Constant Confusion

Dec 3, 2011 · 5 minute read
ctipstechnical

The const keyword in C can be confusing, so I wanted to put down my thoughts for my own benefit and for those looking for some clarity. In summary, I’m going to advocate you place const to the right, and read the declaration from right to left.

What is const?

const is a hint to the C compiler and programmer that a specific declaration or element of a declaration is immutable. It is more complicated in C++, which is outside the scope of this post. Lets start with a simple example, and the most common form where const is written first:

const int i = 5;

The previous statement simply instructs the compiler that i cannot be changed after its initial declaration, such that the following assignment would result in an error:

const int i = 5;
i = 6; // error: read-only variable is not assignable

If spoken from right to left, the declaration of i would read “i is an integer constant”, which is reasonable enough. This syntax is still supported for historical reasons. The alternative and correct format is to write const after the type reference, as follows

int const i = 5;
i = 6; // error: read-only variable is not assignable

which means the same thing; the value of i must remain constant within its declared scope. If you read this declaration from right to left, it is spoken as “i is a constant integer”; much better.

Yet another common definition is an array of constant characters or also known in some circles as an immutable string

const char * myString = "hello World";
myString[0] = 'H';        // error: read-only variable is not assignable
myString = "Hello World"; // ok

Spoken from right to left, “myString is a pointer to character constant”, which doesn’t read so well. Switching the const keyword, we get the following

char const * myString = "hello World";
myString[0] = 'H';        // error: read-only variable is not assignable
myString = "Hello World"; // ok

read aloud, it is “myString is a pointer to constant characters“; sounds better than the former.

So far const seems pretty straight forward, and perhaps at this point you’re thinking where is the confusion?. Lets complicate things… As we’ve demonstrated, the const keyword can be placed before or after the type reference in a declaration, which for the previous scenarios is fine. Let’s show a few more examples with pointers:

int * const i;

Declares i as constant pointer to an integer. Again, reading from right to left makes it pretty clear what we’re dealing with. The following shows both legal and illegal usages of i:

int j = 5, k = 6;
int * const i = &j; // points to the memory referred to by j
i = &k;             // error: read-only variable is not assignable
*i = 6;             // ok, modifies the value of j

Now, because the const keyword can be placed before or after the type reference, as shown earlier, the following declarations of h and i:

int j = 5, k = 6;
const int * const h = &j;
int const * const i = &j;

result in a variable that is a constant pointer to a constant integer. Given that, the following lines will result in compiler errors:

*h = 5; // error: read-only variable is not assignable
h = &k; // error: read-only variable is not assignable

Want to see something confusing? The following 3 lines are identical, and will compile with current versions of clang and gcc:

const int const g = 5;
const int h = 6;
int const i = 7;

It’s not horrible, but lets reintroduce pointers

const int const * i;

What is this? If you had not just read all the above, one would be forgiven for thinking i is a constant pointer to a constant integer, but in fact both instances of const refer to the int type; this is a pointer to a constant integer. The correct definition, as we saw earlier is

const int * const i; // or preferably
int const * const i;

Worse still is multiple levels of indirection, such as

int * * i;

which when read from right to left declares “i is a pointer to a pointer of integers”. A more complicated example using the const keyword

int const * const * const i;

or i is a constant pointer to a constant pointer of constant integers. All levels of indirection are immutable, so it can only be assigned at its declaration.

int j[2][3] = { {1, 2, 3}, {4, 5, 6} };
int const * const * const i = &j; // ok
i = NULL;     // error
i[0] = &j[0]; // error
i[0][0] = 5;  // error

It’s an extreme case, but becomes evident why writing const to the right is a good habit. The following declaration of i may look the same to the untrained eye:

int j[2][3] = { {1, 2, 3}, {4, 5, 6} };
const int const * const * i = &j; // ok
i = NULL;     // ok!!
i[0] = &j[0]; // error
i[0][0] = 5;  // error

however, armed with this knowledge, you (and the compiler) say otherwise.

After all this, you may be asking when might I use the declaration type const * const? When possible, I prefer to be explicit, and strings used as constants across compilation units are often declared as

char const * kMyConstant = "Hello World";

and then referred to in a separate object file as

extern char const * kMyConstant;

Whilst modifying the contents of kMyConstant is prohibited, assigning the pointer kMyConstant to a new location is possible, as follows

extern char const * kMyConstant;
void fn() {
    kMyConstant[0] = 'h'; // error
    kMyConstant = "Hi!";  // now says "Hi!" instead of "Hello World"
}

Clearly for the majority of situations, this is not what the developer intended. Changing the declaration to

char const * const kMyConstant = "Hello World";

would also prevent the pointer kMyConstant from being overwritten.

In summary

Always write const to the right and read the declaration from right to left.