A static member s of class X may be referred to using the qualified-id expression X::s; it is not necessary to use the class member access syntax to refer to a static member. A static member may be referred to using the class member access syntax, in which case the object expression is evaluated. [ Example:
struct process { static void reschedule(); }; process& g(); void f() { process::reschedule(); // OK: no object necessary g().reschedule(); // g() is called }
— end example ]
A static member may be referred to directly in the scope of its class or in the scope of a class derived from its class; in this case, the static member is referred to as if a qualified-id expression was used, with the nested-name-specifier of the qualified-id naming the class scope from which the static member is referenced. [ Example:
int g();
struct X {
static int g();
};
struct Y : X {
static int i;
};
int Y::i = g(); // equivalent to Y::g();
— end example ]
If an unqualified-id is used in the definition of a static member following the member's declarator-id, and name lookup finds that the unqualified-id refers to a static member, enumerator, or nested type of the member's class (or of a base class of the member's class), the unqualified-id is transformed into a qualified-id expression in which the nested-name-specifier names the class scope from which the member is referenced. [ Note: See [expr.prim] for restrictions on the use of non-static data members and non-static member functions. — end note ]
Static members obey the usual class member access rules. When used in the declaration of a class member, the static specifier shall only be used in the member declarations that appear within the member-specification of the class definition. [ Note: It cannot be specified in member declarations that appear in namespace scope. — end note ]
[ Note: A static member function does not have a this pointer. — end note ] A static member function shall not be virtual. There shall not be a static and a non-static member function with the same name and the same parameter types ([over.load]). A static member function shall not be declared const, volatile, or const volatile.
A static data member is not part of the subobjects of a class. If a static data member is declared thread_local there is one copy of the member per thread. If a static data member is not declared thread_local there is one copy of the data member that is shared by all the objects of the class.
The declaration of a non-inline static data member in its class definition is not a definition and may be of an incomplete type other than cv void. The definition for a static data member that is not defined inline in the class definition shall appear in a namespace scope enclosing the member's class definition. In the definition at namespace scope, the name of the static data member shall be qualified by its class name using the :: operator. The initializer expression in the definition of a static data member is in the scope of its class ([basic.scope.class]). [ Example:
class process { static process* run_chain; static process* running; }; process* process::running = get_main(); process* process::run_chain = running;
The static data member run_chain of class process is defined in global scope; the notation process::run_chain specifies that the member run_chain is a member of class process and in the scope of class process. In the static data member definition, the initializer expression refers to the static data member running of class process. — end example ]
[ Note: Once the static data member has been defined, it exists even if no objects of its class have been created. [ Example: In the example above, run_chain and running exist even if no objects of class process are created by the program. — end example ] — end note ]
If a non-volatile non-inline const static data member is of integral or enumeration type, its declaration in the class definition can specify a brace-or-equal-initializer in which every initializer-clause that is an assignment-expression is a constant expression ([expr.const]). The member shall still be defined in a namespace scope if it is odr-used in the program and the namespace scope definition shall not contain an initializer. An inline static data member may be defined in the class definition and may specify a brace-or-equal-initializer. If the member is declared with the constexpr specifier, it may be redeclared in namespace scope with no initializer (this usage is deprecated; see [depr.static_constexpr]). Declarations of other static data members shall not specify a brace-or-equal-initializer.
[ Note: There shall be exactly one definition of a static data member that is odr-used in a program; no diagnostic is required. — end note ] Unnamed classes and classes contained directly or indirectly within unnamed classes shall not contain static data members.
[ Note: Static data members of a class in namespace scope have the linkage of that class. A local class cannot have static data members. — end note ]
Static data members are initialized and destroyed exactly like non-local variables ([basic.start.static], [basic.start.dynamic], [basic.start.term]).