Aggregate initialization

Initializes an aggregate from an initializer list. It is a form of list-initialization. (since C++11).

Syntax

Explanation

Definitions

An aggregate is one of the following types:

• array type
• class type (typically, struct or union), that has

• no private or protected direct (since C++17) non-static data members

• no virtual member functions

The elements of an aggregate are:

• for an array, the array elements in increasing subscript order, or

Process

The effects of aggregate initialization are:

char cv[4] = {'a', 's', 'd', 'f', 0}; // error
int x[] = {}                          // error

• Otherwise, if the initializer list is non-empty, the explicitly initialized elements of the aggregate are the first n elements of the aggregate, where n is the number of elements in the initializer list.
• Otherwise, the initializer list must be empty ({}), and there are no explicitly initialized elements.

union u { int a; const char* b; };
 
u a = {1};                   // OK: explicitly initializes member `a`
u b = {0, "asdf"};           // error: explicitly initializes two members
u c = {"asdf"};              // error: int cannot be initialized by "asdf"
 
// C++20 designated initializer lists
u d = {.b = "asdf"};         // OK: can explicitly initialize a non-initial member
u e = {.a = 1, .b = "asdf"}; // error: explicitly initializes two members

Initializing Elements

For each explicitly initialized element:

struct C
{
    union
    {
        int a;
        const char* p;
    };
 
    int x;
} c = {.a = 1, .x = 3}; // initializes c.a with 1 and c.x with 3

• If the initializer clause is an expression, implicit conversions are allowed as per copy-initialization, except that narrowing conversions are prohibited (since C++11).
• If the initializer clause is a nested braced-init-list (which is not an expression), list-initialize the corresponding element from that clause, which will (since C++11) recursively apply the rule if the corresponding element is a subaggregate.

struct A
{
    int x;
 
    struct B
    {
        int i;
        int j;
    } b;
} a = {1, {2, 3}}; // initializes a.x with 1, a.b.i with 2, a.b.j with 3
 
struct base1 { int b1, b2 = 42; };
 
struct base2
{
    base2()
    {
        b3 = 42;
    }
 
    int b3;
};
 
struct derived : base1, base2
{
    int d;
};
 
derived d1{{1, 2}, {}, 4}; // initializes d1.b1 with 1, d1.b2 with 2,
                           //             d1.b3 with 42, d1.d with 4
derived d2{{}, {}, 4};     // initializes d2.b1 with 0, d2.b2 with 42,
                           //             d2.b3 with 42, d2.d with 4

For a non-union aggregate, each element that is not an explicitly initialized element is initialized as follows:

• Otherwise, if the element is not a reference, the element is copy-initialized from an empty initializer list.
• Otherwise, the program is ill-formed.

struct S
{
    int a;
    const char* b;
    int c;
    int d = b[a];
};
 
// initializes ss.a with 1,
//             ss.b with "asdf",
//             ss.c with the value of an expression of the form int{} (that is, 0),
//         and ss.d with the value of ss.b[ss.a] (that is, 's')
S ss = {1, "asdf"};

If the aggregate is a union and the initializer list is empty, then.

• Otherwise, the first member of the union (if any) is copy-initialized from an empty initializer list.

Brace elision

The braces around the nested initializer lists may be elided (omitted), in which case as many initializer clauses as necessary are used to initialize every member or element of the corresponding subaggregate, and the subsequent initializer clauses are used to initialize the following members of the object. However, if the object has a sub-aggregate without any members (an empty struct, or a struct holding only static members), brace elision is not allowed, and an empty nested list {} must be used.

struct A { int x; int y; int z; };
 
A a{.y = 2, .x = 1}; // error; designator order does not match declaration order
A b{.x = 1, .z = 2}; // ok, b.y initialized to 0

union u { int a; const char* b; };
 
u f = {.b = "asdf"};         // OK, active member of the union is b
u g = {.a = 1, .b = "asdf"}; // Error, only one initializer may be provided

struct A
{
    string str;
    int n = 42;
    int m = -1;
};
 
A{.m = 21} // Initializes str with {}, which calls the default constructor
           // then initializes n with = 42
           // then initializes m with = 21

struct A { int x, y; };
struct B { struct A a; };
 
struct A a = {.y = 1, .x = 2}; // valid C, invalid C++ (out of order)
int arr[3] = {[1] = 5};        // valid C, invalid C++ (array)
struct B b = {.a.x = 0};       // valid C, invalid C++ (nested)
struct A a = {.x = 1, 2};      // valid C, invalid C++ (mixed)

