[c++] Define constant variables in C++ header

A program I am working on has many constants that apply throughout all classes. I want to make one header file "Constants.h", and be able to declare all the relevant constants. Then in my other classes, I can just include #include "Constants.h.

I got it to work fine using #ifndef ... #define ... syntax. However, I would prefer to use the const int... form of constants. I'm not quite sure how to though.

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.

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.

Rather than making a bunch of global variables, you might consider creating a class that has a bunch of public static constants. It's still global, but this way it's wrapped in a class so you know where the constant is coming from and that it's supposed to be a constant.

Constants.h

#ifndef CONSTANTS_H
#define CONSTANTS_H

class GlobalConstants {
  public:
    static const int myConstant;
    static const int myOtherConstant;
};

#endif

Constants.cpp

#include "Constants.h"

const int GlobalConstants::myConstant = 1;
const int GlobalConstants::myOtherConstant = 3;

Then you can use this like so:

#include "Constants.h"

void foo() {
  int foo = GlobalConstants::myConstant;
}

You generally shouldn't use e.g. const int in a header file, if it's included in several source files. That is because then the variables will be defined once per source file (translation units technically speaking) because global const variables are implicitly static, taking up more memory than required.

You should instead have a special source file, Constants.cpp that actually defines the variables, and then have the variables declared as extern in the header file.

Something like this header file:

// Protect against multiple inclusions in the same source file
#ifndef CONSTANTS_H
#define CONSTANTS_H

extern const int CONSTANT_1;

#endif

And this in a source file:

const int CONSTANT_1 = 123;

I like the namespace better for this kind of purpose.

Option 1 :

#ifndef MYLIB_CONSTANTS_H
#define MYLIB_CONSTANTS_H

//  File Name : LibConstants.hpp    Purpose : Global Constants for Lib Utils
namespace LibConstants
{
  const int CurlTimeOut = 0xFF;     // Just some example
  ...
}
#endif

// source.cpp
#include <LibConstants.hpp>
int value = LibConstants::CurlTimeOut;

Option 2 :

#ifndef MYLIB_CONSTANTS_H
#define MYLIB_CONSTANTS_H
//  File Name : LibConstants.hpp    Purpose : Global Constants for Lib Utils
namespace CurlConstants
{
  const int CurlTimeOut = 0xFF;     // Just some example
  ...
}

namespace MySQLConstants
{
  const int DBPoolSize = 0xFF;      // Just some example
  ...
}
#endif



// source.cpp
#include <LibConstants.hpp>
int value = CurlConstants::CurlTimeOut;
int val2  = MySQLConstants::DBPoolSize;

And I would never use a Class to hold this type of HardCoded Const variables.