How does this Array Size Template Work?

Question

I came across this snippet

template <typename T, size_t N>  
char (&ArraySizeHelper(T (&array)[N]))[N];  
#define arraysize(array) (sizeof(ArraySizeHelper(array))) 

in this article http://software.intel.com/en-us/articles/pvs-studio-vs-chromium/

I've seen other templates to do the same thing, like this one

Use templates to get an array's size and end address

and I understand those, but I've been having difficulty with this one.

Any help would be appreciated.

Answer 1

The function template is named ArraySizeHelper, for a function that takes one argument, a reference to a T [N], and returns a reference to a char [N].

The macro passes your object (let's say it's X obj[M]) as the argument. The compiler infers that T == X and N == M. So it declares a function with a return type of char (&)[M]. The macro then wraps this return value with sizeof, so it's really doing sizeof(char [M]), which is M.

If you give it a non-array type (e.g. a T *), then the template parameter inference will fail.

As @Alf points out below, the advantage of this hybrid template-macro system over the alternative template-only approach is that this gives you a compile-time constant.

Answer 2

This isn't the nicest way of doing it, but since you're asking: The return type of the template function ArraySizeHelper is char[N], where the argument of the function is a (reference to an) array of size N of type T. Template argument deduction instantiates this template with the matching number N, and so sizeof(char[N]) is just N, which is what you get.

A nicer version could be written as follows. (You need C++0x for constexpr; if you omit it, this will not be a constant expression.)

template <typename T, size_t N> constexpr size_t array_size(const T (&)[N]) { return N; }

Usage:

int x[20];
array_size(x); // == 20

---

Update: If you are in C++0x, here is another solution that gives a constexpr, thanks to decltype:

#include <type_traits>

template <typename T> struct array_traits;
template <typename T, unsigned int N> struct array_traits<T[N]>
{
   static const unsigned int size = N;
   typedef std::decay<T>::type type;
};

// Usage:
int x[20];
array_traits<decltype(x)>::size; // == 20