A template-argument for a template template-parameter shall be the name of a class template or an alias template, expressed as id-expression. When the template-argument names a class template, only primary class templates are considered when matching the template template argument with the corresponding parameter; partial specializations are not considered even if their parameter lists match that of the template template parameter.
Any partial specializations associated with the primary class template or primary variable template are considered when a specialization based on the template template-parameter is instantiated. If a specialization is not visible at the point of instantiation, and it would have been selected had it been visible, the program is ill-formed, no diagnostic required. [ Example:
template<class T> class A { // primary template
int x;
};
template<class T> class A<T*> { // partial specialization
long x;
};
template<template<class U> class V> class C {
V<int> y;
V<int*> z;
};
C<A> c; // V<int> within C<A> uses the primary template, so c.y.x has type int
// V<int*> within C<A> uses the partial specialization, so c.z.x has type long
— end example ]
A template-argument matches a template template-parameter P when P is at least as specialized as the template-argument A. If P contains a parameter pack, then A also matches P if each of A's template parameters matches the corresponding template parameter in the template-parameter-list of P. Two template parameters match if they are of the same kind (type, non-type, template), for non-type template-parameters, their types are equivalent ([temp.over.link]), and for template template-parameters, each of their corresponding template-parameters matches, recursively. When P's template-parameter-list contains a template parameter pack, the template parameter pack will match zero or more template parameters or template parameter packs in the template-parameter-list of A with the same type and form as the template parameter pack in P (ignoring whether those template parameters are template parameter packs).
[ Example:
template<class T> class A { /* ... */ };
template<class T, class U = T> class B { /* ... */ };
template<class ... Types> class C { /* ... */ };
template<auto n> class D { /* ... */ };
template<template<class> class P> class X { /* ... */ };
template<template<class ...> class Q> class Y { /* ... */ };
template<template<int> class R> class Z { /* ... */ };
X<A> xa; // OK
X<B> xb; // OK
X<C> xc; // OK
Y<A> ya; // OK
Y<B> yb; // OK
Y<C> yc; // OK
Z<D> zd; // OK
— end example ]
[ Example:
template <class T> struct eval;
template <template <class, class...> class TT, class T1, class... Rest>
struct eval<TT<T1, Rest...>> { };
template <class T1> struct A;
template <class T1, class T2> struct B;
template <int N> struct C;
template <class T1, int N> struct D;
template <class T1, class T2, int N = 17> struct E;
eval<A<int>> eA; // OK: matches partial specialization of eval
eval<B<int, float>> eB; // OK: matches partial specialization of eval
eval<C<17>> eC; // error: C does not match TT in partial specialization
eval<D<int, 17>> eD; // error: D does not match TT in partial specialization
eval<E<int, float>> eE; // error: E does not match TT in partial specialization
— end example ]
A template template-parameter P is at least as specialized as a template template-argument A if, given the following rewrite to two function templates, the function template corresponding to P is at least as specialized as the function template corresponding to A according to the partial ordering rules for function templates. Given an invented class template X with the template parameter list of A (including default arguments):
Each of the two function templates has the same template parameters, respectively, as P or A.
Each function template has a single function parameter whose type is a specialization of X with template arguments corresponding to the template parameters from the respective function template where, for each template parameter PP in the template parameter list of the function template, a corresponding template argument AA is formed. If PP declares a parameter pack, then AA is the pack expansion PP... ([temp.variadic]); otherwise, AA is the id-expression PP.
If the rewrite produces an invalid type, then P is not at least as specialized as A.