Overloading Comparison Operators

To overload comparison operators like ==, !=, <, >, <=, and >= for your custom type, you can define them as either member functions or non-member functions.

Here's an example of overloading the == and < operators for a custom Player class:

1#include <iostream>
2#include <string>
3
4class Player {
5private:
6  std::string name;
7  int score;
8
9public:
10  Player(const std::string& n, int s)
11    : name(n), score(s) {}
12
13  bool operator==(const Player& other) const {
14    return score == other.score;
15  }
16
17  bool operator<(const Player& other) const {
18    return score < other.score;
19  }
20};
21
22int main() {
23  Player p1("Alice", 100);
24  Player p2("Bob", 200);
25
26  std::cout << (p1 == p2) << "\n";
27  std::cout << (p1 < p2) << "\n";
28}

10
21

In this example, we define the == and < operators as member functions of the Player class. The == operator compares the scores of two Player objects for equality, while the < operator compares their scores for less than.

By overloading these operators, we can use them with Player objects just like we would with built-in types. This allows us to write more intuitive and readable code when comparing Player objects.

Note that if you overload the == operator, it's generally a good practice to also overload the != operator. Similarly, if you overload <, consider overloading >, <=, and >= for completeness.

You can also overload these operators as non-member functions, in which case they would take two Player objects as parameters.