std::as_const

 

C++

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Utilities library

Language support Type support (basic types, RTTI, type traits)      Library feature-test macros (C++20) Dynamic memory management Program utilities Error handling Coroutine support (C++20) Variadic functions launder (C++17) initializer_list (C++11) source_location (C++20) Three-way comparison (C++20) three_way_comparablethree_way_comparable_with (C++20)(C++20) strong_ordering (C++20) weak_ordering (C++20) partial_ordering (C++20) common_comparison_category (C++20) compare_three_way_result (C++20) compare_three_way (C++20) strong_order (C++20) weak_order (C++20) partial_order (C++20) compare_strong_order_fallback (C++20) compare_weak_order_fallback (C++20) compare_partial_order_fallback (C++20) is_eqis_neqis_ltis_lteqis_gtis_gteq (C++20)(C++20)(C++20)(C++20)(C++20)(C++20)

General utilities Date and time Function objects bitset Formatting library (C++20) hash (C++11) integer_sequence (C++14) Relational operators (deprecated in C++20) rel_ops::operator!=rel_ops::operator> rel_ops::operator<=rel_ops::operator>= Integer comparison functions cmp_equalcmp_lesscmp_less_than (C++20)(C++20)(C++20)    cmp_not_equalcmp_greatercmp_greater_than (C++20)(C++20)(C++20) in_range (C++20) Swap and type operations swap ranges::swap (C++20) exchange (C++14) declval (C++11) forward (C++11) move (C++11) move_if_noexcept (C++11) as_const (C++17) to_underlying (C++23) Common vocabulary types pair tuple (C++11) optional (C++17) any (C++17) variant (C++17) tuple_size (C++11) tuple_element (C++11) apply (C++17) make_from_tuple (C++17) Elementary string conversions to_chars (C++17) from_chars (C++17) chars_format (C++17) Stacktrace stacktrace_entry (C++23) basic_stacktrace (C++23)

 

Defined in header <utility>
template <class T> constexpr std::add_const_t<T>& as_const(T& t) noexcept;	(1)	(since C++17)
template <class T> void as_const(const T&&) = delete;	(2)	(since C++17)

1) Forms lvalue reference to const type of t

2) const rvalue reference overload is deleted to disallow rvalue arguments

Possible implementation

template <class T> constexpr std::add_const_t<T>& as_const(T& t) noexcept { return t; }

Example

Run this code

#include <string>
#include <cassert>
#include <utility>
#include <type_traits>
 
int main()
{
    std::string mutableString = "Hello World!";
    auto&& constRef = std::as_const(mutableString);
 
//  mutableString.clear(); // OK
//  constRef.clear(); // error: 'constRef' is 'const' qualified,
                      //        but 'clear' is not marked const
 
    assert( &constRef == &mutableString );
    assert( &std::as_const( mutableString ) == &mutableString );
 
    using ExprType = std::remove_reference_t<decltype(std::as_const(mutableString))>;
 
    static_assert(std::is_same_v<std::remove_const_t<ExprType>, std::string>,
            "ExprType should be some kind of string." );
    static_assert(!std::is_same_v<ExprType, std::string>,
            "ExprType shouldn't be a mutable string." );
}

See also

is_const (C++11)	checks if a type is const-qualified (class template)
add_cvadd_constadd_volatile (C++11)(C++11)(C++11)	adds const or/and volatile specifiers to the given type (class template)
remove_cvremove_constremove_volatile (C++11)(C++11)(C++11)	removes const or/and volatile specifiers from the given type (class template)