How to initialize private static members in C++?

Here we will see how to initialize the private static member variables initialization in C++. We can put static members (Functions or Variables) in C++ classes. For the static variables, we have to initialize them after defining the class.

To initialize we have to use the class name then scope resolution operator (::), then the variable name. Now we can assign some value.

The following code will illustrate the of static member initializing technique.

Example

#include <iostream> using namespace std; class MyClass{    private:       static int st_var;    public:       MyClass(){          st_var++; //increase the value of st_var when new object is created       }       static int getStaticVar() {          return st_var;       } }; int MyClass::st_var = 0; //initializing the static int main() {    MyClass ob1, ob2, ob3; //three objects are created    cout << "Number of objects: " << MyClass::getStaticVar(); }

Output

Number of objects: 3