Name lookup

Name lookup is the procedure by which a name, when encountered in a program, is associated with the declaration that introduced it.

For function names, name lookup can associate multiple declarations with the same name, and may obtain additional declarations from argument-dependent lookup. Template argument deduction may also apply, and the set of declarations is passed to overload resolution, which selects the declaration that will be used. Member access rules, if applicable, are considered only after name lookup and overload resolution.

For all other names (variables, namespaces, classes, etc), name lookup must produce a single declaration in order for the program to compile.

For example, to compile std::cout << std::endl;, the compiler performs:

unqualified name lookup for the name std, which finds the declaration of namespace std in the header <iostream>
qualified name lookup for the name cout, which finds a variable declaration in the namespace std
qualified name lookup for the name endl, which finds a function template declaration in the namespace std
argument-dependent lookup for the name operator <<, which finds multiple function template declarations in the namespace std

[edit] Unqualified name lookup

For an unqualified name, that is name that does not appear to the right of a scope resolution operator ::, name lookup examines the scopes as described below, until it finds at least one declaration of any kind, at which time the lookup stops and no further scopes are examined. (Note: lookup from some contexts skips some declarations, for example, lookup of the name used to the left of :: ignores function, variable, and enumerator declarations, lookup of a name used a base class specifier ignores all non-type declarations)

For the purpose of unqualified name lookup, all declarations from a namespace nominated by a using directive appear as if declared in the nearest enclosing namespace which contains, directly or indirectly, both the using-directive and the nominated namespace.

Unqualified name lookup of the name used to the left of the function-call operator (and, equivalently, operator in an expression) is described in argument-dependent lookup.

1) For a name used in global (top-level namespace) scope, outside of any function, class, or user-declared namespace, the global scope before the use of the name is examined:

int n = 1;     // declaration of n
int x = n + 1; // OK: lookup finds ::n
 
int z = y - 1; // Error: lookup fails
int y = 2;     // declaration of y
 
int main() {}

2) For a name used in a user-declared namespace outside of any function or class, this namespace is searched before the use of the name, then the namespace enclosing this namespace before the declaration of this namespace, etc until the global namespace is reached.

int n = 1; // declaration
namespace N {
  int m = 2;
  namespace Y {
    int x = n; // OK, lookup finds ::n
    int y = m; // OK, lookup finds ::N::m
    int z = k; // Error: lookup fails
  }
  int k = 3;
}

3) For a name used in the definition of a function, either in its body or as part of default argument, where the function is a member of user-declared or global namespace, the block in which the name is used is searched before the use of the name, then the enclosing block is searched before the start of that block, etc, until reaching the block that is the function body. Then the namespace in which the function is declared is searched until the definition (not necessarily the declaration) of the function that uses the name, then the enclosing namespaces, etc.

namespace A {
   namespace N {
       void f();
       int i=3; // found 3rd (if 2nd is not present)
    }
    int i=4; // found 4th (if 3rd is not present)
}
 
int i=5; // found 5th (if 4th is not present)
 
void A::N::f() {
    int i = 2; // found 2nd (if 1st is not present)
    while(true) {
       int i = 1; // found 1st: lookup is done
       std::cout << i;
    }
}
 
// int i; // not found
 
namespace A {
  namespace N {
    // int i; // not found
  }
}

4) For a name used anywhere in class definition, except inside a member function body, a default argument of a member function, exception specification of a member function, in-class brace-or-equal initializer of a data member, or inside a nested class definition (including names of the bases from which the nested class is derived), the following scopes are searched:

a) the body of the class in which the name is used until the point of use and the entire body of its base class(es)

b) if this class is nested, the body of the enclosing class until the declaration of this class and the entire body of the base class(es) of the enclosing class.

c) if this class is local, or nested within a local class, the block scope in which the class is defined until the point of definition

d) if this class is a member of a namespace, or is nested in a class that is a member of a namespace, or is a local class in a function that is a member of a namespace, the scope of the namespace is searched until the definition of the class, enclosing class, or function. if the lookup of for a name introduced by a friend declaration: in this case only the innermost enclosing namespace is considered, otherwise lookup continues to enclosing namespaces until the global scope as usual.

