In several contexts a type name can or must be specified without an identifier. For example, in a function prototype declaration, the parameters of the function can be declared only with a type name. Also, when casting an object from one type to another, a type name is required without an associated identifier. (Section 6.4.6 has information on casting, and Section 5.5 has information on function prototypes.) This is accomplished using a type name, which is a declaration for a function or object which omits the identifier.
Table 2-1 shows examples of type names with the associated types they refer to.
| Construction | Type Name |
|---|---|
int | int |
int * | Pointer to
int |
int *[3]
| Array of three pointers to int
|
int (*)[3] |
Pointer to an array of three int s |
int *() | Function with
no parameter specification returning a pointer to int
|
int (*) (void) |
Pointer to function with no parameters returning an
int |
int (*const
[]) (unsigned int, ...) | Array of an
unspecified number of const pointers to functions,
each with one parameter that has type unsigned int
and an unspecified number of other parameters, returning an
int |
Table 2-1 also provides good examples
of abstract declarators. An abstract declarator is a
declarator without an identifier. The characters following the
int type name form an abstract declarator in each
case. The * , [ ] , and ( )
characters all indicate a declarator without naming a specific
identifier.