C++ members selection operators

Question

Possible Duplicate:
What is the difference between the dot (.) operator and -> in C++?

C++ has the following member selection operators: . and ->.

What is the main difference between them?

Thanks.

this question has already been asked here - http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1238613/what-is-the-difference-between-the-dot-operator-and-in-c — Bojan Komazec, Feb 13 '11 at 12:25
That question is also a duplicate of http://stackoverflow.com/questions/221346/what-is-the-arrow-operator-synonym-for-in-c — The Scrum Meister, Feb 13 '11 at 12:29

Nawaz · Accepted Answer · 2011-02-13T12:39:11.687

1

. is used with non-pointers, while -> is used with pointers, to access members!

Sample s;
Sample *pS = new Sample();

s.f() ;  //call function using non-pointer object
pS->f(); //call the same function, using pointer to object

. cannot be overloaded, while -> can be overloaded.

edited Feb 13 '11 at 12:39

answered Feb 13 '11 at 12:23

Nawaz

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Feb 13 '11 at 12:26

1

pointer2object->member() is equal to (*pointer2object).member() and is made for more convinience, as I suppose.

answered Feb 13 '11 at 12:26

Kos

2

Not in C++, there they can mean different things. – etarion Feb 13 '11 at 12:35
Provide an example, please. I always thought about -> in the way above. – Kos Feb 13 '11 at 12:49
You can overload the dereference operator and you can overload `->`, if you do it in a way that they disagree, your two ways aren't equal. – etarion Feb 13 '11 at 13:52

2 Answers2