11 Declarators [dcl.decl]

The ambiguity arising from the similarity between a function-style cast and a declaration mentioned in [stmt.ambig] can also occur in the context of a declaration. In that context, the choice is between a function declaration with a redundant set of parentheses around a parameter name and an object declaration with a function-style cast as the initializer. Just as for the ambiguities mentioned in [stmt.ambig], the resolution is to consider any construct that could possibly be a declaration a declaration. [ Note: A declaration can be explicitly disambiguated by adding parentheses around the argument. The ambiguity can be avoided by use of copy-initialization or list-initialization syntax, or by use of a non-function-style cast.  — end note ] [ Example:

struct S {
  S(int);
};

void foo(double a) {
  S w(int(a));                  // function declaration
  S x(int());                   // function declaration
  S y((int(a)));                // object declaration
  S y((int)a);                  // object declaration
  S z = int(a);                 // object declaration
}

 — end example ]

An ambiguity can arise from the similarity between a function-style cast and a type-id. The resolution is that any construct that could possibly be a type-id in its syntactic context shall be considered a type-id. [ Example:

template <class T> struct X {};
template <int N> struct Y {};
X<int()> a;                     // type-id
X<int(1)> b;                    // expression (ill-formed)
Y<int()> c;                     // type-id (ill-formed)
Y<int(1)> d;                    // expression

void foo(signed char a) {
  sizeof(int());                // type-id (ill-formed)
  sizeof(int(a));               // expression
  sizeof(int(unsigned(a)));     // type-id (ill-formed)

  (int())+1;                    // type-id (ill-formed)
  (int(a))+1;                   // expression
  (int(unsigned(a)))+1;         // type-id (ill-formed)
}

 — end example ]

Another ambiguity arises in a parameter-declaration-clause when a type-name is nested in parentheses. In this case, the choice is between the declaration of a parameter of type pointer to function and the declaration of a parameter with redundant parentheses around the declarator-id. The resolution is to consider the type-name as a simple-type-specifier rather than a declarator-id. [ Example:

class C { };
void f(int(C)) { }              // void f(int(*fp)(C c)) { }
                                // not: void f(int C) { }

int g(C);

void foo() {
  f(1);                         // error: cannot convert 1 to function pointer
  f(g);                         // OK
}

For another example,

class C { };
void h(int *(C[10]));           // void h(int *(*_­fp)(C _­parm[10]));
                                // not: void h(int *C[10]);

 — end example ]