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Overloading the Subscript Operator [] in C++

C++ Overloaded Operators and Overloaded Functions

The subscript operator [] is typically used to access array elements. Overloading this operator enhances the functionality of manipulating C++ arrays.

The following example demonstrates how to overload the subscript operator [].

Example

#include <iostream>
using namespace std;
const int SIZE = 10;

class safearay
{
   private:
      int arr[SIZE];
   public:
      safearay() 
      {
         register int i;
         for(i = 0; i < SIZE; i++)
         {
           arr[i] = i;
         }
      }
      int& operator[](int i)
      {
          if( i >= SIZE )
          {
              cout << "Index out of bounds" <&lt;endl; 
              // Return the first element
              return arr[0];
          }
          return arr[i];
      }
};
int main()
{
   safearay A;

   cout << "Value of A[2] : " << A[2] <&lt;endl;
   cout << "Value of A[5] : " << A[5]<&lt;endl;
   cout << "Value of A[12] : " << A[12]<&lt;endl;

   return 0;
}

When the above code is compiled and executed, it produces the following result:

$ g++ -o test test.cpp
$ ./test 
Value of A[2] : 2
Value of A[5] : 5
Value of A[12] : Index out of bounds
0

C++ Overloaded Operators and Overloaded Functions

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