11.5 Attributes in trees

Attributes, as specified using the __attribute__ keyword, are represented internally as a TREE_LIST. The TREE_PURPOSE is the name of the attribute, as an IDENTIFIER_NODE. The TREE_VALUE is a TREE_LIST of the arguments of the attribute, if any, or NULL_TREE if there are no arguments; the arguments are stored as the TREE_VALUE of successive entries in the list, and may be identifiers or expressions. The TREE_CHAIN of the attribute is the next attribute in a list of attributes applying to the same declaration or type, or NULL_TREE if there are no further attributes in the list.

Attributes may be attached to declarations and to types; these attributes may be accessed with the following macros. All attributes are stored in this way, and many also cause other changes to the declaration or type or to other internal compiler data structures.