Template arguments can be specified when referring to a function template specialization by qualifying the function template name with the list of template-arguments in the same way as template-arguments are specified in uses of a class template specialization. [ Example:
template<class T> void sort(Array<T>& v);
void f(Array<dcomplex>& cv, Array<int>& ci) {
sort<dcomplex>(cv); // sort(Array<dcomplex>&)
sort<int>(ci); // sort(Array<int>&)
}
and
template<class U, class V> U convert(V v);
void g(double d) {
int i = convert<int,double>(d); // int convert(double)
char c = convert<char,double>(d); // char convert(double)
}
— end example ]
A template argument list may be specified when referring to a specialization of a function template
when a function is called,
when the address of a function is taken, when a function initializes a reference to function, or when a pointer to member function is formed,
in an explicit specialization,
in an explicit instantiation, or
in a friend declaration.
Trailing template arguments that can be deduced ([temp.deduct]) or obtained from default template-arguments may be omitted from the list of explicit template-arguments. A trailing template parameter pack ([temp.variadic]) not otherwise deduced will be deduced to an empty sequence of template arguments. If all of the template arguments can be deduced, they may all be omitted; in this case, the empty template argument list <> itself may also be omitted. In contexts where deduction is done and fails, or in contexts where deduction is not done, if a template argument list is specified and it, along with any default template arguments, identifies a single function template specialization, then the template-id is an lvalue for the function template specialization. [ Example:
template<class X, class Y> X f(Y);
template<class X, class Y, class ... Z> X g(Y);
void h() {
int i = f<int>(5.6); // Y is deduced to be double
int j = f(5.6); // ill-formed: X cannot be deduced
f<void>(f<int, bool>); // Y for outer f deduced to be
// int (*)(bool)
f<void>(f<int>); // ill-formed: f<int> does not denote a
// single function template specialization
int k = g<int>(5.6); // Y is deduced to be double, Z is deduced to an empty sequence
f<void>(g<int, bool>); // Y for outer f is deduced to be
// int (*)(bool), Z is deduced to an empty sequence
}
— end example ]
[ Note: An empty template argument list can be used to indicate that a given use refers to a specialization of a function template even when a non-template function ([dcl.fct]) is visible that would otherwise be used. For example:
template <class T> int f(T); // #1 int f(int); // #2 int k = f(1); // uses #2 int l = f<>(1); // uses #1
— end note ]
Template arguments that are present shall be specified in the declaration order of their corresponding template-parameters. The template argument list shall not specify more template-arguments than there are corresponding template-parameters unless one of the template-parameters is a template parameter pack. [ Example:
template<class X, class Y, class Z> X f(Y,Z);
template<class ... Args> void f2();
void g() {
f<int,const char*,double>("aa",3.0);
f<int,const char*>("aa",3.0); // Z is deduced to be double
f<int>("aa",3.0); // Y is deduced to be const char*, and
// Z is deduced to be double
f("aa",3.0); // error: X cannot be deduced
f2<char, short, int, long>(); // OK
}
— end example ]
Implicit conversions (Clause [conv]) will be performed on a function argument to convert it to the type of the corresponding function parameter if the parameter type contains no template-parameters that participate in template argument deduction. [ Note: Template parameters do not participate in template argument deduction if they are explicitly specified. For example,
template<class T> void f(T);
class Complex {
Complex(double);
};
void g() {
f<Complex>(1); // OK, means f<Complex>(Complex(1))
}
— end note ]
[ Note: Because the explicit template argument list follows the function template name, and because conversion member function templates and constructor member function templates are called without using a function name, there is no way to provide an explicit template argument list for these function templates. — end note ]
[ Note: For simple function names, argument dependent lookup ([basic.lookup.argdep]) applies even when the function name is not visible within the scope of the call. This is because the call still has the syntactic form of a function call ([basic.lookup.unqual]). But when a function template with explicit template arguments is used, the call does not have the correct syntactic form unless there is a function template with that name visible at the point of the call. If no such name is visible, the call is not syntactically well-formed and argument-dependent lookup does not apply. If some such name is visible, argument dependent lookup applies and additional function templates may be found in other namespaces. [ Example:
namespace A {
struct B { };
template<int X> void f(B);
}
namespace C {
template<class T> void f(T t);
}
void g(A::B b) {
f<3>(b); // ill-formed: not a function call
A::f<3>(b); // well-formed
C::f<3>(b); // ill-formed; argument dependent lookup
// applies only to unqualified names
using C::f;
f<3>(b); // well-formed because C::f is visible; then
// A::f is found by argument dependent lookup
}
— end example ] — end note ]
Template argument deduction can extend the sequence of template arguments corresponding to a template parameter pack, even when the sequence contains explicitly specified template arguments. [ Example:
template<class ... Types> void f(Types ... values);
void g() {
f<int*, float*>(0, 0, 0); // Types is deduced to the sequence int*, float*, int
}
— end example ]