Define constant variables in C++ header

C++17 inline variables

This awesome C++17 feature allow us to:

• conveniently use just a single memory address for each constant
• store it as a constexpr: How to declare constexpr extern?
• do it in a single line from one header

main.cpp

#include <cassert>

#include "notmain.hpp"

int main() {
    // Both files see the same memory address.
    assert(&notmain_i == notmain_func());
    assert(notmain_i == 42);
}

notmain.hpp

#ifndef NOTMAIN_HPP
#define NOTMAIN_HPP

inline constexpr int notmain_i = 42;

const int* notmain_func();

#endif

notmain.cpp

#include "notmain.hpp"

const int* notmain_func() {
    return &notmain_i;
}

Compile and run:

g++ -c -o notmain.o -std=c++17 -Wall -Wextra -pedantic notmain.cpp
g++ -c -o main.o -std=c++17 -Wall -Wextra -pedantic main.cpp
g++ -o main -std=c++17 -Wall -Wextra -pedantic main.o notmain.o
./main

GitHub upstream.

See also: How do inline variables work?

C++ standard on inline variables

The C++ standard guarantees that the addresses will be the same. C++17 N4659 standard draft 10.1.6 "The inline specifier":

6 An inline function or variable with external linkage shall have the same address in all translation units.

cppreference https://en.cppreference.com/w/cpp/language/inline explains that if static is not given, then it has external linkage.

Inline variable implementation

We can observe how it is implemented with:

nm main.o notmain.o

which contains:

main.o:
                 U _GLOBAL_OFFSET_TABLE_
                 U _Z12notmain_funcv
0000000000000028 r _ZZ4mainE19__PRETTY_FUNCTION__
                 U __assert_fail
0000000000000000 T main
0000000000000000 u notmain_i

notmain.o:
0000000000000000 T _Z12notmain_funcv
0000000000000000 u notmain_i

and man nm says about u:

"u" The symbol is a unique global symbol. This is a GNU extension to the standard set of ELF symbol bindings. For such a symbol the dynamic linker will make sure that in the entire process there is just one symbol with this name and type in use.

so we see that there is a dedicated ELF extension for this.

C++17 standard draft on "global" const implies static

This is the quote for what was mentioned at: https://stackoverflow.com/a/12043198/895245

C++17 n4659 standard draft 6.5 "Program and linkage":

3 A name having namespace scope (6.3.6) has internal linkage if it is the name of

• (3.1) — a variable, function or function template that is explicitly declared static; or,
• (3.2) — a non-inline variable of non-volatile const-qualified type that is neither explicitly declared extern nor previously declared to have external linkage; or
• (3.3) — a data member of an anonymous union.

"namespace" scope is what we colloquially often refer to as "global".

Annex C (informative) Compatibility, C.1.2 Clause 6: "basic concepts" gives the rationale why this was changed from C:

6.5 [also 10.1.7]

Change: A name of file scope that is explicitly declared const, and not explicitly declared extern, has internal linkage, while in C it would have external linkage.

Rationale: Because const objects may be used as values during translation in C++, this feature urges programmers to provide an explicit initializer for each const object. This feature allows the user to put const objects in source files that are included in more than one translation unit.

Effect on original feature: Change to semantics of well-defined feature.

Difficulty of converting: Semantic transformation.

How widely used: Seldom.

See also: Why does const imply internal linkage in C++, when it doesn't in C?

Tested in GCC 7.4.0, Ubuntu 18.04.

It seems that bames53's answer can be extended to defining integer and non-integer constant values in namespace and class declarations even if they get included in multiple source files. It is not necessary to put the declarations in a header file but the definitions in a source file. The following example works for Microsoft Visual Studio 2015, for z/OS V2.2 XL C/C++ on OS/390, and for g++ (GCC) 8.1.1 20180502 on GNU/Linux 4.16.14 (Fedora 28). Note that the constants are declared/defined in only a single header file that gets included in multiple source files.

In foo.cc:

#include <cstdio>               // for puts

#include "messages.hh"
#include "bar.hh"
#include "zoo.hh"

int main(int argc, const char* argv[])
{
  puts("Hello!");
  bar();
  zoo();
  puts(Message::third);
  return 0;
}

In messages.hh:

#ifndef MESSAGES_HH
#define MESSAGES_HH

namespace Message {
  char const * const first = "Yes, this is the first message!";
  char const * const second = "This is the second message.";
  char const * const third = "Message #3.";
};

#endif

In bar.cc:

#include "messages.hh"
#include <cstdio>

void bar(void)
{
  puts("Wow!");
  printf("bar: %s\n", Message::first);
}

In zoo.cc:

#include <cstdio>
#include "messages.hh"

void zoo(void)
{
  printf("zoo: %s\n", Message::second);
}

In bar.hh:

#ifndef BAR_HH
#define BAR_HH

#include "messages.hh"

void bar(void);

#endif

In zoo.hh:

#ifndef ZOO_HH
#define ZOO_HH

#include "messages.hh"

void zoo(void);

#endif

This yields the following output:

Hello!
Wow!
bar: Yes, this is the first message!
zoo: This is the second message.
Message #3.

The data type char const * const means a constant pointer to an array of constant characters. The first const is needed because (according to g++) "ISO C++ forbids converting a string constant to 'char*'". The second const is needed to avoid link errors due to multiple definitions of the (then insufficiently constant) constants. Your compiler might not complain if you omit one or both of the consts, but then the source code is less portable.