In the C++ programming language, static_cast is an operator that performs an explicit type conversion.
[1] The type parameter must be a data type to which object can be converted via a known method, whether it be a builtin or a cast.
All types of conversions that are well-defined and allowed by the compiler are performed using static_cast.
[2][failed verification] The static_cast<> operator can be used for operations such as: Although static_cast conversions are checked at compile time to prevent obvious incompatibilities, no run-time type checking is performed that would prevent a cast between incompatible data types, such as pointers.
A static_cast from a pointer to a class B to a pointer to a derived class D is ill-formed if B is an inaccessible or ambiguous base of D. A static_cast from a pointer of a virtual base class (or a base class of a virtual base class) to a pointer of a derived class is ill-formed.