Namespace aliases

 

C++

Language

Standard Library Headers

Freestanding and hosted implementations

Named requirements

Language support library

Concepts library (C++20)

Diagnostics library

Utilities library

Strings library

Containers library

Iterators library

Ranges library (C++20)

Algorithms library

Numerics library

Localizations library

Input/output library

Filesystem library (C++17)

Regular expressions library (C++11)

Atomic operations library (C++11)

Thread support library (C++11)

Technical Specifications

 

C++ language

General topics
Preprocessor Comments	Keywords Escape sequences
Flow control
Conditional execution statements
if	switch
Iteration statements (loops)
for range-for (C++11)	while do-while
Jump statements
continue - break	goto - return
Functions
Function declaration
Lambda function declaration
inline specifier
Exception specifications (until C++20)
noexcept specifier (C++11)
Exceptions
throw-expression	try-catch block
Namespaces
Namespace declaration	Namespace aliases
Types
Fundamental types Enumeration types Function types	Compound types Union types
Specifiers
decltype (C++11) auto (C++11) alignas (C++11)	const/volatile constexpr (C++11)
Storage duration specifiers
Initialization
Default initialization Value initialization Zero initialization Copy initialization Direct initialization	Aggregate initialization List initialization (C++11) Constant initialization Reference initialization

Expressions
Value categories Order of evaluation	Operators Operator precedence
Alternative representations
Literals
Boolean - Integer - Floating-point
Character - String - nullptr (C++11)
User-defined (C++11)
Utilities
Attributes (C++11)
Types
typedef declaration
Type alias declaration (C++11)
Casts
Implicit conversions - Explicit conversions
static_cast - dynamic_cast
const_cast - reinterpret_cast
Memory allocation
new expression	delete expression
Classes
Class declaration Constructors this pointer	Access specifiers friend specifier
Class-specific function properties
Virtual function override specifier (C++11) final specifier (C++11)	explicit (C++11) static
Special member functions
Default constructor Copy constructor Move constructor (C++11)	Copy assignment Move assignment (C++11) Destructor
Templates
Class template Function template	Template specialization Parameter packs (C++11)
Miscellaneous
Inline assembly	History of C++

 

Declarations

Overview declaration syntax decl-specifier-seq declarator Specifiers typedef inline virtual function specifier explicit function specifier friend constexpr (C++11) consteval (C++20) constinit (C++20) storage class specifiers classstruct union enum decltype (C++11) auto (C++11) alignas (C++11) constvolatile elaborated type specifier attributes (C++11)

Declarators reference pointer array Block declarations simple-declaration → structured binding declaration (C++17) alias declaration(C++11) namespace alias definition using-declaration using-directive static_assert declaration (C++11) asm-declaration opaque enum declaration(C++11) Other declarations namespace definition function declaration class template declaration function template declaration explicit template instantiation(C++11) explicit template specialization linkage specification attribute declaration (C++11) empty declaration

 

Namespace aliases allow the programmer to define an alternate name for a namespace.

They are commonly used as a convenient shortcut for long or deeply-nested namespaces.

Syntax

namespace alias_name = ns_name;	(1)
namespace alias_name = ::ns_name;	(2)
namespace alias_name = nested_name::ns_name;	(3)

Explanation

The new alias alias_name provides an alternate method of accessing ns_name.

alias_name must be a name not previously used. alias_name is valid for the duration of the scope in which it is introduced.

Example

Run this code

#include <iostream>
 
namespace foo {
    namespace bar {
         namespace baz {
             int qux = 42;
         }
    }
}
 
namespace fbz = foo::bar::baz;
 
int main()
{
    std::cout << fbz::qux << '\n';
}

Output:

42

See also

namespace declaration

identifies a namespace