Namespaces

 

C++

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)

 

C++ language

General topics
Preprocessor Comments Keywords	ASCII chart Escape sequences History of C++
Flow control
Conditional execution statements
if statement	switch statement
Iteration statements
for loop range-for loop (C++11)	while loop do-while loop
Jump statements
continue statement break statement	goto statement return statement
Functions
function declaration
lambda function declaration
function template
inline specifier
exception specifications (deprecated)
noexcept specifier (C++11)
Exceptions
throw expression	try-catch block
Namespaces
namespace declaration	namespace aliases
Types
fundamental types compound types enumeration types	union types function types
decltype specifier (C++11)
Specifiers
cv specifiers
storage duration specifiers
constexpr specifier (C++11)
auto specifier (C++11)
alignas specifier (C++11)
Initialization
default initialization value initialization zero initialization copy initialization direct initialization	aggregate initialization list initialization (C++11) constant initialization reference initialization

Literals
integer literals character literals floating-point literals string literals	boolean literals nullptr (C++11) user-defined (C++11)
Expressions
value categories order of evaluation	operators operator precedence
alternative representations
Utilities
Types
typedef declaration
type alias declaration (C++11)
attributes (C++11)
Casts
implicit conversions
const_cast conversion
static_cast conversion
dynamic_cast conversion
reinterpret_cast conversion
C-style and functional cast
Memory allocation
new expression	delete expression
Classes
class declaration this pointer access specifiers	friend specifier initializer lists
Class-specific function properties
virtual function override specifier (C++11) final specifier (C++11)	explicit (C++11) static
Special member functions
default constructor copy constructor move constructor (C++11)	copy assignment move assignment (C++11) destructor
Templates
class template
function template
template specialization
parameter packs (C++11)
Miscellaneous
Inline assembly

 

Namespaces provide a method for preventing name conflicts in large projects.

Symbols declared inside a namespace block are placed in a named scope that prevents them from being mistaken for identically-named symbols in other scopes.

Multiple declarations of namespaces with the same name are allowed, resulting in a namespace including all symbols from all such declarations.

Syntax

namespace ns_name { declarations }	(1)
inline namespace ns_name { declarations }	(2)	(since C++11)
namespace { declarations }	(3)
ns_name::name	(4)
using namespace ns_name;	(5)
using ns_name::name;	(6)

1) Declaration of the namespace ns_name.

2) Declaration of the namespace ns_name. Definitions will appear both inside ns_name and its enclosing namespace.

3) Unnamed namespace. Definitions have potential scope from their point of declaration to the end of the translation unit, and have internal linkage.

4) Namespace names (along with class names) can appear on the left hand side of the scope resolution operator, as part of qualified name lookup.

5) using-directive: makes all symbols of the namespace ns_name accessible for unqualified lookup as if declared in the nearest enclosing namespace which contains (directly or indirectly) both the using-directive and the namespace ns_name.

6) using-declaration: makes the symbol name from the namespace ns_name accessible for unqualified lookup as if declared in the same namespace as where this using-declaration appears.

Notes

The using-directive using namespace std; at any namespace scope introduces every name from the namespace std into the global namespace (since the global namespace is the nearest namespace that contains both std and any user-declared namespace), which may lead to undesirable name collisions. This, and other using directives are generally considered bad practice at file scope of a header file.

Example

This example shows how to use a namespace to create a class that already has been named in the std namespace.

Run this code

#include <vector>
 
namespace vec {
 
    template< typename T >
    class vector {
        // ...
    };
 
} // of vec
 
int main()
{
    std::vector<int> v1; // Standard vector.
    vec::vector<int> v2; // User defined vector.
 
    v1 = v2; // Error: v1 and v2 are different object's type.
 
    {
        using namespace std;
        vector<int> v3; // Same as std::vector
        v1 = v3; // OK
    }
 
    {
        using vec::vector;
        vector<int> v4; // Same as vec::vector
        v2 = v4; // OK
    }
 
    return 0;
}

See also

namespace alias	creates an alias of an existing namespace