Can the following code (I only kept the relevant part) be converted to use a static member function rather than a friend free function? If not, why not? I tried to convert it to use a static member function in multiple different ways and failed (kept getting different compiler errors for different variations), but I gathered from the answer to this question that you could use either one to do the same things. Is this not technically true due to some property of C++ syntax? Where am I going wrong here?
class Tape {
public:
friend std::ostream &operator<<(std::ostream &, Tape &);
private:
char blank;
size_t head;
std::string tape;
}
std::ostream &operator<<(std::ostream &out, Tape &tape) {
out << tape.tape << std::endl;
for (size_t i = 0; i < tape.head; i++)
out << ' ';
out << '^' << std::endl;
return out;
}
According to the C++ Standard
6 An operator function shall either be a non-static member function or
be a non-member function and have at least one parameter whose type is
a class, a reference to a class, an enumeration, or a reference to an
enumeration.
So you may not define operator << as a static mamber function of the class.
Nevertheless inside the definition of the operator you may use static member functions.
For example
#include <iostream>
class A
{
private:
int x = 10;
public:
static std::ostream & out( std::ostream &os, const A &a )
{
return ( os << a.x );
}
};
std::ostream & operator <<( std::ostream &os, const A &a )
{
return ( A::out( os, a ) );
}
int main()
{
A a;
std::cout << a << std::endl;
return 0;
}
Opposite to C++ in C# operator functions are defined as static.:)
Since the std::ostream argument is the left hand side of the operator, it can't be a member of your class (static or otherwise).
So it has to be a free function, because you can't add members to std::ostream.
It doesn't have to be a friend though, it could instead call a public member.
I personally prefer this method, as it doesn't expose anything to the outside.
class Tape {
public:
void print(std::ostream &out) const
{
out << tape << std::endl;
for (size_t i = 0; i < head; i++)
out << ' ';
out << '^' << std::endl;
}
};
std::ostream& operator<<(std::ostream &out, const Tape &tape)
{
tape.print(out);
return out;
}
Related
myclass is a C++ class written by me and when I write:
myclass x;
cout << x;
How do I output 10 or 20.2, like an integer or a float value?
Typically by overloading operator<< for your class:
struct myclass {
int i;
};
std::ostream &operator<<(std::ostream &os, myclass const &m) {
return os << m.i;
}
int main() {
myclass x(10);
std::cout << x;
return 0;
}
You need to overload the << operator,
std::ostream& operator<<(std::ostream& os, const myclass& obj)
{
os << obj.somevalue;
return os;
}
Then when you do cout << x (where x is of type myclass in your case), it would output whatever you've told it to in the method. In the case of the example above it would be the x.somevalue member.
If the type of the member can't be added directly to an ostream, then you would need to overload the << operator for that type also, using the same method as above.
it's very easy, just implement :
std::ostream & operator<<(std::ostream & os, const myclass & foo)
{
os << foo.var;
return os;
}
You need to return a reference to os in order to chain the outpout (cout << foo << 42 << endl)
Even though other answer provide correct code, it is also recommended to use a hidden friend function to implement the operator<<. Hidden friend functions has a more limited scope, therefore results in a faster compilation. Since there is less overloads cluttering the namespace scope, the compiler has less lookup to do.
struct myclass {
int i;
friend auto operator<<(std::ostream& os, myclass const& m) -> std::ostream& {
return os << m.i;
}
};
int main() {
auto const x = myclass{10};
std::cout << x;
return 0;
}
Alternative:
struct myclass {
int i;
inline operator int() const
{
return i;
}
};
I tried to create simple class and to overload some of it's operators, however, i failed at the very beginning, here's my code:
#include <iostream>
class Person
{
char *firstName;
char *lastName;
int age;
friend std::ostream &operator<<(std::ostream &, const Person &);
public:
Person() : firstName("Piotr"), lastName("Tchaikovsky"), age(10) {}
Person(char* f, char* l, int a)
{
this->firstName = f;
this->lastName = l;
age = a;
}
std::ostream &operator<<(std::ostream& out, const Person &p)
{
out << p.firstName << " " << p.lastName;
return out;
}
};
int main()
{
Person a;
getchar();
getchar();
}
So, before i created this operator overloading function i used debugger to see if constructor is going to work, and it worked, since default values were given correctly to the variable a i created, after that, all i did was that i created function that overloads the operator << and it is a friend function of my class, since i am taught that it is a good thing to do due to the type of the first parameter of overloading function, however, when i try to run this (NOTE: i have not tried to print out anything yet, i wanted to check if everything works fine first) it gives me errors saying:
"too many parameters for this operator function",
"binary 'operator <<' has too many parameters" and
" 'Person::operator<<' :error in function declaration; skipping function body"
however, i can't find any problems with function declaration, and i cannot possibly see how two parameters can be too many for this function. Any help appreciated!
