C++ output all members in a object - c++

Question

So far I have defined a simple class...
class person {
public:
string firstname;
string lastname;
string age;
string pstcode;
};
...then added some members and values to an object named "bill"...
int main() {
person bill;
bill.firstname = "Bill";
bill.lastname = "Smith";
bill.age = "24";
bill.pstcode = "OX29 8DJ";
}
But how would you simply output all those values? Would you use a for loop to iterate over each member?

Answer 1

I typically override operator <<, so that my objects are as easy to print as any built-in object.
Here is one way to override operator <<:
std::ostream& operator<<(std::ostream& os, const person& p)
{
return os << "("
<< p.lastname << ", "
<< p.firstname << ": "
<< p.age << ", "
<< p.pstcode
<< ")";
}
And then to use it:
std::cout << "Meet my friend, " << bill << "\n";
Here is a complete program using this technique:
#include <iostream>
#include <string>
class person {
public:
std::string firstname;
std::string lastname;
std::string age;
std::string pstcode;
friend std::ostream& operator<<(std::ostream& os, const person& p)
{
return os << "("
<< p.lastname << ", "
<< p.firstname << ": "
<< p.age << ", "
<< p.pstcode
<< ")";
}
};
int main() {
person bill;
bill.firstname = "Bill";
bill.lastname = "Smith";
bill.age = "24";
bill.pstcode = "OX29 8DJ";
std::cout << "Meet my friend, " << bill << "\n";
}

Answer 2

Simplistically, you output each element using an ostream:
class Person
{
public:
void Print_As_CSV(std::ostream& output)
{
output << firstname << ",";
output << lastname << ",";
output << age << ",";
output << pstcode << "\n";
}
string firstname;
string lastname;
string age;
string pstcode;
};
There may be different methods of printing, which is why I didn't overload operator <<. For example, one data member per line would be another popular scenario.
Edit 1: Why not looping?
The class has separate fields, which is why you can't iterate over the members.
If you want to iterator or loop over the members, you either have to have an iterator for your class or use a container, such as std::vector, that provides iteration.