Category 

Storage class specifiers 

Syntax  

static <data definition> ;static 
static <function name> <function definition> ;

Description 

Use the static storage class specifier with a local variable to preserve the last value between successive calls to that function. A static variable acts like a local variable but has the lifetime of an external variable. 

In a class, data and member functions can be declared static. Only one copy of the static data exists for all objects of the class. 

A static member function of a global class has external linkage. A member of a local class has no linkage. A static member function is associated only with the class in which it is declared. Therefore, such member functions cannot be virtual. 

Static member functions can only call other static member functions and only have access to static data. Such member functions do not have a this pointer.