You declare the friend function as a global non-member function. Then you define a member function.
Move the definition of the operator<< function to outside the class:
class Person
{
...
friend std::ostream &operator<<(std::ostream &, const Person &);
...
};
std::ostream &operator<<(std::ostream& out, const Person &p)
{
out << p.firstName << " " << p.lastName;
return out;
}
Or alternatively define the friend function inline:
class Person
{
...
friend std::ostream &operator<<(std::ostream &, const Person &)
{
out << p.firstName << " " << p.lastName;
return out;
}
...
};
I'm quite new to C++ and I am trying to print out a vector of Institutions, which is a type of object that I created. The creation of the object and the rest of my program runs just fine but when I try to print out the vector, the "<<" gives an error that says "operand types are std::ostream".
void PrintVector(const vector<Institution> &institutions)
{
for (int x = 0; x < institutions.size; x++)
{
cout << institutions.at(x) << endl;
}
}
I've tried to do research on what std::ostream is or what it does but since I don't know a lot about C++ (or programming in general), I can't understand any of the sites that explain it. Why won't the usual "cout <<" work in this situation? Can anybody explain to me what this means or if there is a different way to print out my vector that doesn't require this?
Any help is appreciated, thanks.
You may want to overload the ostream operator (<<) for your class Institution:
https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/1z2f6c2k.aspx
ostream& operator<<(ostream& os, const Institution& inst)
{
os << inst.foo; /* some member variable */;
return os;
}
The problem is that a C++ ostream (which cout is) does not have any way to print out an Institution object. You are going to have to overload the operator<< function in our Institution as described in the link posted in the other answer (https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/1z2f6c2k.aspx?f=255&MSPPError=-2147217396) in order to get it to work.
You have to provide an operator << for your class:
std::ostream& operator << (std::ostream& os, const Institution& institution)
{
os << institution.getValue();
// ...
return os;
}
operator<< is overloaded to allow outputting built-in types like int and double. But you'll need to tell the compiler how to output your class Institution by overloading it again:
std::ostream& operator<<(std::ostream& os, const Institution& inst) {
os << inst.name(); // or something
return os;
}
There are at least two problems with the code that you have shown.
1)
for (int x = 0; x < institutions.size; x++)
std::vector::size() is a class method, a function. It is not a class member. This should read:
for (int x = 0; x < institutions.size(); x++)
2)
cout << institutions.at(x) << endl;
Unfortunately, std::ostream knows nothing about your Institution class. You will need to implement a class method, such as display(), that will assemble a printable representation of the contents of the class, and write it to the output stream. So, for example, if the class contains two std::strings, called name, and address:
class Institution {
// ...
public:
void display(std::ostream &o)
{
o << name << std::endl << address << std::endl;
}
// ...
};
... or, in whatever formatting style you want your class instances to be displayed. Then:
for (int x = 0; x < institutions.size(); x++)
institutions.at(x).display(std::cout);
3)
Well, here's a bonus problem with your code. It is actually written in an obsolete C++ dialect that went out of style decades ago. Whatever textbook you're using to learn C++, you need to ditch it, and pick up a textbook that was written this century, and which will teach you modern C++. In modern C++, this becomes a much more readable:
for (const auto &institution:institutions)
institution.display(std::cout);
The answers here are all correct. I will provide a slightly different answer to the displaying issue, as this is a recurring problem. What you can do is define an abstract class, we'll call it IDisplay, which declares a pure virtual function std::ostream& display(std::ostream&) const and declares operator<< as a friend. Then every class that you want to be display-able must inherit from IDisplay and consequently implement the display member function. This approach reuses the code and is pretty elegant. Example below:
#include <iostream>
class IDisplay
{
private:
/**
* \brief Must be overridden by all derived classes
*
* The actual stream extraction processing is performed by the overriden
* member function in the derived class. This function is automatically
* invoked by friend inline std::ostream& operator<<(std::ostream& os,
* const IDisplay& rhs).
