11 Classes [class]

11.8 Member access control [class.access]

11.8.2 Access specifiers [class.access.spec]

Member declarations can be labeled by an access-specifier ([class.derived]):

access-specifier : member-specification

_{o p t}

An access-specifier specifies the access rules for members following it until the end of the class or until another access-specifier is encountered.

[Example 1: class X { int a; // X::a is private by default: class used public: int b; // X::b is public int c; // X::c is public }; — end example]

Any number of access specifiers is allowed and no particular order is required.

[Example 2: struct S { int a; // S::a is public by default: struct used protected: int b; // S::b is protected private: int c; // S::c is private public: int d; // S::d is public }; — end example]

When a member is redeclared within its class definition, the access specified at its redeclaration shall be the same as at its initial declaration.

[Example 3: struct S { class A; enum E : int; private: class A { }; // error: cannot change access enum E: int { e0 }; // error: cannot change access }; — end example]

[Note 1:

In a derived class, the lookup of a base class name will find the injected-class-name instead of the name of the base class in the scope in which it was declared.

The injected-class-name might be less accessible than the name of the base class in the scope in which it was declared.

— end note]

[Example 4: class A { }; class B : private A { }; class C : public B { A* p; // error: injected-class-name A is inaccessible ::A* q; // OK }; — end example]