namespace M {
    // const int i = 1; // never found
    class B {
        // const const int i = 3; // found 3nd (but later rejected by access check)
    };
}
// const int i = 5; // found 5th
namespace N {
    // const int i = 4; // found 4th
    class Y : public M::B {
        // static const int i = 2; // found 2nd
        class X {
            // static const int i = 1; // found 1st
            int a[i]; // use of i
            // static const int i = 1; // never found
        };
        // static const int i = 2; // never found
    };
    // const int i = 4; // never found
}
// const int i = 5; // never found

5) For a name used inside a member function body, a default argument of a member function, exception specification of a member function, in-class brace-or-equal initializer of a data member, or inside a nested class definition (including names of the bases from which the nested class is derived), the scopes searched are the same as in (4), except that the entire scope of the class is considered, not just the part prior to the declaration that uses the name. For nested classes the entire body of the enclosing class is searched.

class B {
    // int i; // found 3rd
};
namespace M {
    // int i; // found 5th
    namespace N {
        // int i; // found 4th
        class X : public B {
            // int i; // found 2nd
            void f();
            // int i; // found 2nd as well
        };
        // int i; // found 4th
    }
}
// int i; // found 6th
void M::N::X::f()
{
    // int i; // found 1st
    i = 16;
    // int i; // never found
}
namespace M {
  namespace N {
    // int i; // never found
  }
}

Either way, when examining the bases from which the class is derived, the following rules, sometime referred to as dominance in virtual inheritance, are followed:

A member name found in a sub-object B hides the same member name in any sub-object A if A is a base class sub-object of B. (note that this does not hide the name in any additional, non-virtual, copies of A on the inheritance lattice that aren't bases of B: this rule only has an effect on virtual inheritance). Names introduced by using-declarations are treated as names in the class containing the declaration. After examining each base, the resulting set must either include declarations of a static member from subobjects of the same type, or declarations of non-static members from the same subobject (until C++11)

A lookup set is constructed, which consists of the declarations and the subobjects in which these declarations were found. Using-declarations are replaced by the members they represent and type declarations, including injected-class-names are replaced by the types they represent. If C is the class in whose scope the name was used, C is examined first. If the list of declarations in C is empty, lookup set is built for each of its direct bases Bi (recursively applying these rules if Bi has its own bases). Once built, the lookup sets for the direct bases are merged into the lookup set in C as follows

if the set of declarations in Bi is empty, it is discarded
if the lookup set of C built so far is empty, it is replaced by the lookup set of Bi
if every subobject in the lookup set of Bi is a base of at least one of the subobjects already added to the lookup set of C, the lookup set of Bi is discarded.
if every subobject already added to the lookup set of C is a base of at least one subobject in the lookup set of Bi, then the lookup set of C is discarded and replaced with the lookup set of Bi
otherwise, if the declaration sets in Bi and in C are different, the result is an ambiguous merge: the new lookup set of C has an invalid declaration and a union of the subobjects ealier merged into C and introduced from Bi. This invalid lookup set may not be an error if it is discarded later.
otherwise, the new lookup set of C has the shared declaration sets and the union of the subobjects ealier merged into C and introduced from Bi

(since C++11)

struct X { void f(); };
struct B1: virtual X { void f(); };
struct B2: virtual X {};
struct D : B1, B2 {
    void foo() {
        X::f(); // OK, calls X::f (qualified lookup)
        f(); // OK, calls B1::f (unqualified lookup)
// C++98 rules: B1::f hides X::f, so even though X::f can be reached from D
// through B2, it is not found by name lookup from D.
// C++11 rules: lookup set for f in D finds nothing, proceeds to bases
//  lookup set for f in B1 finds B1::f, and is completed
// merge replaces the empty set, now lookup set for f in C has B1::f in B1
//  lookup set for f in B2 finds nothing, proceeds to bases
//    lookup for f in X finds X::f
//  merge replaces the empty set, now lookup set for f in B2 has X::f in X
// merge into C finds that every subobject (X) in the lookup set in B2 is a base
// of every subobject (B1) already merged, so the B2 set is discareded
// C is left with just B1::f found in B1
// (if struct D : B2, B1 was used, then the last merge would *replace* C's 
//  so far merged X::f in X because every subobject already added to C (that is X)
//  would be a base of at least one subobject in the new set (B1), the end
//  result would be the same: lookup set in C holds just B1::f found in B1)
    }
};