*/
virtual std::ostream& display(std::ostream& os) const = 0;
public:
/**
* \brief Default virtual destructor
*/
virtual ~IDisplay() = default;
/**
* \brief Overloads the extraction operator
*
* Delegates the work to the virtual function IDisplay::display()
*/
friend inline
std::ostream& operator<<(std::ostream& os, const IDisplay& rhs)
{
return rhs.display(os);
}
}; /* class IDisplay */
class Foo: public IDisplay
{
public:
std::ostream& display(std::ostream& os) const override
{
return os << "Foo";
}
};
class Bar: public IDisplay
{
public:
std::ostream& display(std::ostream& os) const override
{
return os << "Bar";
}
};
int main()
{
Foo foo;
Bar bar;
std::cout << foo << " " << bar;
}
Live on Coliru
That's basically the question, is there a "right" way to implement operator<< ?
Reading this I can see that something like:
friend bool operator<<(obj const& lhs, obj const& rhs);
is preferred to something like
ostream& operator<<(obj const& rhs);
But I can't quite see why should I use one or the other.
My personal case is:
friend ostream & operator<<(ostream &os, const Paragraph& p) {
return os << p.to_str();
}
But I could probably do:
ostream & operator<<(ostream &os) {
return os << paragraph;
}
What rationale should I base this decision on?
Note:
Paragraph::to_str = (return paragraph)
where paragraph's a string.
The problem here is in your interpretation of the article you link.
Equality
This article is about somebody that is having problems correctly defining the bool relationship operators.
The operator:
Equality == and !=
Relationship < > <= >=
These operators should return a bool as they are comparing two objects of the same type. It is usually easiest to define these operators as part of the class. This is because a class is automatically a friend of itself so objects of type Paragraph can examine each other (even each others private members).
There is an argument for making these free standing functions as this lets auto conversion convert both sides if they are not the same type, while member functions only allow the rhs to be auto converted. I find this a paper man argument as you don't really want auto conversion happening in the first place (usually). But if this is something you want (I don't recommend it) then making the comparators free standing can be advantageous.
Streaming
The stream operators:
operator << output
operator >> input
When you use these as stream operators (rather than binary shift) the first parameter is a stream. Since you do not have access to the stream object (its not yours to modify) these can not be member operators they have to be external to the class. Thus they must either be friends of the class or have access to a public method that will do the streaming for you.
It is also traditional for these objects to return a reference to a stream object so you can chain stream operations together.
#include <iostream>
class Paragraph
{
public:
explicit Paragraph(std::string const& init)
:m_para(init)
{}
std::string const& to_str() const
{
return m_para;
}
bool operator==(Paragraph const& rhs) const
{
return m_para == rhs.m_para;
}
bool operator!=(Paragraph const& rhs) const
{
// Define != operator in terms of the == operator
return !(this->operator==(rhs));
}
bool operator<(Paragraph const& rhs) const
{
return m_para < rhs.m_para;
}
private:
friend std::ostream & operator<<(std::ostream &os, const Paragraph& p);
std::string m_para;
};
std::ostream & operator<<(std::ostream &os, const Paragraph& p)
{
return os << p.to_str();
}
int main()
{
Paragraph p("Plop");
Paragraph q(p);
std::cout << p << std::endl << (p == q) << std::endl;
}
You can not do it as a member function, because the implicit this parameter is the left hand side of the <<-operator. (Hence, you would need to add it as a member function to the ostream-class. Not good :)
Could you do it as a free function without friending it? That's what I prefer, because it makes it clear that this is an integration with ostream, and not a core functionality of your class.
