An operator can be overloaded by defining a function to it. The operator is not a member of the class, it is a friend so. Like any other function, an overloaded operator has a. Thus a programmer can use operators with userdefined types as well.
It is similar to overloading functions except the function name is replaced by the keyword operator followed by the operator s symbol. In this article, you will learn to implement operator overloading feature. The write function example showed the use of a date structure. It cannot be used for builtin types int, float, char etc. Overloaded operators are functions with special names the keyword operator followed by the symbol for the operator being defined. Because of this, nonmember overloaded operators are often declared to be friends of the class. Later in the chapter, youll learn how to flush your own. The function for operator is declared by using the operator keyword followed by the operator. Output streams use the insertion operator for standard types. The overloaded operator must be added as a member function of the left operand. You can also overload the operator for your own classes. Overloading operator operator make it extremely easy to output your class to screen and accept user input from the console. Operator overloading allows you to redefine the way operator works for userdefined types only objects, structures.