Can I define the size of an enum in c++?

Question

From what I know (from what I read in the cpp-programming-language) the size would be the size of \"some integral type that can hold its range and not larger than sizeof(int

Answer 1

In C++11 you can use an enum class, where you can specify the underlying type. In C++03 there is no solution.

Answer 2

You can in C++11:

enum /*class*/ MyEnum : unsigned long
{
    Val1,
    Val2
};

(You can specify the size of an enum either for the old-style enum or the new-style enum class.)

You can also increase the minimum size of an enum by fun trickery, taking advantage of the last phrase of the sentence that you cited:

enum MyEnum
{
    Val1,
    Val2,
    ForceSize = 0xFFFFFFFF // do not use
};

…which will ensure that the enum is at least 32-bit.