Hi,

On the C side, this reflects a limitation in the language we can use to talk about discouraged use of a feature.

`0o` was adopted explicitly with the intent that `0` would never be removed, because retaining the feature as-is is safer than removing it and potentially opening an extension space for a compiler to silently and retroactively change the meaning of old code.

C's "obsolescent" list is ambiguous in this respect and if C does eventually get wording that better refines the subtle distinctions between "obsolescent", "deprecated", "scheduled for removal", "discouraged" etc., the exact category of the feature will probably change to one that better reflects that intent. Right now the "obsolescent" list is the only list available.

Thanks,

Alex


Perforce Software

Alex Celeste (she/her/elle) | Elder Witch of the C Compiler, Perforce QAC

Perforce Software    P +1 612.517.2100

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From: Liaison <liaison-bounces@lists.isocpp.org> on behalf of Nevin Liber via Liaison <liaison@lists.isocpp.org>
Sent: 07 May 2026 20:20
To: liaison@lists.isocpp.org <liaison@lists.isocpp.org>
Cc: Nevin Liber <nevin@cplusplusguy.com>
Subject: Re: [isocpp-wg14/wg21-liaison] Question re: P0085R3: Oo... adding a coherent character sequence to begin octal-literals
 
On Thu, May 7, 2026 at 9:14 AM Hubert Tong via Liaison <liaison@lists.isocpp.org> wrote:
Hi all,

With respect to the deprecation of multi-digit octal literals using the plain 0 suffix, there is a culture (in WG 21) of expecting that deprecation leads to eventual removal. Was that clear in the discussion in April (https://github.com/sg22-c-cpp-standard-compatibility/sg-compatibility/blob/main/meetings/2026-04-24.md)?

I know I brought it up, but it may have only been in the Zoom chat.
--
 Nevin ":-)" Liber  <mailto:nevin@cplusplusguy.com>  +1-847-691-1404


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