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Assignment(=) operator is a special operator that will be provided by the constructor to the class when programmer has not provided(overloaded) as member of the class.(like copy constructor).

When programmer is overloading = operator using friend function, two = operations will exists:

1) compiler is providing = operator

2) programmer is providing(overloading) = operator by friend function.

Then simply ambiguity will be created and compiler will gives error. Its compilation error.

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12y ago
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11y ago

obj1 = obj2;

Operator "=" can be overloaded either by the member function or by the friend operator function.

In case of the friend function, the obj1 and obj2 are should be from the different classes. If they are from the same class, the compilation error will occur. We can't use the "this" pointer in the friend function since it is not the member function of the class.

So,

If both objects are from the same class it is better to for operator function (operator=) as member function.

If the objects are from the different class, then the operator function as friend function is advisable.

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12y ago

Because there's no way to designate the left-hand operand of an assignment via a friend function. The left-hand operand is a given when assignment is implemented as a member function.

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12y ago

* Assignment operator : =

* Function call operator : ()

* Subscripting operator : []

* Class member access operator.

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Q: Why a friend function cannot be used to overload the assignment operator?
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Related questions

What is meant when you say you overload an operator?

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What are the disadvantages of scope resolution operator?

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Operator original function in OOP C plus plus?

I'm not sure I fully understand the question. Operators and functions are not the same. However, many operators also have named alternatives implemented as functions, such that "add" is synonymous with the binary increment operator while "plus" is synonymous with the unary plus operator. However these are completely separate implementations that do the same thing such that the function implementation typically invokes the operator (with implicit inline expansion to factor away the unwanted function call). There is no way to determine the underlying function of an operator, nor the underlying operator of a function without having access to the implementation source code. Such implementation details cannot be accessed at compile time let alone runtime.


Why do you use of operator overloading in c?

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What is the purpose of 'this' operator in c?

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