Difference between revisions of "cpp/language/final"

Revision as of 04:16, 2 October 2020

Specifies that a virtual function cannot be overridden in a derived class or that a class cannot be inherited from.

Syntax

When applied to a member function, the identifier final appears immediately after the declarator in the syntax of a member function declaration or a member function definition inside a class definition.

When applied to a class, the identifier final appears at the beginning of the class definition, immediately after the name of the class.

In the cases (1,2), virt-specifier-seq, if used, is either override or final, or final override or override final. In the case (3), the only allowed value of class-virt-specifier, if used, is final

Explanation

When used in a virtual function declaration or definition, final specifier ensures that the function is virtual and specifies that it may not be overridden by derived classes. The program is ill-formed (a compile-time error is generated) otherwise.

When used in a class definition, final specifies that this class may not appear in the base-specifier-list of another class definition (in other words, cannot be derived from). The program is ill-formed otherwise (a compile-time error is generated). final can also be used with a union definition, in which case it has no effect (other than on the outcome of std::is_final)(since C++14), since unions cannot be derived from.

final is an identifier with a special meaning when used in a member function declaration or class head. In other contexts it is not reserved and may be used to name objects and functions.

Example

struct Base
{
    virtual void foo();
};
 
struct A : Base
{
    void foo() final; // Base::foo is overridden and A::foo is the final override
    void bar() final; // Error: bar cannot be final as it is non-virtual
};
 
struct B final : A // struct B is final
{
    void foo() override; // Error: foo cannot be overridden as it is final in A
};
 
struct C : B // Error: B is final
{
};

See also