What is a nested name specifier?

Question

Related to this

I want to know what exactly is a nested name specifier? I looked up in the draft but I could understand the grammar as I haven't taken any Compiler Design classes yet.

void S(){}

struct S{
   S(){cout << 1;}
   void f(){}
   static const int x = 0;
}; 

int main(){ 
   struct S *p = new struct ::S;  
   p->::S::f();

   S::x;  

   ::S(); // Is ::S a nested name specifier?
   delete p;
} 

Answer 1

::S is a qualified-id.

In the qualified-id ::S::f, S:: is a nested-name-specifier.

In informal terms¹, a nested-name-specifier is the part of the id that

• begins either at the very beginning of a qualified-id or after the initial scope resolution operator (::) if one appears at the very beginning of the id and
• ends with the last scope resolution operator in the qualified-id.

Very informally¹, an id is either a qualified-id or an unqualified-id. If the id is a qualified-id, it is actually composed of two parts: a nested-name specifier followed by an unqualified-id.

Given:

struct  A {
    struct B {
        void F();
    };
};

• A is an unqualified-id.
• ::A is a qualified-id but has no nested-name-specifier.
• A::B is a qualified-id and A:: is a nested-name-specifier.
• ::A::B is a qualified-id and A:: is a nested-name-specifier.
• A::B::F is a qualified-id and both B:: and A::B:: are nested-name-specifiers.
• ::A::B::F is a qualified-id and both B:: and A::B:: are nested-name-specifiers.

---

[1] This is quite an inexact description. It's hard to describe a grammar in plain English...