3 Basic concepts [basic]

A program shall contain a global function called main, which is the designated start of the program. It is implementation-defined whether a program in a freestanding environment is required to define a main function. [ Note: In a freestanding environment, start-up and termination is implementation-defined; start-up contains the execution of constructors for objects of namespace scope with static storage duration; termination contains the execution of destructors for objects with static storage duration.  — end note ]

An implementation shall not predefine the main function. This function shall not be overloaded. It shall have a return type of type int, but otherwise its type is implementation-defined. All implementations shall allow both of the following definitions of main:

int main() { /* ... */ }

and

int main(int argc, char* argv[]) { /* ... */ }

In the latter form argc shall be the number of arguments passed to the program from the environment in which the program is run. If argc is nonzero these arguments shall be supplied in argv[0] through argv[argc-1] as pointers to the initial characters of null-terminated multibyte strings (ntmbs s) ([multibyte.strings]) and argv[0] shall be the pointer to the initial character of a ntmbs that represents the name used to invoke the program or "". The value of argc shall be non-negative. The value of argv[argc] shall be 0. [ Note: It is recommended that any further (optional) parameters be added after argv.  — end note ]

The function main shall not be used within a program. The linkage ([basic.link]) of main is implementation-defined. A program that defines main as deleted or that declares main to be inline, static, or constexpr is ill-formed. The name main is not otherwise reserved. [ Example: member functions, classes, and enumerations can be called main, as can entities in other namespaces.  — end example ]

Terminating the program without leaving the current block (e.g., by calling the function std::exit(int) ([support.start.term])) does not destroy any objects with automatic storage duration ([class.dtor]). If std::exit is called to end a program during the destruction of an object with static or thread storage duration, the program has undefined behavior.

A return statement in main has the effect of leaving the main function (destroying any objects with automatic storage duration) and calling std::exit with the return value as the argument. If control reaches the end of main without encountering a return statement, the effect is that of executing

return 0;

There are two broad classes of named non-local variables: those with static storage duration ([basic.stc.static]) and those with thread storage duration ([basic.stc.thread]). Non-local variables with static storage duration are initialized as a consequence of program initiation. Non-local variables with thread storage duration are initialized as a consequence of thread execution. Within each of these phases of initiation, initialization occurs as follows.

Variables with static storage duration ([basic.stc.static]) or thread storage duration ([basic.stc.thread]) shall be zero-initialized ([dcl.init]) before any other initialization takes place.

Constant initialization is performed:

• (2.1)

  if each full-expression (including implicit conversions) that appears in the initializer of a reference with static or thread storage duration is a constant expression ([expr.const]) and the reference is bound to an lvalue designating an object with static storage duration or to a temporary (see [class.temporary]);

• (2.2)

  if an object with static or thread storage duration is initialized by a constructor call, if the constructor is a constexpr constructor, if all constructor arguments are constant expressions (including conversions), and if, after function invocation substitution ([dcl.constexpr]), every constructor call and full-expression in the mem-initializers and in the brace-or-equal-initializers for non-static data members is a constant expression;

• (2.3)

  if an object with static or thread storage duration is not initialized by a constructor call and if every full-expression that appears in its initializer is a constant expression.

Together, zero-initialization and constant initialization are called static initialization; all other initialization is dynamic initialization. Static initialization shall be performed before any dynamic initialization takes place. Dynamic initialization of a non-local variable with static storage duration is either ordered or unordered. Definitions of explicitly specialized class template static data members have ordered initialization. Other class template static data members (i.e., implicitly or explicitly instantiated specializations) have unordered initialization. Other non-local variables with static storage duration have ordered initialization. Variables with ordered initialization defined within a single translation unit shall be initialized in the order of their definitions in the translation unit. If a program starts a thread ([thread.threads]), the subsequent initialization of a variable is unsequenced with respect to the initialization of a variable defined in a different translation unit. Otherwise, the initialization of a variable is indeterminately sequenced with respect to the initialization of a variable defined in a different translation unit. If a program starts a thread, the subsequent unordered initialization of a variable is unsequenced with respect to every other dynamic initialization. Otherwise, the unordered initialization of a variable is indeterminately sequenced with respect to every other dynamic initialization. [ Note: This definition permits initialization of a sequence of ordered variables concurrently with another sequence.  — end note ] [ Note: The initialization of local static variables is described in [stmt.dcl].  — end note ]

An implementation is permitted to perform the initialization of a non-local variable with static storage duration as a static initialization even if such initialization is not required to be done statically, provided that

• (3.1)

  the dynamic version of the initialization does not change the value of any other object of namespace scope prior to its initialization, and

• (3.2)

  the static version of the initialization produces the same value in the initialized variable as would be produced by the dynamic initialization if all variables not required to be initialized statically were initialized dynamically.

