What is the role of “public” in C++?

In C++, the public keyword is used to define the members or functions of a class as public, meaning they can be accessed by instances of the class or other classes. When members or functions are declared as public, they can be accessed and used both within and outside the class. This design provides greater flexibility and reusability, allowing class members to be accessed and manipulated from outside the class, thereby achieving the concept of encapsulation and data hiding.