If possible, as non-member and non-friend functions.
As described by Herb Sutter and Scott Meyers, prefer non-friend non-member functions to member functions, to help increase encapsulation.
In some cases, like C++ streams, you won't have the choice and must use non-member functions.
But still, it does not mean you have to make these functions friends of your classes: These functions can still acess your class through your class accessors. If you succeed in writting those functions this way, then you won.
About operator << and >> prototypes
I believe the examples you gave in your question are wrong. For example;
ostream & operator<<(ostream &os) {
return os << paragraph;
}
I can't even start to think how this method could work in a stream.
Here are the two ways to implement the << and >> operators.
Let's say you want to use a stream-like object of type T.
And that you want to extract/insert from/into T the relevant data of your object of type Paragraph.
Generic operator << and >> function prototypes
The first being as functions:
// T << Paragraph
T & operator << (T & p_oOutputStream, const Paragraph & p_oParagraph)
{
// do the insertion of p_oParagraph
return p_oOutputStream ;
}
// T >> Paragraph
T & operator >> (T & p_oInputStream, const Paragraph & p_oParagraph)
{
// do the extraction of p_oParagraph
return p_oInputStream ;
}
Generic operator << and >> method prototypes
The second being as methods:
// T << Paragraph
T & T::operator << (const Paragraph & p_oParagraph)
{
// do the insertion of p_oParagraph
return *this ;
}
// T >> Paragraph
T & T::operator >> (const Paragraph & p_oParagraph)
{
// do the extraction of p_oParagraph
return *this ;
}
Note that to use this notation, you must extend T's class declaration. For STL objects, this is not possible (you are not supposed to modify them...).
And what if T is a C++ stream?
Here are the prototypes of the same << and >> operators for C++ streams.
For generic basic_istream and basic_ostream
Note that is case of streams, as you can't modify the C++ stream, you must implement the functions. Which means something like:
// OUTPUT << Paragraph
template <typename charT, typename traits>
std::basic_ostream<charT,traits> & operator << (std::basic_ostream<charT,traits> & p_oOutputStream, const Paragraph & p_oParagraph)
{
// do the insertion of p_oParagraph
return p_oOutputStream ;
}
// INPUT >> Paragraph
template <typename charT, typename traits>
std::basic_istream<charT,traits> & operator >> (std::basic_istream<charT,traits> & p_oInputStream, const CMyObject & p_oParagraph)
{
// do the extract of p_oParagraph
return p_oInputStream ;
}
For char istream and ostream
The following code will work only for char-based streams.
// OUTPUT << A
std::ostream & operator << (std::ostream & p_oOutputStream, const Paragraph & p_oParagraph)
{
// do the insertion of p_oParagraph
return p_oOutputStream ;
}
// INPUT >> A
std::istream & operator >> (std::istream & p_oInputStream, const Paragraph & p_oParagraph)
{
// do the extract of p_oParagraph
return p_oInputStream ;
}
Rhys Ulerich commented about the fact the char-based code is but a "specialization" of the generic code above it. Of course, Rhys is right: I don't recommend the use of the char-based example. It is only given here because it's simpler to read. As it is only viable if you only work with char-based streams, you should avoid it on platforms where wchar_t code is common (i.e. on Windows).
Hope this will help.
It should be implemented as a free, non-friend functions, especially if, like most things these days, the output is mainly used for diagnostics and logging. Add const accessors for all the things that need to go into the output, and then have the outputter just call those and do formatting.
I've actually taken to collecting all of these ostream output free functions in an "ostreamhelpers" header and implementation file, it keeps that secondary functionality far away from the real purpose of the classes.
The signature:
bool operator<<(const obj&, const obj&);
Seems rather suspect, this does not fit the stream convention nor the bitwise convention so it looks like a case of operator overloading abuse, operator < should return bool but operator << should probably return something else.
If you meant so say:
ostream& operator<<(ostream&, const obj&);
Then since you can't add functions to ostream by necessity the function must be a free function, whether it a friend or not depends on what it has to access (if it doesn't need to access private or protected members there's no need to make it friend).
