Direct-initialization

Initializes an object from explicit set of constructor arguments.

Syntax

Explanation

Direct-initialization is performed in the following situations:

The effects of direct-initialization are:

• If T is an array type,

struct A
{
    explicit A(int i = 0) {}
};
 
A a[2](A(1)); // OK: initializes a[0] with A(1) and a[1] with A()
A b[2]{A(1)}; // error: implicit copy-list-initialization of b[1]
              //        from {} selected explicit constructor

• If T is a class type,

• the constructors of T are examined and the best match is selected by overload resolution. The constructor is then called to initialize the object.

struct B
{
    int a;
    int&& r;
};
 
int f();
int n = 10;
 
B b1{1, f()};            // OK, lifetime is extended
B b2(1, f());            // well-formed, but dangling reference
B b3{1.0, 1};            // error: narrowing conversion
B b4(1.0, 1);            // well-formed, but dangling reference
B b5(1.0, std::move(n)); // OK

• Otherwise, if T
• Otherwise, if T is bool and the source type is std::nullptr_t, the value of the initialized object is false
• Otherwise, standard conversions are used, if necessary, to convert the value of other to the cv-unqualified version of T

Notes

Direct-initialization is more permissive than copy-initialization: copy-initialization only considers non-explicit constructors and non-explicit user-defined conversion functions

In case of ambiguity between a variable declaration using the direct-initialization syntax (1) (with round parentheses) and a function declaration, the compiler always chooses function declaration. This disambiguation rule is sometimes counter-intuitive and has been called the most vexing parse

#include <fstream>
#include <iterator>
#include <string>
 
int main()
{
    std::ifstream file("data.txt");
 
    // The following is a function declaration:
    std::string foo1(std::istreambuf_iterator<char>(file),
                     std::istreambuf_iterator<char>());
    // It declares a function called foo1, whose return type is std::string,
    // first parameter has type std::istreambuf_iterator<char> and the name "file",
    // second parameter has no name and has type std::istreambuf_iterator<char>(),
    // which is rewritten to function pointer type std::istreambuf_iterator<char>(*)()
 
    // Pre-C++11 fix (to declare a variable) - add extra parentheses around one
    // of the arguments:
    std::string str1((std::istreambuf_iterator<char>(file)),
                      std::istreambuf_iterator<char>());
 
    // Post-C++11 fix (to declare a variable) - use list-initialization for any
    // of the arguments:
    std::string str2(std::istreambuf_iterator<char>{file}, {});
}

Example

#include <iostream>
#include <memory>
#include <string>
 
struct Foo
{
    int mem;
    explicit Foo(int n) : mem(n) {}
};
 
int main()
{
    std::string s1("test"); // constructor from const char*
    std::string s2(10, 'a');
 
    std::unique_ptr<int> p(new int(1));  // OK: explicit constructors allowed
//  std::unique_ptr<int> p = new int(1); // error: constructor is explicit
 
    Foo f(2); // f is direct-initialized:
              // constructor parameter n is copy-initialized from the rvalue 2
              // f.mem is direct-initialized from the parameter n
//  Foo f2 = 2; // error: constructor is explicit
 
    std::cout << s1 << ' ' << s2 << ' ' << *p << ' ' << f.mem  << '\n';
}

test aaaaaaaaaa 1 2

See also

• copy elision
• converting constructor
• copy assignment
• copy constructor
• default constructor
• destructor
• explicit
• initialization
  • aggregate initialization
  • constant initialization
  • copy initialization
  • default initialization
  • initializer list
  • list initialization
  • reference initialization
  • value initialization
  • zero initialization
• move assignment
• move constructor
• new