Rule A4-5-1 (required, implementation, automated)

Expressions with type enum or enum class shall not be used as operands to built-in and overloaded operators other than the subscript operator [ ], the assignment operator =, the equality operators == and ! =, the unary & operator, and the relational operators <, <=, >, >=.

Rationale

Enumerations, i.e. enums or enum classes, have implementation-defined representations and they are not supposed to be used in arithmetic contexts. Note that only enums can be implicitly used as operands to other built-in operators, like operators +, , , etc. Enum class needs to provide definitions of mentioned operators in order to be used as operand.

Exception

It is allowed to use the enumeration as operand to all built-in and overloaded operators if the enumeration satisfies the “BitmaskType” concept [16].

Example

// $Id: A4-5-1.cpp 289436 2017-10-04 10:45:23Z michal.szczepankiewicz $
#include <cstdint>
enum Colour : std::uint8_t
{
Red,
Green,
Blue,
ColoursCount
};
void F1() noexcept(false)
{
Colour colour = Red;
if (colour == Green) // Compliant
{
}

if (colour == (Red + Blue)) // Non-compliant
{
}

if (colour < ColoursCount) // Compliant
{
}

}
enum class Car : std::uint8_t
{
Model1,
Model2,
Model3,
ModelsCount
};
void F2() noexcept(false)
{
Car car = Car::Model1;
if (car != Car::Model2) // Compliant
{
}

if (car == Car::Model3) // Compliant
{
}

// if (car == (Car::Model1 + Car::Model2)) // Non-compliant // operator+ not provided for Car enum class, compilation error
//{
//}
if (car < Car::ModelsCount) // Compliant
{
}
}
Car operator+(Car lhs, Car rhs)
{
return Car::Model3;
}
void F3() noexcept(false)
{
Car car = Car::Model3;
if (car == (Car::Model1 + Car::Model2)) // Non-compliant - overloaded
// operator+ provided, no
// compilation error
{
}
}
enum Team : std::uint8_t
{
TeamMember1 = 0,
TeamMember2 = 1,
TeamMember3 = 2,
TeamMember4 = 3,
TeamMembersStart = TeamMember1,
TeamMembersEnd = TeamMember2,
TeamMembersCount = 4
};
void F4(const char* teamMember)

{

// Implementation
}
void F5()
{

const char* team[TeamMembersCount]; // Compliant

// ...
F4(team[TeamMember2]); // Compliant

}

See also

MISRA C++ 2008 [7]: Rule 4-5-2 Expressions with type enum shall not be used as operands to built-in operators other than the subscript operator [ ], the assignment operator =, the equality operators == and !=, the unary & operator, and the relational operators <, <=, >, >=.