Can you make an 8 bit or 16 bit enumerator in C++ (GCC)?

Question

Just curious. I wanted to do a bitmask for 8 values, but whenever I evaluate it, it always ends up being 32 bits. I tried

enum Foo {
        A = quint8(0)
}
sizeof(A); // 4 bytes, 32 bits
sizeof(quint8(0)); // 1 byte, 8 bits

I thought because it was possible to make 64 bit enumerators, that the opposite was true, that you could make ones that were only 8 bits.

Is it possible?

Answer 1

You need to use the C++11 syntax for declaring the underlying type of an enum. Your attempt at restricting the enum values is undone by integer promotion.

enum Foo : uint8_t {
        A = 0,
};

Answer 2

An enum with an undefined underlying type always use a type that is at least as wide than an int.

Since C++11, you can specify the underlying type used by the enum:

enum Foo : quint8 {
 A = 0,
};