static string constants in class vs namespace for constants [c++]

Question

I want to declare string constants that will be used across various classes in the project. I am considering two alternatives

Option 1:

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Answer 1

Neither. I'd go with this:

// header file
namespace constants {
extern const char const1[];
}

// cpp file
namespace constants {
extern const char const1[] = "blah";
}

The header file contains a declaration of const1 with incomplete type but convertible to char const* and the cpp-file contains a definition of the character array with external linkage. There is no dynamic initialization like you have with std::string. So, that's a plus, IMHO.