Using-declaration

A using-declaration with more than one using-declarator is equivalent to a corresponding sequence of using-declarations with one using-declarator.

Inheriting constructors

If the using-declaration refers to a constructor of a direct base of the class being defined (e.g. using Base::Base;), all constructors of that base (ignoring member access) are made visible to overload resolution when initializing the derived class.

If overload resolution selects an inherited constructor, it is accessible if it would be accessible when used to construct an object of the corresponding base class: the accessibility of the using-declaration that introduced it is ignored.

If overload resolution selects one of the inherited constructors when initializing an object of such derived class, then the Base subobject from which the constructor was inherited is initialized using the inherited constructor, and all other bases and members of Derived are initialized as if by the defaulted default constructor (default member initializers are used if provided, otherwise default initialization takes place). The entire initialization is treated as a single function call: initialization of the parameters of the inherited constructor is sequenced-before initialization of any base or member of the derived object.

struct B1 {  B1(int, ...) { } };
struct B2 {  B2(double)   { } };
 
int get();
 
struct D1 : B1 {
  using B1::B1;  // inherits B1(int, ...)
  int x;
  int y = get();
};
 
void test() {
  D1 d(2, 3, 4); // OK: B1 is initialized by calling B1(2, 3, 4),
                 // then d.x is default-initialized (no initialization is performed),
                 // then d.y is initialized by calling get()
  D1 e;          // Error: D1 has no default constructor
}
 
struct D2 : B2 {
  using B2::B2; // inherits B2(double)
  B1 b;
};
 
D2 f(1.0);       // error: B1 has no default constructor

struct W { W(int); };
struct X : virtual W {
 using W::W;   // inherits W(int)
 X() = delete;
};
struct Y : X {
 using X::X;
};
struct Z : Y, virtual W {
  using Y::Y;
};
Z z(0); // OK: initialization of Y does not invoke default constructor of X

If the constructor was inherited from multiple base class subobjects of type B, the program is ill-formed, similar to multiply-inherited non-static member functions:

struct A { A(int); };
struct B : A { using A::A; };
struct C1 : B { using B::B; };
struct C2 : B { using B::B; };
 
struct D1 : C1, C2 {
  using C1::C1;
  using C2::C2;
};
D1 d1(0); // ill-formed: constructor inherited from different B base subobjects
 
struct V1 : virtual B { using B::B; };
struct V2 : virtual B { using B::B; };
 
struct D2 : V1, V2 {
  using V1::V1;
  using V2::V2;
};
D2 d2(0); // OK: there is only one B subobject.
          // This initializes the virtual B base class,
          //  which initializes the A base class
          // then initializes the V1 and V2 base classes
          //  as if by a defaulted default constructor

As with using-declarations for any other non-static member functions, if an inherited constructor matches the signature of one of the constructors of Derived, it is hidden from lookup by the version found in Derived. If one of the inherited constructors of Base happens to have the signature that matches a copy/move constructor of the Derived, it does not prevent implicit generation of Derived copy/move constructor (which then hides the inherited version, similar to using operator=).

struct B1 {   B1(int); };
struct B2 {   B2(int); };
 
struct D2 : B1, B2 {
  using B1::B1;
  using B2::B2;
  D2(int);   // OK: D2::D2(int) hides both B1::B1(int) and B2::B2(int)
};
D2 d2(0);    // calls D2::D2(int)

The semantics of inheriting constructors were retroactively changed by a defect report against C++11. Previously, an inheriting constructor declaration caused a set of synthesized constructor declarations to be injected into the derived class, which caused redundant argument copies/moves, had problematic interactions with some forms of SFINAE, and in some cases can be unimplementable on major ABIs. Older compilers may still implement the previous semantics.

struct B1 {
    B1(int);
};
struct D1 : B1 {
    using B1::B1;
// The set of candidate inherited constructors is 
// 1. B1(const B1&)
// 2. B1(B1&&)
// 3. B1(int)
 
// D1 has the following constructors:
// 1. D1() = delete
// 2. D1(const D1&) 
// 3. D1(D1&&)
// 4. D1(int) <- inherited
};
 
struct B2 {
    B2(int = 13, int = 42);
};
struct D2 : B2 {
    using B2::B2;
// The set of candidate inherited constructors is
// 1. B2(const B2&)
// 2. B2(B2&&)
// 3. B2(int = 13, int = 42)
// 4. B2(int = 13)
// 5. B2()
 
// D2 has the following constructors:
// 1. D2()
// 2. D2(const D2&)
// 3. D2(D2&&)
// 4. D2(int, int) <- inherited
// 5. D2(int) <- inherited
};

Pack expansions in using-declarations make it possible to form a class that exposes overloaded members of variadic bases without recursion:

template <typename... Ts>
struct Overloader : Ts... {
    using Ts::operator()...; // exposes operator() from every base
};
 
template <typename... T>
Overloader(T...) -> Overloader<T...>; // C++17 deduction guide
 
int main() {
    auto o = Overloader{ [] (auto const& a) {std::cout << a;},
                         [] (float f) {std::cout << std::setprecision(3) << f;} };
}