https://gcc.gnu.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=71975
Andrew Pinski <pinskia at gcc dot gnu.org> changed: What |Removed |Added ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Summary|In c++11/14 mode |In c++11/14 mode |whitespaces are ignored |enumname::name is assumed |between enum or class type |name to be part of the |name and :: |enumname --- Comment #2 from Andrew Pinski <pinskia at gcc dot gnu.org> --- White space has nothing to do it with it really. This is just a parsing issue. Basically the C++ front-end assumes enu is a type so ::wow will be a part of the scope. I don't know what the C++ standard says here either. What happens if enu is a struct/class instead?