[ Note: As a consequence, if the initialization of an object obj1 refers to an object obj2 of namespace scope potentially requiring dynamic initialization and defined later in the same translation unit, it is unspecified whether the value of obj2 used will be the value of the fully initialized obj2 (because obj2 was statically initialized) or will be the value of obj2 merely zero-initialized. For example,

inline double fd() { return 1.0; }
extern double d1;
double d2 = d1;     // unspecified:
                    // may be statically initialized to 0.0 or
                    // dynamically initialized to 0.0 if d1 is
                    // dynamically initialized, or 1.0 otherwise
double d1 = fd();   // may be initialized statically or dynamically to 1.0

 — end note ]

It is implementation-defined whether the dynamic initialization of a non-local variable with static storage duration is done before the first statement of main. If the initialization is deferred to some point in time after the first statement of main, it shall occur before the first odr-use ([basic.def.odr]) of any function or variable defined in the same translation unit as the variable to be initialized.34 [ Example:

// - File 1 -
#include "a.h"
#include "b.h"
B b;
A::A(){
  b.Use();
}

// - File 2 -
#include "a.h"
A a;

// - File 3 -
#include "a.h"
#include "b.h"
extern A a;
extern B b;

int main() {
  a.Use();
  b.Use();
}

It is implementation-defined whether either a or b is initialized before main is entered or whether the initializations are delayed until a is first odr-used in main. In particular, if a is initialized before main is entered, it is not guaranteed that b will be initialized before it is odr-used by the initialization of a, that is, before A::A is called. If, however, a is initialized at some point after the first statement of main, b will be initialized prior to its use in A::A.  — end example ]

It is implementation-defined whether the dynamic initialization of a non-local variable with static or thread storage duration is done before the first statement of the initial function of the thread. If the initialization is deferred to some point in time after the first statement of the initial function of the thread, it shall occur before the first odr-use ([basic.def.odr]) of any variable with thread storage duration defined in the same translation unit as the variable to be initialized.

If the initialization of a non-local variable with static or thread storage duration exits via an exception, std::terminate is called ([except.terminate]).

Destructors ([class.dtor]) for initialized objects (that is, objects whose lifetime ([basic.life]) has begun) with static storage duration are called as a result of returning from main and as a result of calling std::exit ([support.start.term]). Destructors for initialized objects with thread storage duration within a given thread are called as a result of returning from the initial function of that thread and as a result of that thread calling std::exit. The completions of the destructors for all initialized objects with thread storage duration within that thread are sequenced before the initiation of the destructors of any object with static storage duration. If the completion of the constructor or dynamic initialization of an object with thread storage duration is sequenced before that of another, the completion of the destructor of the second is sequenced before the initiation of the destructor of the first. If the completion of the constructor or dynamic initialization of an object with static storage duration is sequenced before that of another, the completion of the destructor of the second is sequenced before the initiation of the destructor of the first. [ Note: This definition permits concurrent destruction.  — end note ] If an object is initialized statically, the object is destroyed in the same order as if the object was dynamically initialized. For an object of array or class type, all subobjects of that object are destroyed before any block-scope object with static storage duration initialized during the construction of the subobjects is destroyed. If the destruction of an object with static or thread storage duration exits via an exception, std::terminate is called ([except.terminate]).

If a function contains a block-scope object of static or thread storage duration that has been destroyed and the function is called during the destruction of an object with static or thread storage duration, the program has undefined behavior if the flow of control passes through the definition of the previously destroyed block-scope object. Likewise, the behavior is undefined if the block-scope object is used indirectly (i.e., through a pointer) after its destruction.

If the completion of the initialization of an object with static storage duration is sequenced before a call to std::atexit (see <cstdlib>, [support.start.term]), the call to the function passed to std::atexit is sequenced before the call to the destructor for the object. If a call to std::atexit is sequenced before the completion of the initialization of an object with static storage duration, the call to the destructor for the object is sequenced before the call to the function passed to std::atexit. If a call to std::atexit is sequenced before another call to std::atexit, the call to the function passed to the second std::atexit call is sequenced before the call to the function passed to the first std::atexit call.

If there is a use of a standard library object or function not permitted within signal handlers ([support.runtime]) that does not happen before ([intro.multithread]) completion of destruction of objects with static storage duration and execution of std::atexit registered functions ([support.start.term]), the program has undefined behavior. [ Note: If there is a use of an object with static storage duration that does not happen before the object's destruction, the program has undefined behavior. Terminating every thread before a call to std::exit or the exit from main is sufficient, but not necessary, to satisfy these requirements. These requirements permit thread managers as static-storage-duration objects.  — end note ]

Calling the function std::abort() declared in <cstdlib> terminates the program without executing any destructors and without calling the functions passed to std::atexit() or std::at_quick_exit().