Static assertion

 

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Syntax

_Static_assert ( expression , message )		(since C11)(deprecated in C23)
static_assert ( expression , message )		(since C23)
_Static_assert ( expression )		(since C23)(deprecated in C23)
static_assert ( expression )		(since C23)

expression	-	any integer constant expression
message	-	any string literal

This keyword is also available as convenience macro static_assert, available in the header <assert.h>.	(until C23)
Both of static_assert and _Static_assert have the same effects. _Static_assert is a deprecated spelling that is kept for compatibility. An implementation may also define static_assert and/or _Static_assert as predefined macros, and static_assert is no longer provided by <assert.h>.	(since C23)

Explanation

The constant expression is evaluated at compile time and compared to zero. If it compares equal to zero, a compile-time error occurs and the compiler must display message as part of the error message (except that characters not in basic character set are not required to be displayed) (until C23)should display message (if provided) as part of the error message (since C23).

Otherwise, if expression does not equal zero, nothing happens; no code is emitted.

Keywords

_Static_assert, static_assert

Example

Run this code

#include <assert.h> // no longer needed since C23
int main(void)
{
    // Test if math works.
    static_assert(2 + 2 == 4, "Whoa dude!"); // or _Static_assert(...
 
    // This will produce an error at compile time.
    static_assert(sizeof(int) < sizeof(char),
                 "this program requires that int is less than char");
}

References

• C17 standard (ISO/IEC 9899:2018):

• 6.7.10 Static assertions (p: 105)

• 7.2 Diagnostics <assert.h> (p: 135)

• C11 standard (ISO/IEC 9899:2011):

• 6.7.10 Static assertions (p: 145)

• 7.2 Diagnostics <assert.h> (p: 186-187)

See also

assert	aborts the program if the user-specified condition is not true. May be disabled for release builds (function macro)
C++ documentation for static_assert declaration