11 Classes [class]

11.4 Class members [class.mem]

11.4.5 Constructors [class.ctor]

11.4.5.1 General [class.ctor.general]

A constructor is introduced by a declaration whose declarator is a function declarator ([dcl.fct]) of the form

ptr-declarator ( parameter-declaration-clause ) noexcept-specifier

_{o p t}

attribute-specifier-seq

_{o p t}

where the ptr-declarator consists solely of an id-expression, an optional attribute-specifier-seq, and optional surrounding parentheses, and the id-expression has one of the following forms:

(1.1)
in a member-declaration that belongs to the member-specification of a class or class template but is not a friend declaration ([class.friend]), the id-expression is the injected-class-name ([class.pre]) of the immediately-enclosing entity or
(1.2)
in a declaration at namespace scope or in a friend declaration, the id-expression is a qualified-id that names a constructor ([class.qual]).

Constructors do not have names.

In a constructor declaration, each decl-specifier in the optional decl-specifier-seq shall be friend, inline, constexpr, or an explicit-specifier.

[Example 1: struct S { S(); // declares the constructor }; S::S() { } // defines the constructor — end example]

A constructor is used to initialize objects of its class type.

Because constructors do not have names, they are never found during name lookup; however an explicit type conversion using the functional notation ([expr.type.conv]) will cause a constructor to be called to initialize an object.

[Note 1:

The syntax looks like an explicit call of the constructor.

— end note]

[Example 2: complex zz = complex(1,2.3); cprint( complex(7.8,1.2) ); — end example]

[Note 2:

For initialization of objects of class type see [class.init].

— end note]

An object created in this way is unnamed.

[Note 3:

[class.temporary] describes the lifetime of temporary objects.

— end note]

[Note 4:

Explicit constructor calls do not yield lvalues, see [basic.lval].

— end note]

[Note 5:

Some language constructs have special semantics when used during construction; see [class.base.init] and [class.cdtor].

— end note]

A constructor can be invoked for a const, volatile or const volatile object.

const and volatile semantics ([dcl.type.cv]) are not applied on an object under construction.

They come into effect when the constructor for the most derived object ([intro.object]) ends.

A return statement in the body of a constructor shall not specify a return value.

The address of a constructor shall not be taken.

A constructor shall not be a coroutine.