no see copy-constructor in output of nm

For the following code:

class Integer
{
public :

	Integer ( int i ) : i_ ( i ) {}
private :
	int i_ ;
} ;
int main ( void )
{
	Integer a ( 1 ) ;
	Integer c ( a ) ;
}

I do: g++ -c and then run nm -C on the object file. I get only:

00000000 W Integer::Integer(int)
U __gxx_personality_v0
00000000 T main

Why do I not see the signature of the copy constructor Integer::Integer(const Integer&) in the symbols list even though it is automatically created?

Also, why do I not see i_, a and c and the name of the class Integer itself? Are they not also symbols?

Shriramana Sharma.

Because it's inlined. The default copy constructor just copies the raw data.

a and c are automatic variables, which are created on the stack whenever the function is called and destroyed when it returns. They don't exist within the executable.

i_ is a structure field; it doesn't have an existence separate from the object to which it belongs.

Glynn Clements <[email protected]>