Prevent delete on pointer in C++

Question

Is there any way to prevent deleting a pointer in C++ by its declaration?

I've tried following code without luck.

const int* const foo() {     static int a;     return &a; }  int main() {     const int* const a = foo();      *a = 1;   //compiler error, const int*     a++;      //compiler error, int* const     delete a; //no compiler error, I want to have compiler error here      return 0; } 

Answer 1

You cannot declare a pointer to an arbitrary type in a way which prevents calling delete on the pointer. Deleting a pointer to const (T const*) explains why that is.

If it was a pointer to a custom class you could make the delete operator private:

class C {     void operator delete( void * ) {} };  int main() {     C *c;     delete c; // Compile error here - C::operator delete is private! } 

You certainly shouldn't make the destructor private (as suggested by others) since it would avoid creating objects on the stack, too:

class C {     ~C() {} };  int main() {     C c; // Compile error here - C::~C is private! }