In a union, at most one of the non-static data members can be active at any time, that is, the value of at most one of the non-static data members can be stored in a union at any time. [ Note: One special guarantee is made in order to simplify the use of unions: If a standard-layout union contains several standard-layout structs that share a common initial sequence ([class.mem]), and if an object of this standard-layout union type contains one of the standard-layout structs, it is permitted to inspect the common initial sequence of any of standard-layout struct members; see [class.mem]. — end note ] The size of a union is sufficient to contain the largest of its non-static data members. Each non-static data member is allocated as if it were the sole member of a struct.
A union can have member functions (including constructors and destructors), but not virtual ([class.virtual]) functions. A union shall not have base classes. A union shall not be used as a base class. If a union contains a non-static data member of reference type the program is ill-formed. At most one non-static data member of a union may have a brace-or-equal-initializer. [ Note: If any non-static data member of a union has a non-trivial default constructor ([class.ctor]), copy constructor ([class.copy]), move constructor ([class.copy]), copy assignment operator ([class.copy]), move assignment operator ([class.copy]), or destructor ([class.dtor]), the corresponding member function of the union must be user-provided or it will be implicitly deleted ([dcl.fct.def.delete]) for the union. — end note ]
[ Example: Consider the following union:
union U {
int i;
float f;
std::string s;
};
Since std::string ([string.classes]) declares non-trivial versions of all of the special member functions, U will have an implicitly deleted default constructor, copy/move constructor, copy/move assignment operator, and destructor. To use U, some or all of these member functions must be user-provided. — end example ]
[ Note: In general, one must use explicit destructor calls and placement new operators to change the active member of a union. — end note ] [ Example: Consider an object u of a union type U having non-static data members m of type M and n of type N. If M has a non-trivial destructor and N has a non-trivial constructor (for instance, if they declare or inherit virtual functions), the active member of u can be safely switched from m to n using the destructor and placement new operator as follows:
u.m.~M(); new (&u.n) N;
— end example ]
union { member-specification } ;
is called an anonymous union; it defines an unnamed object of unnamed type. The member-specification of an anonymous union shall only define non-static data members. [ Note: Nested types and functions cannot be declared within an anonymous union. — end note ] The names of the members of an anonymous union shall be distinct from the names of any other entity in the scope in which the anonymous union is declared. For the purpose of name lookup, after the anonymous union definition, the members of the anonymous union are considered to have been defined in the scope in which the anonymous union is declared. [ Example:
void f() {
union { int a; const char* p; };
a = 1;
p = "Jennifer";
}
Here a and p are used like ordinary (nonmember) variables, but since they are union members they have the same address. — end example ]
Anonymous unions declared in a named namespace or in the global namespace shall be declared static. Anonymous unions declared at block scope shall be declared with any storage class allowed for a block-scope variable, or with no storage class. A storage class is not allowed in a declaration of an anonymous union in a class scope. An anonymous union shall not have private or protected members (Clause [class.access]). An anonymous union shall not have function members.
A union for which objects or pointers are declared is not an anonymous union. [ Example:
union { int aa; char* p; } obj, *ptr = &obj;
aa = 1; // error
ptr->aa = 1; // OK
The assignment to plain aa is ill-formed since the member name is not visible outside the union, and even if it were visible, it is not associated with any particular object. — end example ] [ Note: Initialization of unions with no user-declared constructors is described in ([dcl.init.aggr]). — end note ]
A union-like class is a union or a class that has an anonymous union as a direct member. A union-like class X has a set of variant members. If X is a union its variant members are the non-static data members; otherwise, its variant members are the non-static data members of all anonymous unions that are members of X.