Static constant string (class member)

Question

I'd like to have a private static constant for a class (in this case a shape-factory).

I'd like to have something of the sort.

class A {
   private:
      static const string RECTANGLE = "rectangle";
}

Unfortunately I get all sorts of error from the C++ (g++) compiler, such as:

ISO C++ forbids initialization of member ‘RECTANGLE’

invalid in-class initialization of static data member of non-integral type ‘std::string’

error: making ‘RECTANGLE’ static

This tells me that this sort of member design is not compliant with the standard. How do you have a private literal constant (or perhaps public) without having to use a #define directive (I want to avoid the uglyness of data globality!)

Any help is appreciated.

Answer 1

You have to define your static member outside the class definition and provide the initializer there.

First

// In a header file (if it is in a header file in your case)
class A {   
private:      
  static const string RECTANGLE;
};

and then

// In one of the implementation files
const string A::RECTANGLE = "rectangle";

The syntax you were originally trying to use (initializer inside class definition) is only allowed with integral and enum types.

---

Starting from C++17 you have another option, which is quite similar to your original declaration: inline variables

// In a header file (if it is in a header file in your case)
class A {   
private:      
  inline static const string RECTANGLE = "rectangle";
};

No additional definition is needed.

Answer 2

In C++11 you can do now:

class A {
 private:
  static constexpr const char* STRING = "some useful string constant";
};

Answer 3

Inside class definitions you can only declare static members. They have to be defined outside of the class. For compile-time integral constants the standard makes the exception that you can "initialize" members. It's still not a definition, though. Taking the address would not work without definition, for example.

I'd like to mention that I don't see the benefit of using std::string over const char[] for constants. std::string is nice and all but it requires dynamic initialization. So, if you write something like

const std::string foo = "hello";

at namespace scope the constructor of foo will be run right before execution of main starts and this constructor will create a copy of the constant "hello" in the heap memory. Unless you really need RECTANGLE to be a std::string you could just as well write

// class definition with incomplete static member could be in a header file
class A {
    static const char RECTANGLE[];
};

// this needs to be placed in a single translation unit only
const char A::RECTANGLE[] = "rectangle";

There! No heap allocation, no copying, no dynamic initialization.

Cheers, s.

Answer 4

In C++ 17 you can use inline variables:

class A {
 private:
  static inline const std::string my_string = "some useful string constant";
};

Note that this is different from abyss.7's answer: This one defines an actual std::string object, not a const char*

Answer 5

This is just extra information, but if you really want the string in a header file, try something like:

class foo
{
public:
    static const std::string& RECTANGLE(void)
    {
        static const std::string str = "rectangle";

        return str;
    }
};

Though I doubt that's recommended.

Answer 6

The class static variables can be declared in the header but must be defined in a .cpp file. This is because there can be only one instance of a static variable and the compiler can't decide in which generated object file to put it so you have to make the decision, instead.

To keep the definition of a static value with the declaration in C++11 a nested static structure can be used. In this case the static member is a structure and has to be defined in a .cpp file, but the values are in the header.

class A
{
private:
  static struct _Shapes {
     const std::string RECTANGLE {"rectangle"};
     const std::string CIRCLE {"circle"};
  } shape;
};

Instead of initializing individual members the whole static structure is initialized in .cpp:

A::_Shapes A::shape;

The values are accessed with

A::shape.RECTANGLE;

or -- since the members are private and are meant to be used only from A -- with

shape.RECTANGLE;

Note that this solution still suffers from the problem of the order of initialization of the static variables. When a static value is used to initialize another static variable, the first may not be initialized, yet.

// file.h
class File {
public:
  static struct _Extensions {
    const std::string h{ ".h" };
    const std::string hpp{ ".hpp" };
    const std::string c{ ".c" };
    const std::string cpp{ ".cpp" };
  } extension;
};

// file.cpp
File::_Extensions File::extension;

// module.cpp
static std::set<std::string> headers{ File::extension.h, File::extension.hpp };

In this case the static variable headers will contain either { "" } or { ".h", ".hpp" }, depending on the order of initialization created by the linker.

As mentioned by @abyss.7 you could also use constexpr if the value of the variable can be computed at compile time. But if you declare your strings with static constexpr const char* and your program uses std::string otherwise there will be an overhead because a new std::string object will be created every time you use such a constant:

class A {
public:
   static constexpr const char* STRING = "some value";
};
void foo(const std::string& bar);
int main() {
   foo(A::STRING); // a new std::string is constructed and destroyed.
}

Answer 7

To use that in-class initialization syntax, the constant must be a static const of integral or enumeration type initialized by a constant expression.

This is the restriction. Hence, in this case you need to define variable outside the class. refer answwer from @AndreyT

Answer 8

You can either go for the const char* solution mentioned above, but then if you need string all the time, you're going to have a lot of overhead.
On the other hand, static string needs dynamic initialization, thus if you want to use its value during another global/static variable's initialization, you might hit the problem of initialization order. To avoid that, the cheapest thing is accessing the static string object through a getter, which checks if your object is initialized or not.

//in a header  
class A{  
  static string s;   
public:   
  static string getS();  
};  
//in implementation  
string A::s;  
namespace{  
  bool init_A_s(){  
    A::s = string("foo");   
    return true;  
  }  
  bool A_s_initialized = init_A_s();  
}  
string A::getS(){      
  if (!A_s_initialized)  
    A_s_initialized = init_A_s();  
  return s;  
}  

Remember to only use A::getS(). Because any threading can only started by main(), and A_s_initialized is initialized before main(), you don't need locks even in a multithreaded environment. A_s_initialized is 0 by default (before the dynamic initialization), so if you use getS() before s is initialized, you call the init function safely.

Btw, in the answer above: "static const std::string RECTANGLE() const" , static functions cannot be const because they cannot change the state if any object anyway (there is no this pointer).

Answer 9

possible just do:

static const std::string RECTANGLE() const {
    return "rectangle";
} 

or

#define RECTANGLE "rectangle"

Answer 10

The current standard only allows such initialization for static constant integral types. So you need to do as AndreyT explained. However, that will be available in the next standard through the new member initialization syntax.

Answer 11

Fast forward to 2018 and C++17.

• do not use std::string, use std::string_view literals
• please do notice the 'constexpr' bellow. This is also an "compile time" mechanism.
• no inline does not mean repetition
• no cpp files are not necessary for this

• static_assert 'works' at compile time only

  using namespace std::literals;
  
  namespace STANDARD {
  constexpr 
  inline 
  auto 
  compiletime_static_string_view_constant() {
  // make and return string view literal
  // will stay the same for the whole application lifetime
  // will exhibit standard and expected interface
  // will be usable at both
  // runtime and compile time
  // by value semantics implemented for you
      auto when_needed_ =  "compile time"sv;
      return when_needed_  ;
  }
  

  };

Above is a proper and legal standard C++ citizen. It can get readily involved in any and all std:: algorithms, containers, utilities and a such. For example:

// test the resilience
auto return_by_val = []() {
    auto return_by_val = []() {
        auto return_by_val = []() {
            auto return_by_val = []() {
return STANDARD::compiletime_static_string_view_constant();
            };
            return return_by_val();
        };
        return return_by_val();
    };
    return return_by_val();
};

// actually a run time 
_ASSERTE(return_by_val() == "compile time");

// compile time 
static_assert(
   STANDARD::compiletime_static_string_view_constant() 
   == "compile time" 
 );

Enjoy the standard C++