Class Member Access Operator Overloading in C++
What is class member access operator overloading in C++?
Class member access operator or member access operator is denoted by “->”. Classes are given pointer like behavior using member access operator. In this article we will learn more about class member access operator overloading in C++.
Class member access operator overloading in C++
- It is used to implement “smart pointers.”
- Its should return pointer or an object of a class.
- The operator is generally used with pointer dereference operator which makes this combination a smart pointer.
The derefencing pointer can be defined as a unary postfix operator.
Syntax to overload member access operator in C++
class class_name
{
obj* operator->();
};
Program showing class member access operator overloading in C++
Run
#include <iostream>
#include <vector>
using namespace std;
class Naruto {
static int i, j;
public:
void f() const { cout << i++ << endl; }
void g() const { cout << j++ << endl; }
};
//Defining static member.
int Naruto::i = 1;
int Naruto::j = 2;
//Implementing a container for the above class.
class NarutoContainer {
vector<Naruto*> a;
public:
void add(Naruto* naruto) {
a.push_back(naruto);
}
friend class SmartPointer;
};
//Implementing smart pointer to access member of Naruto class.
class SmartPointer {
NarutoContainer oc;
int index;
public:
SmartPointer(NarutoContainer& narutoc) {
oc = narutoc;
index = 0;
}
// Returnig value indicates end of list.
bool operator++() {
if(index >= oc.a.size()) return false;
if(oc.a[++index] == 0) return false;
return true;
}
bool operator++(int) {
return operator++();
}
//Overloading class member access operator->
Naruto* operator->() const {
if(!oc.a[index]) {
return (Naruto*)0;
}
return oc.a[index];
}
};
int main() {
const int sz = 5;
Naruto o[sz];
NarutoContainer oc;
for(int i = 0; i < sz; i++) { oc.add(&o[i]); } SmartPointer sp(oc); do { sp->f(); //Smart pointer call.
sp->g();
} while(sp++);
return 0;
}Output:
1 2 2 3 3 4 4 5 5 6 6 7
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