std::find not using my defined == operator - c++

Question

I have a simple class that I am storing in a vector as pointers. I want to use a find on the vector but it is failing to find my object. Upon debugging it doesn't seem to call the == operator I've provided. I can 'see' the object in the debugger so I know its there. The code below even uses a copy of the first item in the list, but still fails. The only way I can make it pass is to use MergeLine* mlt = LineList.begin(), which shows me that it is comparing the objects and not using my equality operator at all.
class MergeLine {
public:
std::string linename;
int StartIndex;
double StartValue;
double FidStart;
int Length;
bool operator < (const MergeLine &ml) const {return FidStart < ml.FidStart;}
bool operator == (const MergeLine &ml) const {
return linename.compare( ml.linename) == 0;}
};
Class OtherClass{
public:
std::vector<MergeLine*>LineList;
std::vector<MergeLine*>::iterator LL_iter;
void DoSomething( std::string linename){
// this is the original version that returned LineList.end()
// MergeLine * mlt
// mlt->linename = linename;
// this version doesn't work either (I thought it would for sure!)
MergeLine *mlt =new MergeLine(*LineList.front());
LL_iter = std::find(LineList.begin(), LineList.end(), mlt);
if (LL_iter == LineList.end()) {
throw(Exception("line not found in LineList : " + mlt->linename));
}
MergeLine * ml = *LL_iter;
}
};
cheers,
Marc

Answer 1

Since your container contains pointers and not objects, the comparison will be between the pointers. The only way the pointers will be equal is when they point to the exact same object. As you've noticed the comparison operator for the objects themselves will never be called.
You can use std::find_if and pass it a comparison object to use.
class MergeLineCompare
{
MergeLine * m_p;
public:
MergeLineCompare(MergeLine * p) : m_p(p)
{
}
bool operator()(MergeLine * p)
{
return *p == *m_p;
}
};
LL_iter = std::find_if(LineList.begin(), LineList.end(), MergeLineCompare(mlt));

Answer 2

I think what you really want is to use std::find_if like this:
struct MergeLineNameCompare
{
std::string seachname;
MergeLineNameComp(const std::string &name) : seachname(name)
{
}
bool operator()(const MergeLine * line)
{
return seachname.compare( line->linename ) == 0;
}
};
LL_iter = std::find_if(LineList.begin(), LineList.end(), MergeLineNameCompare(linename) );
The operator == (no matter wich form) is better saved for real comparison of equality.

Answer 3

Operator overloading can't work with pointers as it is ambiguous.
Bjarne Stroustrup :-
References were introduced primarily to support operator overloading.
C passes every function argument by value, and where passing an object
by value would be inefficient or inappropriate the user can pass a
pointer. This strategy doesn’t work where operator overloading is
used. In that case, notational convenience is essential so that a user
cannot be expected to insert address− of operators if the objects are
large.
So, may be not best but still :-
std::vector<MergeLine>LineList;
std::vector<MergeLine>::iterator LL_iter;