CODEWITHSUNDEEP
c++
Gidon Avziz
Gidon Avziz

Reputation: 27

Member is inaccessible when overloaded operator is friended

The code doesn't link when I try to compile, the error is "undefined reference to operator*" and I think this may be the problem.

This is my .h file:

namespace space{    
          class Number{
            .
            .
            public:
                 friend Number operator*(double scaler, const Number& one);
            private:
            int val;
            std::string unit;
            .
       }

This is the .cpp file:

using namespace space;
Number operator*(double scaler, const Number& one){
    Number temp((one.val * scaler), one.unit);
    return temp;
  
}

But I'm getting the error (it's right on the one.val):

member "space::Number::val" (declared at line 47 of ".../Number.hpp") is inaccessibleC/C++(265)

Upvotes: 0

Views: 199

Answers (1)

463035818_is_not_an_ai
463035818_is_not_an_ai

Reputation: 122830

The friend declaration is a declaration of a function:

namespace space{    
class Number{
    friend Number operator*(double scaler, const Number& one);
    // ...
};

As this is inside a namespace, the function that is declared is space::operator*. Then you define ::operator* in the global namespace. Those are two different functions. You made one operator a friend of the class, but define a different one.

The operator that you made a friend must be defined inside the namespace (or you declare the one in global scope as friend):

namespace space {
Number operator*(double scaler, const Number& one){
    Number temp((one.val * scaler), one.unit);
    return temp;
}
}

Upvotes: 1

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