Understanding the explicit keyword in C++

Specifies that a constructor or cast function (since C++ 11) is explicit, that is, it cannot be used for implicit casts and copy initialization.

Let’s take an example, you have the following code:

The do_something function takes a parameter of type TerminalRoot, but the compiler automatically converts it to int:

#include <iostream>

class TerminalRoot {
  public:
    TerminalRoot( int num ) : m_var( num ){}

    int get_var(){
      return m_var;
    }

  private:
    int m_var;
};

void do_something( TerminalRoot terroo ){
  int x = terroo.get_var();
  std::cout << "Type is: " << typeid( x ).name() << '\n';
}

int main(){
  do_something( 963 );
  return 0;
}

And you don’t want that, you want the correct type to be passed, because you want to know if there is a bug in that type. So you use the explicit keyword, but when compiling there is an error compiling:

#include <iostream>

class TerminalRoot {
  public:
    explicit TerminalRoot( int num ) : m_var( num ){}

    int get_var(){
      return m_var;
    }

  private:
    int m_var;
};

void do_something( TerminalRoot terroo ){
  int x = terroo.get_var();
  std::cout << "Type is: " << typeid( x ).name() << '\n';
}

int main(){
  do_something( 963 );
  return 0;
}

And then you get the error:

error: could not convert ‘963’ from ‘int’ to ‘TerminalRoot’

Cannot convert int to TerminalRoot. So you need to pass the correct type now: do_something( TerminalRoot( 963 ) );

#include <iostream>

class TerminalRoot {
  public:
    explicit TerminalRoot( int num ) : m_var( num ){}

    int get_var(){
      return m_var;
    }

  private:
    int m_var;
};

void do_something( TerminalRoot terroo ){
  int x = terroo.get_var();
  std::cout << "Type is: " << typeid( x ).name() << '\n';
}

int main(){
  do_something( TerminalRoot( 963 ) );
  return 0;
}

The output is i( from int ), but you have passed the correct type and verified that it is working . For more information see the link: https://en.cppreference.com/w/cpp/language/explicit .

That’s all for today, small daily doses that will always keep us in tune with C++!

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