Unqualified name lookup that finds static members of B, nested types of B, and enumerators declared in B is unambiguous even if there are multiple non-virtual base subobjects of type B in the inheritance tree of the class being examined:

struct V { int v; };
struct A {
        int a;
        static int s;
        enum { e };
};
struct B : A, virtual V { };
struct C : A, virtual V { };
struct D : B, C { };
 
void f(D& pd) {
        ++pd.v; // OK: only one v because only one virtual base subobject
        ++pd.s; // OK: only one static A::s, even though found in B and in C
        int i = pd.e; // OK: only one enumerator A::e, even though found in B and C
        ++pd.a; // error, ambiguous: A::a in B and A::a in C 
}

6) For a name used in a friend function definition inside the body of the class that is granting friendship, unqualified name lookup proceeds the same way as for a member function. For a name used in a friend function which is defined outside the body of a class, unqualified name lookup proceeds the same way as for a function in a namespace.

int i = 3; // found 3rd for f1, found 2nd for f2
struct X {
    static const int i = 2; // found 2nd for f1, never found for f2
    friend void f1(int x)
    {
        // int i; // found 1st
        i = x; // finds and modifies X::i
    }
    friend int f2();
    // static const int i = 2; // found 2nd for f1 anywhere in class scope
};
void f2(int x) {
    // int i; // found 1st
    i = x; // finds and modifies ::i
}

7) For a name used in the declarator of a friend function declaration that friends a member function from another class, if the name isn't a part of any template argument, the unqualified lookup first examines the entire scope of the member function's class. If not found in that scope (or if the name is a part of a template argument), the lookup continues as if for a member function of the class that is granting friendship

// the class whose member functions are friended
struct A { 
    typedef int AT;
    void f1(AT);
    void f2(float);
    template <class T> void f3();
};
 
// the class that is granting friendship
struct B {
    typedef char AT;
    typedef float BT;
    friend void A::f1(AT); // lookup for AT finds A::AT
    friend void A::f2(BT); // lookup for BT finds B::BT 
    friend void A::f3<AT>(); // lookup for AT finds B::AT 
};

8) For a name used in a default argument in a function declaration, or name used in the expression part of a member-initializer of a constructor, the function parameter names are found first, before the enclosing block, class, or namespace scopes are examined:

class X {
    int a, b, i, j;
public:
    const int& r;
    X(int i): r(a), // initializes X::r to refer to X::a
              b(i), // initializes X::b to the value of the parameter i
              i(i), // initializes X::i to the value of the parameter i
              j(this->i) // initializes X::j to the value of X::i
    { }
}
 
int a;
int f(int a, int b = a); // error: lookup for a finds the parameter a, not ::a
                         // and parameters are not allowed as default arguments

9) For a name used in the initializer part of the enumerator declaration, previously declared enumerators in the same enumeration are found first, before the unqualified name lookup proceeds to examine the enclosing block, class, or namespace scope.

const int RED = 7;
enum class color {
    RED,
    GREEN = RED+2, // RED finds color::RED, not ::RED, so GREEN = 2
    BLUE = ::RED+4 // qualified lookup finds ::RED, BLUE = 11
};

10) For a name used in the definition of a static data member, lookup proceeds the same way as for a name used in the definition of a member function.

struct X {
    static int x;
    static const int n = 1; // found 1st
};
int n = 2; // found 2nd.
int X::x = n; // finds X::n, sets X::x to 1, not 2

11) For a name used in the definition of a namespace-member variable outside the namespace, lookup proceeds the same way as for a name used inside the namespace:

namespace X {
    extern int x; // declaration, not definition
    int n = 1; // found 1st
};
int n = 2; // found 2nd.
int X::x = n; // finds X::n, sets X::x to 1

12) For a name used in the catch-clause of a function-try block, lookup proceeds as if for a name used in the very beginning of the outermost block of the function body (in particular, function parameters are visible, but names declared in that outermost block are not)

int n = 3; // found 3rd
int f(int n = 2) // found 2nd
try {
   int n = -1;  // never found
} catch(...) {
   // int n = 1; // found 1st
   assert(n == 2); // loookup for n finds function parameter f
   throw;
}

