Extending Enums: Exploring Base Enum Class Inheritance

In C , enums provide a convenient way to represent fixed sets of values. However, there may be scenarios where you want to inherit values from an existing enum class. This question explores the possibility of achieving such inheritance.

Can Enums Inherit Other Enums?

By default, enum types in C cannot inherit from other enums. However, we can leverage a class-based approach to simulate enum inheritance.

Class-Based Enum Inheritance

The following code demonstrates how to create a base and derived enum using classes:

#include 
#include 

class Enum
{
public:
    enum
    {
        One = 1,
        Two,
        Last
    };
};

class EnumDeriv : public Enum
{
public:
    enum
    {
        Three = Enum::Last,
        Four,
        Five
    };
};

int main()
{
    std::cout 
In this example, the Enum class defines an enum with three values: One, Two, and Last. The EnumDeriv class inherits from Enum and extends it by adding three more values: Three, Four, and Five.
The enum values are scoped within the classes, allowing for the inheritance of values while maintaining name uniqueness. In this case, we can access EnumDeriv::One and EnumDeriv::Four without ambiguity.
Benefits of Class-Based Enum Inheritance
Allows enums to inherit and extend existing sets of values.
Provides a consistent and extensible way to handle enum inheritance.
Maintains name uniqueness within the derived enum.
Can be used in conjunction with other features of C  , such as templates and macros.