This is an unofficial snapshot of the ISO/IEC JTC1 SC22 WG21 Core Issues List revision 114a. See http://www.open-std.org/jtc1/sc22/wg21/ for the official list.

2024-04-18

324. Can "&" be applied to assignment to bit-field?

[Voted into WP at October 2003 meeting.]

An assignment returns an lvalue for its left operand. If that operand refers to a bit field, can the "&" operator be applied to the assignment? Can a reference be bound to it?

  struct S { int a:3; int b:3; int c:3; };

  void f()
  {
    struct S s;
    const int *p = &(s.b = 0);     // (a)
    const int &r = (s.b = 0);      // (b)
          int &r2 = (s.b = 0);     // (c)
  }

Notes from the 4/02 meeting:

The working group agreed that this should be an error.

Proposed resolution (October 2002):

In 7.6.2.3 [expr.pre.incr] paragraph 1 (prefix "++" and "--" operators), change

The value is the new value of the operand; it is an lvalue.

The result is the updated operand; it is an lvalue, and it is a bit-field if the operand is a bit-field.

In 7.6.16 [expr.cond] paragraph 4 ("?" operator), add the indicated text:

If the second and third operands are lvalues and have the same type, the result is of that type and is an lvalue and it is a bit-field if the second or the third operand is a bit-field, or if both are bit-fields.

In 7.6.19 [expr.ass] paragraph 1 (assignment operators) add the indicated text (the original text is as updated by issue 221, which is DR but not in TC1):

The assignment operator (=) and the compound assignment operators all group right-to-left. All require a modifiable lvalue as their left operand and return an lvalue with the type and value of the left operand after the assignment has taken place. The result in all cases is a bit-field if the left operand is a bit-field.

Note that issue 222 adds (non-conflicting) text at the end of this same paragraph (7.6.19 [expr.ass] paragraph 1).

In 7.6.20 [expr.comma] paragraph 1 (comma operator), change:

The type and value of the result are the type and value of the right operand; the result is an lvalue if its right operand is.

The type and value of the result are the type and value of the right operand; the result is an lvalue if the right operand is an lvalue, and is a bit-field if the right operand is an lvalue and a bit-field.

Relevant related text (no changes required):

7.6.2.2 [expr.unary.op] paragraph 4:

The operand of & shall not be a bit-field.

9.4.4 [dcl.init.ref] paragraph 5, bullet 1, sub-bullet 1 (regarding binding a reference to an lvalue):

... is an lvalue (but is not a bit-field) ...