Title
Name lookup does not handle complex nesting
Status
cd6
Section
6.5.3 [basic.lookup.unqual]
Submitter
Alan Nash

Created on 1999-12-29.00:00:00 last changed 20 months ago

Messages

Date: 2020-11-15.00:00:00

[Accepted at the November, 2020 meeting as part of paper P1787R6 and moved to DR at the February, 2021 meeting.]

The current description of unqualified name lookup in 6.5.3 [basic.lookup.unqual] paragraph 8 does not correctly handle complex cases of nesting. The Standard currently reads,

A name used in the definition of a function that is a member function (9.3) of a class X shall be declared in one of the following ways:
  • before its use in the block in which it is used or in an enclosing block (6.3), or
  • shall be a member of class X or be a member of a base class of X (10.2), or
  • if X is a nested class of class Y (9.7), shall be a member of Y, or shall be a member of a base class of Y (this lookup applies in turn to Y's enclosing classes, starting with the innermost enclosing class), or
  • if X is a local class (9.8) or is a nested class of a local class, before the definition of class X in a block enclosing the definition of class X, or
  • if X is a member of namespace N, or is a nested class of a class that is a member of N, or is a local class or nested class within a local class of a function that is a member of N, before the member function definition, in namespace N or in one of N's enclosing namespaces.
In particular, this formulation does not handle the following example:
    struct outer {
        static int i;
        struct inner {
            void f() {
                struct local {
                    void g() {
                        i = 5;
                    }
                };
            }
        };
    };
Here the reference to i is from a member function of a local class of a member function of a nested class. Nothing in the rules allows outer::i to be found, although intuitively it should be found.

A more comprehensive formulation is needed that allows traversal of any combination of blocks, local classes, and nested classes. Similarly, the final bullet needs to be augmented so that a function need not be a (direct) member of a namespace to allow searching that namespace when the reference is from a member function of a class local to that function. That is, the current rules do not allow the following example:

    int j;    // global namespace
    struct S {
        void f() {
            struct local2 {
                void g() {
                    j = 5;
                }
            };
        }
    };
History
Date User Action Args
2022-08-19 07:54:33adminsetstatus: drwp -> cd6
2021-02-24 00:00:00adminsetstatus: accepted -> drwp
2020-12-15 00:00:00adminsetstatus: open -> accepted
1999-12-29 00:00:00admincreate