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Microsoft extensions to C and C++

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Microsoft Visual C++ (MSVC) extends the C and C++ language standards in several ways, detailed in this article.

The MSVC C++ compiler defaults to support for ISO C++14 with some ISO C++17 features and some Microsoft-specific language extensions. For more information on supported features, see Microsoft C/C++ language conformance by Visual Studio version. You can use the /std compiler option to enable full support for ISO C++17 and ISO C++20 language features. For more information, see /std (Specify language standard version).

Where specified, some MSVC C++ language extensions can be disabled by use of the /Za compiler option. In Visual Studio 2017 and later versions, the /permissive- compiler option disables Microsoft-specific C++ language extensions. The /permissive- compiler option is implicitly enabled by the /std:c++20 and /std:c++latest compiler options.

By default, when MSVC compiles code as C, it implements ANSI C89 with Microsoft-specific language extensions. Some of these MSVC extensions are standardized in ISO C99 and later. Most MSVC C extensions can be disabled by use of the /Za compiler option, as detailed later in this article. You can use the /std compiler option to enable support for ISO C11 and C17. For more information, see /std (Specify language standard version).

The standard C runtime library is implemented by the Universal C runtime library (UCRT) in Windows. The UCRT also implements many POSIX and Microsoft-specific library extensions. The UCRT supports the ISO C11 and C17 C runtime library standards, with certain implementation-specific caveats. It doesn't support the full ISO C99 standard C runtime library. For more information, see compatibility in the Universal C runtime library documentation.

Keywords

MSVC adds several Microsoft-specific keywords to C and C++. In the list in Keywords, the keywords that have two leading underscores are MSVC extensions.

Casts

Both the C++ compiler and C compiler support these kinds of non-standard casts:

  • The C compiler supports non-standard casts to produce l-values. For example:

    char *p;
(( int * ) p )++;
// In C with /W4, both by default and under /Ze:
//     warning C4213: nonstandard extension used: cast on l-value
// Under /TP or /Za:
//     error C2105: '++' needs l-value

    Note

    This extension is available in the C language only. You can use the following C standard form in C++ code to modify a pointer as if it's a pointer to a different type.

    The preceding example could be rewritten as follows to conform to the C standard.

    p = ( char * )(( int * )p + 1 );

  • Both the C and C++ compilers support non-standard casts of a function pointer to a data pointer. For example:

    int ( * pfunc ) ();
int *pdata;
pdata = ( int * ) pfunc;
/* No diagnostic at any level, whether compiled with default options or under /Za */

Variable-length argument lists

Both C and C++ compilers support a function declarator that specifies a variable number of arguments, followed by a function definition that provides a type instead:

void myfunc( int x, ... );
void myfunc( int x, char * c )
{ }
// In C with /W4, either by default or under /Ze:
//     warning C4212: nonstandard extension used: function declaration used ellipsis
// In C with /W4, under /Za:
//     warning C4028: formal parameter 2 different from declaration
// In C++, no diagnostic by default or under /Za.

Single-line comments

The C compiler supports single-line comments, which are introduced by using two forward slash (//) characters:

// This is a single-line comment.

Single-line comments are a C99 feature. They're unaffected by /Za and cause no diagnostic at any level.

Scope

The C compiler supports the following scope-related features.

  • Redefinitions of extern items as static:

    extern int clip();
static int clip() {}
// In C and C++ with /W4, either by default or under /Ze:
//     warning C4211: nonstandard extension used: redefined extern to static
// In C and C++ under /Za:
//     error C2375: 'clip': redefinition; different linkage

  • Use of benign typedef redefinitions within the same scope:

    typedef int INT;
typedef int INT; // No diagnostic at any level in C or C++

  • Function declarators have file scope:

    void func1()
{
     extern double func2( double );
     // In C at /W4:  warning C4210: nonstandard extension used: function given file scope
}
int main( void )
{
     func2( 4 );    //  /Ze passes 4 as type double
}                  //  /Za passes 4 as type int

  • Use of block-scope variables that are initialized by using non-constant expressions:

    int clip( int );
int bar( int );
int main( void )
{
     int array[2] = { clip( 2 ), bar( 4 ) };
}
int clip( int x )
{
     return x;
}
int bar( int x )
{
     return x;
}

Data declarations and definitions

The C compiler supports the following data declaration and definition features.

  • Mixed character and string constants in an initializer:

    char arr[6] = {'a', 'b', "cde"};
// In C with /W4, either by default or under /Ze:
//     warning C4207: nonstandard extension used: extended initializer form
// Under /Za:
//     error C2078: too many initializers

  • Bit fields that have base types other than unsigned int or signed int.

  • Declarators that don't have a type:

    x;
// By default or under /Ze, /Za, /std:c11, and /std:c17, when /W4 is specified:
//     warning C4431: missing type specifier - int assumed. Note: C no longer supports default-int
//     warning C4218: nonstandard extension used: must specify at least a storage class or a type
*/
int main( void )
{
     x = 1;
}

  • Unsized arrays as the last field in structures and unions:

    struct zero
{
     char *c;
     int zarray[];
     // In C with /W4, either by default, under /Ze, /std:c11, and /std:c17:
     //     warning C4200: nonstandard extension used: zero-sized array in struct/union
     // Under /Za:
     //     error C2133: 'zarray': unknown size
};

  • Unnamed (anonymous) structures:

    struct
{
     int i;
     char *s;
};
// By default or under /Ze, /std:c11, and /std:c17, when /W4 is specified:
//     warning C4094: untagged 'struct' declared no symbols
// Under /Za:
//     error C2059: syntax error: 'empty declaration'

  • Unnamed (anonymous) unions:

    union
{
     int i;
     float fl;
};
// By default or under /Ze, /std:c11, and /std:c17, when /W4 is specified:
//     warning C4094: untagged 'union' declared no symbols
// Under /Za:
//     error C2059: syntax error: 'empty declaration'

Intrinsic floating-point functions

Both the x86 C++ compiler and C compiler support inline generation of the atan, atan2, cos, exp, log, log10, sin, sqrt, and tan functions when /Oi is specified. These intrinsics don't conform to the standard, because they don't set the errno variable.

ISO646.H not enabled

Under /Ze, you have to include iso646.h if you want to use text forms of the following operators:

Operator Text form
&& and
&= and_eq
& bitand
| bitor
~ compl
! not
!= not_eq
|| or
|= or_eq
^ xor
^= xor_eq

These text forms are available as C++ keywords under /Za or when /permissive- is specified or implied.

See also

/Za, /Ze (Disable language extensions)
MSVC compiler options
MSVC compiler command-line syntax