11 Classes [class]

11.8 Member name lookup [class.member.lookup]

Member name lookup determines the meaning of a name (id-expression) in a class scope ([basic.scope.class]).
Name lookup can result in an ambiguity, in which case the program is ill-formed.
For an unqualified-id, name lookup begins in the class scope of this; for a qualified-id, name lookup begins in the scope of the nested-name-specifier.
Name lookup takes place before access control ([basic.lookup], [class.access]).
The following steps define the result of name lookup for a member name f in a class scope C.
The lookup set for f in C, called , consists of two component sets: the declaration set, a set of members named f; and the subobject set, a set of subobjects where declarations of these members (possibly including using-declarations) were found.
In the declaration set, using-declarations are replaced by the set of designated members that are not hidden or overridden by members of the derived class ([namespace.udecl]), and type declarations (including injected-class-names) are replaced by the types they designate.
is calculated as follows:
If C contains a declaration of the name f, the declaration set contains every declaration of f declared in C that satisfies the requirements of the language construct in which the lookup occurs.
[Note
:
Looking up a name in an elaborated-type-specifier ([basic.lookup.elab]) or base-specifier, for instance, ignores all non-type declarations, while looking up a name in a nested-name-specifier ([basic.lookup.qual]) ignores function, variable, and enumerator declarations.
As another example, looking up a name in a using-declaration includes the declaration of a class or enumeration that would ordinarily be hidden by another declaration of that name in the same scope.
— end note
]
If the resulting declaration set is not empty, the subobject set contains C itself, and calculation is complete.
Otherwise (i.e., C does not contain a declaration of f or the resulting declaration set is empty), is initially empty.
If C has base classes, calculate the lookup set for f in each direct base class subobject , and merge each such lookup set in turn into .
The following steps define the result of merging lookup set into the intermediate :
  • If each of the subobject members of is a base class subobject of at least one of the subobject members of , or if is empty, is unchanged and the merge is complete. Conversely, if each of the subobject members of is a base class subobject of at least one of the subobject members of , or if is empty, the new is a copy of .
  • Otherwise, if the declaration sets of and differ, the merge is ambiguous: the new is a lookup set with an invalid declaration set and the union of the subobject sets. In subsequent merges, an invalid declaration set is considered different from any other.
  • Otherwise, the new is a lookup set with the shared set of declarations and the union of the subobject sets.
The result of name lookup for f in C is the declaration set of .
If it is an invalid set, the program is ill-formed.
[Example
:
struct A { int x; };                    // S(x,A) = { { A​::​x }, { A } }
struct B { float x; };                  // S(x,B) = { { B​::​x }, { B } }
struct C: public A, public B { };       // S(x,C) = { invalid, { A in C, B in C } }
struct D: public virtual C { };         // S(x,D) = S(x,C)
struct E: public virtual C { char x; }; // S(x,E) = { { E​::​x }, { E } }
struct F: public D, public E { };       // S(x,F) = S(x,E)
int main() {
  F f;
  f.x = 0;                              // OK, lookup finds E​::​x
}
is unambiguous because the A and B base class subobjects of D are also base class subobjects of E, so is discarded in the first merge step.
— end example
]
If the name of an overloaded function is unambiguously found, overload resolution ([over.match]) also takes place before access control.
Ambiguities can often be resolved by qualifying a name with its class name.
[Example
:
struct A {
  int f();
};

struct B {
  int f();
};

struct C : A, B {
  int f() { return A::f() + B::f(); }
};
— end example
]
[Note
:
A static member, a nested type or an enumerator defined in a base class T can unambiguously be found even if an object has more than one base class subobject of type T.
Two base class subobjects share the non-static member subobjects of their common virtual base classes.
— end note
]
[Example
:
struct V {
  int v;
};
struct A {
  int a;
  static int   s;
  enum { e };
};
struct B : A, virtual V { };
struct C : A, virtual V { };
struct D : B, C { };

void f(D* pd) {
  pd->v++;          // OK: only one v (virtual)
  pd->s++;          // OK: only one s (static)
  int i = pd->e;    // OK: only one e (enumerator)
  pd->a++;          // error: ambiguous: two as in D
}
— end example
]
[Note
:
When virtual base classes are used, a hidden declaration can be reached along a path through the subobject lattice that does not pass through the hiding declaration.
This is not an ambiguity.
The identical use with non-virtual base classes is an ambiguity; in that case there is no unique instance of the name that hides all the others.
— end note
]
[Example
:
struct V { int f();  int x; };
struct W { int g();  int y; };
struct B : virtual V, W {
  int f();  int x;
  int g();  int y;
};
struct C : virtual V, W { };

struct D : B, C { void glorp(); };
virt W1 W V V W2 W B B B->W1 B->V C C C->V C->W2 D D D->B D->C
Figure 6: Name lookup  [fig:class.lookup]
As illustrated in Figure 6, the names declared in V and the left-hand instance of W are hidden by those in B, but the names declared in the right-hand instance of W are not hidden at all.
void D::glorp() {
  x++;              // OK: B​::​x hides V​::​x
  f();              // OK: B​::​f() hides V​::​f()
  y++;              // error: B​::​y and C's W​::​y
  g();              // error: B​::​g() and C's W​::​g()
}
— end example
]
An explicit or implicit conversion from a pointer to or an expression designating an object of a derived class to a pointer or reference to one of its base classes shall unambiguously refer to a unique object representing the base class.
[Example
:
struct V { };
struct A { };
struct B : A, virtual V { };
struct C : A, virtual V { };
struct D : B, C { };

void g() {
  D d;
  B* pb = &d;
  A* pa = &d;       // error: ambiguous: C's A or B's A?
  V* pv = &d;       // OK: only one V subobject
}
— end example
]
[Note
:
Even if the result of name lookup is unambiguous, use of a name found in multiple subobjects might still be ambiguous ([conv.mem], [expr.ref], [class.access.base]).
— end note
]
[Example
:
struct B1 {
  void f();
  static void f(int);
  int i;
};
struct B2 {
  void f(double);
};
struct I1: B1 { };
struct I2: B1 { };

struct D: I1, I2, B2 {
  using B1::f;
  using B2::f;
  void g() {
    f();                        // Ambiguous conversion of this
    f(0);                       // Unambiguous (static)
    f(0.0);                     // Unambiguous (only one B2)
    int B1::* mpB1 = &D::i;     // Unambiguous
    int D::* mpD = &D::i;       // Ambiguous conversion
  }
};
— end example
]