Just for completion sake, I would like to add that you indeed can create an operator ostream& operator << (ostream& os) inside a class and it can work. From what I know it's not a good idea to use it, because it's very convoluted and unintuitive.
Let's assume we have this code:
#include <iostream>
#include <string>
using namespace std;
struct Widget
{
string name;
Widget(string _name) : name(_name) {}
ostream& operator << (ostream& os)
{
return os << name;
}
};
int main()
{
Widget w1("w1");
Widget w2("w2");
// These two won't work
{
// Error: operand types are std::ostream << std::ostream
// cout << w1.operator<<(cout) << '\n';
// Error: operand types are std::ostream << Widget
// cout << w1 << '\n';
}
// However these two work
{
w1 << cout << '\n';
// Call to w1.operator<<(cout) returns a reference to ostream&
w2 << w1.operator<<(cout) << '\n';
}
return 0;
}
So to sum it up - you can do it, but you most probably shouldn't :)
friend operator = equal rights as class
friend std::ostream& operator<<(std::ostream& os, const Object& object) {
os << object._atribute1 << " " << object._atribute2 << " " << atribute._atribute3 << std::endl;
return os;
}
operator<< implemented as a friend function:
#include <iostream>
#include <string>
using namespace std;
class Samp
{
public:
int ID;
string strName;
friend std::ostream& operator<<(std::ostream &os, const Samp& obj);
};
std::ostream& operator<<(std::ostream &os, const Samp& obj)
{
os << obj.ID<< “ ” << obj.strName;
return os;
}
int main()
{
Samp obj, obj1;
obj.ID = 100;
obj.strName = "Hello";
obj1=obj;
cout << obj <<endl<< obj1;
}
OUTPUT:
100 Hello
100 Hello
This can be a friend function only because the object is on the right hand side of operator<< and argument cout is on the left hand side. So this can't be a member function to the class, it can only be a friend function.
I am trying to create my own std::string wrapper to extend its functionality.
But I got a problem when declaring the << operator.
Here's my code so far:
my custom string class:
class MyCustomString : private std::string
{
public:
std::string data;
MyCustomString() { data.assign(""); }
MyCustomString(char *value) { data.assign(value); }
void Assign(char *value) { data.assign(value); }
// ...other useful functions
std::string & operator << (const MyCustomString &src) { return this->data; }
};
the main program:
int main()
{
MyCustomString mystring("Hello");
std::cout << mystring; // error C2243: 'type cast' : conversion from 'MyCustomString *' to 'const std::basic_string<_Elem,_Traits,_Ax> &' exists, but is inaccessible
return 0;
}
I wanted cout to treat the class as a std::string, so that I won't need to do something like:
std::cout << mystring.data;
Any kind of help would be appreciated!
Thanks.
Just fyi: my IDE is Microsoft Visual C++ 2008 Express Edition.
If you look at how all stream operators are declared they are of the form:
ostream& operator<<(ostream& out, const someType& val );
Essentially you want your overloaded function to actually do the output operation and then return the new updated stream operator. What I would suggest doing is the following, note that this is a global function, not a member of your class:
ostream& operator<< (ostream& out, const MyCustomString& str )
{
return out << str.data;
}
Note that if your 'data' object was private, which basic OOP says it probably should, you can declare the above operator internally as a 'friend' function. This will allow it to access the private data variable.
You need a free-standing function (friend of your class, if you make your data private as you probably should!)
inline std::ostream & operator<<(std::ostream &o, const MyCustomString&& d)
{
return o << d.data;
}
Firstly, you seem to have an issue with the definition of MyCustomString. It inherits privately from std::string as well as containing an instance of std::string itself. I'd remove one or the other.
Assuming you are implementing a new string class and you want to be able to output it using std::cout, you'll need a cast operator to return the string data which std::cout expects:
operator const char *()
{
return this->data.c_str();
}
That's not how you overload the << operator. You need to pass in a reference to an ostream and return one (so you can stack multiple <<, like std::cout << lol << lol2).
ostream& operator << (ostream& os, const MyCustomString& s);
Then just do this:
ostream& operator << (ostream& os, const MyCustomString& s)
{
return os << s.data;
}