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    CWG Issue 1669</TITLE>
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<P><EM>This is an unofficial snapshot of the ISO/IEC JTC1 SC22 WG21
  Core Issues List revision 118b.
  See http://www.open-std.org/jtc1/sc22/wg21/ for the official
  list.</EM></P>
<P>2025-09-28</P>
<HR>
<A NAME="1669"></A><H4>1669.
  
<TT>auto</TT> return type for <TT>main</TT>
</H4>
<B>Section: </B>6.10.3.1&#160; [<A href="https://wg21.link/basic.start.main">basic.start.main</A>]
 &#160;&#160;&#160;

 <B>Status: </B>C++14
 &#160;&#160;&#160;

 <B>Submitter: </B>Richard Smith
 &#160;&#160;&#160;

 <B>Date: </B>2013-04-26<BR>


<P>[Applied to WP at the February, 2014 meeting.]</P>



<P>Should it be permitted for <TT>main</TT> to have a deduced return
type?</P>

<P>(See also <A HREF="1676.html">issue 1676</A>.)</P>

<P><B>Proposed resolution (November, 2013):</B></P>

<P>Change 6.10.3.1 [<A href="https://wg21.link/basic.start.main#2">basic.start.main</A>] paragraph 2 as follows:</P>

<BLOCKQUOTE>

<P>An implementation shall not predefine the <TT>main</TT>
function. This function shall not be overloaded. It shall
have a <INS>declared</INS> return type of type <TT>int</TT>,
but otherwise its type is implementation-defined. <DEL>All
implementations</DEL> <INS>An implementation</INS> shall
allow both</P>

<UL>
<LI><P>a function of <TT>()</TT> returning <TT>int</TT> and</P></LI>

<LI><P>a function of <TT>(int, pointer to pointer to char)</TT> returning
<TT>int</TT>
</P></LI>

</UL>

<P>as the type...</P>

</BLOCKQUOTE>

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