What is the difference to static_cast<unsigned int>(size()) (or some suitably longer <size_t> type) Or you want to definitely have functions differentiated (overloaded) by return type?   -----Ursprüngliche Nachricht----- Von:Frederick Virchanza Gotham via Std-Proposals <std-proposals_at_[hidden]> Gesendet:Do 09.10.2025 13:43 Betreff:Re: [std-proposals] ranges::size should always return a unsigned integer An:std-proposals_at_[hidden]; CC:Frederick Virchanza Gotham <cauldwell.thomas_at_[hidden]>; On Wednesday, October 8, 2025, Yexuan Xiao wrote: Why is it allowed to return a signed integer? C++ users are accustomed to the fact that the size_type of containers is an unsigned integer, so the size of containers should also return an unsigned integer.     - - - - - - - Begin Half-baked Idea  - - - - - - -   What if we could define a function (or member function) as follows:      +|- int size(void);  The trigraph,   +|-  , at the beginning indicates that the function has two forms: one returning signed, and one returning unsigned.  So then when you want to invoke the function, you get the unsigned version as follows:      auto x = size();  and you get the signed version as follows:      auto x = +|- size();  Similarly you would ake the address of the function as follows:      int (*p1)(void) = &size;     unsigned (*p2)(void) = & +|- size;  I would add the stipulation that both of these function pointers can compare equal (because they'll most likely have the same machine code anyway since Two's Complement is now mandatory). -- Std-Proposals mailing list Std-Proposals_at_[hidden] https://lists.isocpp.org/mailman/listinfo.cgi/std-proposals