attribute-specifier-seq $_{o p t}$  identifier { namespace-body }

unnamed-namespace-definition:
	inline $_{o p t}$  namespace attribute-specifier-seq $_{o p t}$  { namespace-body }

nested-namespace-definition:
	namespace enclosing-namespace-specifier :: inline $_{o p t}$  identifier { namespace-body }

enclosing-namespace-specifier:
	identifier
	enclosing-namespace-specifier :: inline $_{o p t}$  identifier

namespace-body:
	declaration-seq $_{o p t}$

Every namespace-definition shall appear at namespace scope ([basic.scope.namespace]).

In a named-namespace-definition, the identifier is the name of the namespace.

If the identifier, when looked up, refers to a namespace-name (but not a namespace-alias) that was introduced in the namespace in which the named-namespace-definition appears or that was introduced in a member of the inline namespace set of that namespace, the namespace-definition extends the previously-declared namespace.

Otherwise, the identifier is introduced as a namespace-name into the declarative region in which the named-namespace-definition appears.

Because a namespace-definition contains declarations in its namespace-body and a namespace-definition is itself a declaration, it follows that namespace-definitions can be nested.

[ Example

namespace Outer {
  int i;
  namespace Inner {
    void f() { i++; }           // Outer::i
    int i;
    void g() { i++; }           // Inner::i
  }
}

— end example

]

The enclosing namespaces of a declaration are those namespaces in which the declaration lexically appears, except for a redeclaration of a namespace member outside its original namespace (e.g., a definition as specified in [namespace.memdef]).

Such a redeclaration has the same enclosing namespaces as the original declaration.

[ Example

namespace Q {
  namespace V {
    void f();                   // enclosing namespaces are the global namespace, Q, and Q::V
    class C { void m(); };
  }
  void V::f() {                 // enclosing namespaces are the global namespace, Q, and Q::V
    extern void h();            // ... so this declares Q::V::h
  }
  void V::C::m() {              // enclosing namespaces are the global namespace, Q, and Q::V
  }
}

— end example

]

If the optional initial inline keyword appears in a namespace-definition for a particular namespace, that namespace is declared to be an inline namespace.

The inline keyword may be used on a namespace-definition that extends a namespace only if it was previously used on the namespace-definition that initially declared the namespace-name for that namespace.

The optional attribute-specifier-seq in a named-namespace-definition appertains to the namespace being defined or extended.

Members of an inline namespace can be used in most respects as though they were members of the enclosing namespace.

Specifically, the inline namespace and its enclosing namespace are both added to the set of associated namespaces used in argument-dependent lookup whenever one of them is, and a using-directive that names the inline namespace is implicitly inserted into the enclosing namespace as for an unnamed namespace .

Furthermore, each member of the inline namespace can subsequently be partially specialized, explicitly instantiated, or explicitly specialized as though it were a member of the enclosing namespace.

Finally, looking up a name in the enclosing namespace via explicit qualification ([namespace.qual]) will include members of the inline namespace brought in by the using-directive even if there are declarations of that name in the enclosing namespace.

These properties are transitive: if a namespace N contains an inline namespace M, which in turn contains an inline namespace O, then the members of O can be used as though they were members of M or N.

The inline namespace set of N is the transitive closure of all inline namespaces in N.

The enclosing namespace set of O is the set of namespaces consisting of the innermost non-inline namespace enclosing an inline namespace O, together with any intervening inline namespaces.

A nested-namespace-definition with an enclosing-namespace-specifier E, identifier I and namespace-body B is equivalent to

namespace E { inline $_{o p t}$  namespace I { B } }

where the optional inline is present if and only if the identifier I is preceded by inline.

[ Example

namespace A::inline B::C {
  int i;
}

The above has the same effect as:

namespace A {
  inline namespace B {
    namespace C {
      int i;
    }
  }
}

— end example

]

9.8.1.1 Unnamed namespaces [namespace.unnamed]

An unnamed-namespace-definition behaves as if it were replaced by

inline $_{o p t}$  namespace unique { /* empty body */ }
using namespace unique ;
namespace unique { namespace-body }

where inline appears if and only if it appears in the unnamed-namespace-definition and all occurrences of unique in a translation unit are replaced by the same identifier, and this identifier differs from all other identifiers in the translation unit.

