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    CWG Issue 609</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="609"></A><H4>609.
  
What is a &#8220;top-level&#8221; cv-qualifier?
</H4>
<B>Section: </B>9.2.9.2&#160; [<A href="https://wg21.link/dcl.type.cv">dcl.type.cv</A>]
 &#160;&#160;&#160;

 <B>Status: </B>CD4
 &#160;&#160;&#160;

 <B>Submitter: </B>Dawn Perchik
 &#160;&#160;&#160;

 <B>Date: </B>5 November 2006<BR>


<P>[Moved to DR at the November, 2014 meeting.]</P>

<P>The phrase &#8220;top-level cv-qualifier&#8221; is used numerous
times in the Standard, but it is not defined.  The phrase could be
misunderstood to indicate that the <TT>const</TT> in something like
<TT>const T&amp;</TT> is at the &#8220;top level,&#8221; because
where it appears is the highest level at which it is permitted:
<TT>T&amp; const</TT> is ill-formed.</P>

<P><B>Proposed resolution (February, 2014):</B></P>

<P>Change 6.9.5 [<A href="https://wg21.link/basic.type.qualifier#5">basic.type.qualifier</A>] paragraph 5 as follows, splitting it
into two paragraphs:</P>

<BLOCKQUOTE>

<P>In this International Standard, the notation <I>cv</I>
(or <I>cv1</I>, <I>cv2</I>, etc.), used in the description of types,
represents an arbitrary set of cv-qualifiers, i.e., one
of <TT>{const}</TT>, <TT>{volatile}</TT>, <TT>{const, volatile}</TT>, or
the empty set. <INS>For a type <I>cv</I> <TT>T</TT>, the
<I>top-level cv-qualifiers</I> of that type are those denoted by
<I>cv</I>. [<I>Example:</I> The type corresponding to the <I>type-id</I>
&#8220;<TT>const int&amp;</TT>&#8221; has no top-level cv-qualifiers.  The
type corresponding to the <I>type-id</I> &#8220;<TT>volatile int *
const</TT>&#8221; has the top-level cv-qualifier <TT>const</TT>. For a
class type <TT>C</TT>, the type corresponding to the <I>type-id</I>
&#8220;<TT>void (C::* volatile)(int) const</TT>&#8221; has the top-level
cv-qualifier <TT>volatile</TT>. &#8212;<I>end example</I>]</INS>
</P>

<P>Cv-qualifiers applied to an array type attach...</P>

</BLOCKQUOTE>

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