__near Keyword

The near keyword is a synonym for __near. The near keyword is only allowed when the -Ansi: Strict ANSI compiler option is present.

The __near keyword can be used instead of the __far keyword. Use it in situations where non-qualified pointers are __far and you want to specify an explicit __near access or when you must explicitly specify the __near calling convention.

The __near keyword uses two semantic variations. Either it specifies a small size of a function or data pointers or it specifies the __near calling convention.

Table 1. Interpretation of the __near Keyword
Declaration	Allowed	Type Description
`int __near f();`	OK	`__near` function returning an `int`
`int __near __far f();`	error
`__near f();`	OK	`__near` function returning an `int`
`int __near * __far f();`	OK	`__near` function returning a `__far` pointer to `int`
`int __far *i;`	error
`int * __near i;`	OK	`__far` pointer to `int`
`int * __far* __near i;`	OK	`__near` pointer to `__far` pointer to `int`
`int __far ( __near f)(void)`	OK	`__near` pointer to function returning a `__far` pointer to `int`
`void * __near (* f)(void)`	OK	pointer to function returning a `__near` pointer to `void`
`void __far __near (__near f)(void)`	OK	`__near` pointer to `__far` function returning a `__far` pointer to `void`