The optional attribute-specifier-seq in the unnamed-namespace-definition appertains to unique.

[ Example

namespace { int i; }            // unique::i
void f() { i++; }               // unique::i++

namespace A {
  namespace {
    int i;                      // A::unique::i
    int j;                      // A::unique::j
  }
  void g() { i++; }             // A::unique::i++
}

using namespace A;
void h() {
  i++;                          // error: unique::i or A::unique::i
  A::i++;                       // A::unique::i
  j++;                          // A::unique::j
}

— end example

]

9.8.1.2 Namespace member definitions [namespace.memdef]

A declaration in a namespace N (excluding declarations in nested scopes) whose declarator-id is an unqualified-id ([dcl.meaning]), whose class-head-name or enum-head-name is an identifier, or whose elaborated-type-specifier is of the form class-key attribute-specifier-seq

_{o p t}

identifier ([dcl.type.elab]), or that is an opaque-enum-declaration, declares (or redeclares) its unqualified-id or identifier as a member of N.

[ Note

An explicit instantiation or explicit specialization of a template does not introduce a name and thus may be declared using an unqualified-id in a member of the enclosing namespace set, if the primary template is declared in an inline namespace.

— end note

]

[ Example

namespace X {
  void f() { /* ... */ }        // OK: introduces X::f()

  namespace M {
    void g();                   // OK: introduces X::M::g()
  }
  using M::g;
  void g();                     // error: conflicts with X::M::g()
}

— end example

]

Members of a named namespace can also be defined outside that namespace by explicit qualification ([namespace.qual]) of the name being defined, provided that the entity being defined was already declared in the namespace and the definition appears after the point of declaration in a namespace that encloses the declaration's namespace.

[ Example

namespace Q {
  namespace V {
    void f();
  }
  void V::f() { /* ... */ }     // OK
  void V::g() { /* ... */ }     // error: g() is not yet a member of V
  namespace V {
    void g();
  }
}

namespace R {
  void Q::V::g() { /* ... */ }  // error: R doesn't enclose Q
}

— end example

]

If a friend declaration in a non-local class first declares a class, function, class template or function template95 the friend is a member of the innermost enclosing namespace.

The friend declaration does not by itself make the name visible to unqualified lookup or qualified lookup .

[ Note

The name of the friend will be visible in its namespace if a matching declaration is provided at namespace scope (either before or after the class definition granting friendship).

— end note

]

If a friend function or function template is called, its name may be found by the name lookup that considers functions from namespaces and classes associated with the types of the function arguments ([basic.lookup.argdep]).

If the name in a friend declaration is neither qualified nor a template-id and the declaration is a function or an elaborated-type-specifier, the lookup to determine whether the entity has been previously declared shall not consider any scopes outside the innermost enclosing namespace.

[ Note

The other forms of friend declarations cannot declare a new member of the innermost enclosing namespace and thus follow the usual lookup rules.

— end note

]

[ Example

// Assume f and g have not yet been declared.
void h(int);
template <class T> void f2(T);
namespace A {
  class X {
    friend void f(X);           // A::f(X) is a friend
    class Y {
      friend void g();          // A::g is a friend
      friend void h(int);       // A::h is a friend
                                // ::h not considered
      friend void f2<>(int);    // ::f2<>(int) is a friend
    };
  };

  // A::f, A::g and A::h are not visible here
  X x;
  void g() { f(x); }            // definition of A::g
  void f(X) { /* ... */ }       // definition of A::f
  void h(int) { /* ... */ }     // definition of A::h
  // A::f, A::g and A::h are visible here and known to be friends
}

using A::x;

void h() {
  A::f(x);
  A::X::f(x);                   // error: f is not a member of A::X
  A::X::Y::g();                 // error: g is not a member of A::X::Y
}

— end example

]

95)

this implies that the name of the class or function is unqualified.

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