9 Declarations [dcl.dcl]

9.12 Attributes [dcl.attr]

9.12.2 Alignment specifier [dcl.align]

1
#
An alignment-specifier may be applied to a variable or to a class data member, but it shall not be applied to a bit-field, a function parameter, or an exception-declaration ([except.handle]).
An alignment-specifier may also be applied to the declaration of a class (in an elaborated-type-specifier or class-head ([class]), respectively).
An alignment-specifier with an ellipsis is a pack expansion ([temp.variadic]).
2
#
When the alignment-specifier is of the form alignas( constant-expression ):
  • (2.1)
    the constant-expression shall be an integral constant expression
  • (2.2)
    if the constant expression does not evaluate to an alignment value ([basic.align]), or evaluates to an extended alignment and the implementation does not support that alignment in the context of the declaration, the program is ill-formed.
3
#
An alignment-specifier of the form alignas( type-id ) has the same effect as alignas(​alignof( type-id )).
4
#
The alignment requirement of an entity is the strictest nonzero alignment specified by its alignment-specifiers, if any; otherwise, the alignment-specifiers have no effect.
5
#
The combined effect of all alignment-specifiers in a declaration shall not specify an alignment that is less strict than the alignment that would be required for the entity being declared if all alignment-specifiers appertaining to that entity were omitted.
[Example
: 
struct alignas(8) S {};
struct alignas(1) U {
  S s;
};  // error: U specifies an alignment that is less strict than if the alignas(1) were omitted.
— end example
]
6
#
If the defining declaration of an entity has an alignment-specifier, any non-defining declaration of that entity shall either specify equivalent alignment or have no alignment-specifier.
Conversely, if any declaration of an entity has an alignment-specifier, every defining declaration of that entity shall specify an equivalent alignment.
No diagnostic is required if declarations of an entity have different alignment-specifiers in different translation units.
[Example
: 
// Translation unit #1:
struct S { int x; } s, *p = &s;

// Translation unit #2:
struct alignas(16) S;           // ill-formed, no diagnostic required: definition of S lacks alignment
extern S* p;
— end example
]
7
#
[Example
:
An aligned buffer with an alignment requirement of A and holding N elements of type T can be declared as: 
alignas(T) alignas(A) T buffer[N];
Specifying alignas(T) ensures that the final requested alignment will not be weaker than alignof(T), and therefore the program will not be ill-formed.
— end example
]
8
#
[Example
: 
alignas(double) void f();                           // error: alignment applied to function
alignas(double) unsigned char c[sizeof(double)];    // array of characters, suitably aligned for a double
extern unsigned char c[sizeof(double)];             // no alignas necessary
alignas(float)
  extern unsigned char c[sizeof(double)];           // error: different alignment in declaration
— end example
]