13) For an operator used in expression (e.g., operator+ used in a+b), the lookup rules are slightly different from the operator used in an explicit function-call expression such as operator+(a,b): when parsing an expression, two separate lookups are performed: for the non-member operator overloads and for the member operator overloads (for the operators where both forms are permitted). Those sets are then merged with the built-in operator overloads on equal grounds as described in overload resolution. If explicit function call syntax is used, regular unqualified name lookup is performed:

struct A {};
void operator+(A, A); // user-defined non-member operator+
 
struct B {
    void operator+(B); // user-defined member operator+
    void f ();
};
 
A a;
 
void B::f() // definition of a member function of B
{
    operator+(a,a); // error: regular name lookup from a member function
                    // finds the declaration of operator+ in the scope of B
                    // and stops there, never reaching the global scope
    a + a; // OK: member lookup finds B::operator+, non-member lookup
           // finds ::operator+(A,A), overload resolution selects ::operator+(A,A)
}

14) For a non-dependent name used in a template definition, unqualified name lookup takes place when the template definition is examined. The binding to the declarations made at that point is not affected by declarations visible at the point of instantiation. For a dependent name used in a template definition, the lookup is postponed until the template arguments are known, at which time ADL examines function declarations with external linkage (until C++11) that are visible from the template definition context as well as in the template instantiation context, while non-ADL lookup only examines function declarations with external linkage (until C++11) that are visible from the template definition context (in other words, adding a new function declaration after template definition does not make it visible except via ADL). The behavior is undefined if there is a better match with external linkage in the namespaces examined by the ADL lookup, declared in some other translation unit, or if the lookup would have been ambiguous if those translation units were examined. In any case, if a base class depends on a template parameter, its scope is not examined by unqualified name lookup (neither at the point of definition nor at the point of instantiation).

void f(char); // first declaration of f
 
template<class T> 
void g(T t) {
    f(1);    // non-dependent name: lookup finds ::f(char) and binds it now
    f(T(1)); // dependent name: lookup postponed
    f(t);    // dependent name: lookup postponed
//  dd++;    // non-dependent name: lookup finds no declaration
}
 
enum E { e };
void f(E);   // second declaration of f
void f(int); // third declaration of f
double dd;
 
void h() {
    g(e);  // instantiates g<E>, at which point
           // the second and the third uses of the name 'f'
           // are looked up and find ::f(char) (by lookup) and ::f(E) (by ADL)
           // then overload resolution chooses ::f(E).
           // This calls f(char), then f(E) twice
    g(32); // instantiates g<int>, at which point
           // the second and the third uses of the name 'f'
           // are looked up and find ::f(char) only
           // then overload resolution chooses ::f(char)
           // This calls f(char) three times
}
 
typedef double A;
template<class T> class B {
   typedef int A;
};
template<class T> struct X : B<T> {
   A a; // lookup for A finds ::A (double), not B<T>::A
};

Note: see dependent name lookup rules for the reasoning and implications of this rule.

15) For the name of a class or class template used within the definition of that class or template, unqualified name lookup finds the class that's being defined as if the name was introduced by a member declaration (with public member access)

[edit] Qualified name lookup

[edit] References

C++11 standard (ISO/IEC 14882:2011):

3.4 Name lookup [basic.lookup]

10.2 Member name lookup [class.member.lookup]

14.6 Name resolution [temp.res]

C++98 standard (ISO/IEC 14882:1998):

3.4 Name lookup [basic.lookup]

10.2 Member name lookup [class.member.lookup]

14.6 Name resolution [temp.res]

[edit] See also

Language
Standard library headers
Concepts
Utilities library
Strings library
Containers library
Algorithms library
Iterators library
Numerics library
Input/output library
Localizations library
Regular expressions library (C++11)
Atomic operations library (C++11)
Thread support library (C++11)

language keywords
phases of translation
comments
the main() function
names and identifiers
types
fundamental types
objects
scope
object lifetime
storage duration and linkage
definitions and ODR
name lookup
memory model

Name lookup

Contents

[edit] Unqualified name lookup

[edit] Qualified name lookup

[edit] References

[edit] See also