c++ - Lambda capture as const reference?

Question

Is it possible to capture by const reference in a lambda expression?

I want the assignment marked below to fail, for example:

#include <algorithm>
#include <string>

using namespace std;

int main()
{
    string strings[] = 
    {
        "hello",
        "world"
    };
    static const size_t num_strings = sizeof(strings)/sizeof(strings[0]);

    string best_string = "foo";

    for_each( &strings[0], &strings[num_strings], [&best_string](const string& s)
      {
        best_string = s; // this should fail
      }
    );
return 0;
}

Update: As this is an old question, it might be good to update it if there are facilities in C++14 to help with this. Do the extensions in C++14 allow us to capture a non-const object by const reference? (August 2015)

Answer 1

In c++14 using static_cast / const_cast:

[&best_string = static_cast<const std::string&>(best_string)](const string& s)
{
    best_string = s; // fails
};

DEMO

---

In c++17 using std::as_const:

[&best_string = std::as_const(best_string)](const string& s)
{
    best_string = s; // fails
};

DEMO 2