In C++ we use the stream extraction operators with stream statements (cin, cout) to show outputs and take input from the user. And using the C++ Operator Overloading techniques we can overload or redefine the stream extraction operators for user-defined class-based Objects.
Like other Operator we cannot directly overload the >> stream extraction operator and << stream insertion operator because cout and cin are the objects of iostream class, and the C++ compiler would directly jump to the iostream header file class for the cout and cin definition but if we want that compiler should consider out Overloaded definition we make a global method and if we want to allow them to access private data members of the class, we must make them a friend.
Example
#include <iostream>
using namespace std;
class Complex
{
private:
int real, imag;
public:
Complex(int r = 0, int i =0)
{
real = r;
imag = i;
}
friend ostream & operator << (ostream &output, const Complex &c)
{
output << c.real;
output << "+i" << c.imag;
cout<< endl;
return output;
}
friend istream & operator >> (istream &in, Complex &c)
{
cout << "Please Enter the Real Part: ";
in >> c.real;
cout << "Please Enter the Imaginary part: ";
in >> c.imag;
return in;
}
};
int main()
{
Complex c1;
cin >> c1;
cout << "The complex object is ";
cout << c1;
return 0;
}
Output
Please Enter the Real Part: 12
Please Enter the Imaginary part: 13
The complex object is 12+i13
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