Character arrays

Arrays of ordinary character types (char, signed char, unsigned char), char8_t (since C++20), char16_t, char32_t (since C++11), or wchar_t can be initialized from ordinary string literals, UTF-8 string literals (since C++20), UTF-16 string literals, UTF-32 string literals (since C++11), or wide string literals, respectively, optionally enclosed in braces. Additionally, an array of char or unsigned char may be initialized by a UTF-8 string literal, optionally enclosed in braces. (since C++20) Successive characters of the string literal (which includes the implicit terminating null character) initialize the elements of the array, with an integral conversion if necessary for the source and destination value (since C++20). If the size of the array is specified and it is larger than the number of characters in the string literal, the remaining characters are zero-initialized.

char a[] = "abc";
// equivalent to char a[4] = {'a', 'b', 'c', '\0'};
 
//  unsigned char b[3] = "abc"; // Error: initializer string too long
unsigned char b[5]{"abc"};
// equivalent to unsigned char b[5] = {'a', 'b', 'c', '\0', '\0'};
 
wchar_t c[] = {L"кошка"}; // optional braces
// equivalent to wchar_t c[6] = {L'к', L'о', L'ш', L'к', L'а', L'\0'};

Notes

An aggregate class or array may include non-aggregate public bases (since C++17), members, or elements, which are initialized as described above (e.g. copy-initialization from the corresponding initializer clause).

Until C++11, narrowing conversions were permitted in aggregate initialization, but they are no longer allowed.

Until C++11, aggregate initialization could only be used in variable definition, and could not be used in a constructor initializer list, a new-expression, or temporary object creation due to syntax restrictions.

In C, character array of size one less than the size of the string literal may be initialized from a string literal; the resulting array is not null-terminated. This is not allowed in C++.

Example

#include <array>
#include <cstdio>
#include <string>
 
struct S
{
    int x;
 
    struct Foo
    {
        int i;
        int j;
        int a[3];
    } b;
};
 
int main()
{
    S s1 = {1, {2, 3, {4, 5, 6}}};
    S s2 = {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6};  // same, but with brace elision
    S s3{1, {2, 3, {4, 5, 6}}}; // same, using direct-list-initialization syntax
    S s4{1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6}; // error until CWG 1270:
                            // brace elision only allowed with equals sign
 
    int ar[] = {1, 2, 3}; // ar is int[3]
//  char cr[3] = {'a', 'b', 'c', 'd'}; // too many initializer clauses
    char cr[3] = {'a'}; // array initialized as {'a', '\0', '\0'}
 
    int ar2d1[2][2] = {{1, 2}, {3, 4}}; // fully-braced 2D array: {1, 2}
                                        //                        {3, 4}
    int ar2d2[2][2] = {1, 2, 3, 4}; // brace elision: {1, 2}
                                    //                {3, 4}
    int ar2d3[2][2] = {{1}, {2}};   // only first column: {1, 0}
                                    //                    {2, 0}
 
    std::array<int, 3> std_ar2{{1, 2, 3}};  // std::array is an aggregate
    std::array<int, 3> std_ar1 = {1, 2, 3}; // brace-elision okay
 
//  int ai[] = {1, 2.0}; // narrowing conversion from double to int:
                         // error in C++11, okay in C++03
 
    std::string ars[] = {std::string("one"), // copy-initialization
                         "two",              // conversion, then copy-initialization
                         {'t', 'h', 'r', 'e', 'e'}}; // list-initialization
    union U
    {
        int a;
        const char* b;
    };
    U u1 = {1};         // OK, first member of the union
//  U u2 = {0, "asdf"}; // error: too many initializers for union
//  U u3 = {"asdf"};    // error: invalid conversion to int
 
    [](...) { std::puts("Garbage unused variables... Done."); }
    (
        s1, s2, s3, s4, ar, cr, ar2d1, ar2d2, ar2d3, std_ar2, std_ar1, u1
    );
}
 
// aggregate
struct base1 { int b1, b2 = 42; };
 
// non-aggregate
struct base2
{
    base2() : b3(42) {}
 
    int b3;
};
 
// aggregate in C++17
struct derived : base1, base2 { int d; };
 
derived d1{{1, 2}, {}, 4}; // d1.b1 = 1, d1.b2 = 2,  d1.b3 = 42, d1.d = 4
derived d2{{}, {}, 4};     // d2.b1 = 0, d2.b2 = 42, d2.b3 = 42, d2.d = 4

Garbage unused variables... Done.

Defect reports

The following behavior-changing defect reports were applied retroactively to previously published C++ standards.

See also

• copy elision
• initialization
  • constant initialization
  • list initialization
  • reference initialization
  • value initialization
  • zero initialization