C++ Input/Output Operator Overloading
C++ Overloaded Operators and Overloaded Functions
C++ allows the use of the stream extraction operator >> and the stream insertion operator << to input and output built-in data types. You can overload these operators to manipulate user-defined data types such as objects.
It is important to note that we need to declare the operator overloading function as a friend function of the class so that we can call the function directly without creating an object.
The following example demonstrates how to overload the extraction operator >> and the insertion operator <<.
Example
#include <iostream>
using namespace std;
class Distance
{
private:
int feet; // 0 to infinity
int inches; // 0 to 12
public:
// Required constructor
Distance(){
feet = 0;
inches = 0;
}
Distance(int f, int i){
feet = f;
inches = i;
}
friend ostream &operator<<( ostream &output,
const Distance &D )
{
output << "F : " << D.feet << " I : " << D.inches;
return output;
}
friend istream &operator>>( istream &input, Distance &D )
{
input >> D.feet >> D.inches;
return input;
}
};
int main()
{
Distance D1(11, 10), D2(5, 11), D3;
cout << "Enter the value of object : " << endl;
cin >> D3;
cout << "First Distance : " << D1 << endl;
cout << "Second Distance :" << D2 << endl;
cout << "Third Distance :" << D3 << endl;
return 0;
}
When the above code is compiled and executed, it produces the following result:
$./a.out
Enter the value of object :
70
10
First Distance : F : 11 I : 10
Second Distance :F : 5 I : 11
Third Distance :F : 70 I : 10