When to use extern in C++

Question

I\'m reading \"Think in C++\" and it just introduced the extern declaration. For example:

extern int x;
extern float y;

I thi

Answer 1

It's all about the linkage.

The previous answers provided good explainations about extern.

But I want to add an important point.

You ask about extern in C++ not in C and I don't know why there is no answer mentioning about the case when extern comes with const in C++.

In C++, a const variable has internal linkage by default (not like C).

So this scenario will lead to linking error:

Source 1 :

const int global = 255; //wrong way to make a definition of global const variable in C++

Source 2 :

extern const int global; //declaration

It need to be like this:

Source 1 :

extern const int global = 255; //a definition of global const variable in C++

Source 2 :

extern const int global; //declaration