Overview of declarators

A declarator declares an object, function, or C++ reference C++ as part of a declaration.

A declarator has the following form:


Declarator syntax (C only)

|--+----------------------+--direct_declarator------------------|
   | .------------------. |                      
   | V                  | |                      
   '---pointer_operator-+-'


Declarator syntax (C++ only)

|--+-+----------------------+--direct_declarator-+--------------|
   | | .------------------. |                    |   
   | | V                  | |                    |   
   | '---pointer_operator-+-'                    |   
   |                      (1)                    |   
   '-trailing_return_type------------------------'

Notes:

C++11


Direct declarator

|--+-declarator_name-----------------------------------+--------|
   +-function_declarator-------------------------------+   
   +-direct_declarator--[--+---------------------+--]--+   
   |                       '-constant_expression-'     |   
   '-(--+----------------------+--direct_declarator--)-'   
        | .------------------. |                           
        | V                  | |                           
        '---pointer_operator-+-'


Pointer operator (C only)

|--*--+--------------------+------------------------------------|
      '-type_qualifier_seq-'


Declarator name (C only)

|--identifier_expression----------------------------------------|


Pointer operator (C++ only)

|--+-*--+--------------------+--------------------------------+--|
   |    '-type_qualifier_seq-'                                |   
   +-&--------------------------------------------------------+   
   |    (1)                                                   |   
   +-&&-------------------------------------------------------+   
   '-+----+--nested_name_specifier--*--+--------------------+-'   
     '-::-'                            '-type_qualifier_seq-'

Notes:

C++11


Declarator name (C++ only)

|--+----------------------------------------------+-------------|
   +-identifier_expression------------------------+   
   '-+----+--+-----------------------+--type_name-'   
     '-::-'  '-nested_name_specifier-'

Notes:

The type_qualifier_seq represents one or a combination of type qualifiers. For the details of type qualifiers, see Type qualifiers.
A nested_name_specifier is a qualified identifier expression. An identifier_expression can be a qualified or unqualified identifier.

For the details of function declarators, see Function declarators. C++11 For the details of trailing return types, see Trailing return type (C++11). C++11

The following types are known as derived declarator types, and are therefore discussed in this section:

In addition, for compatibility with GNU C and C++, XL C/C++ allows you to use variable attributes to modify the properties of data objects. As they are normally specified as part of the declarator in a declaration, they are described in Variable attributes (IBM extension).