global prefix and postfix ++ operator overloading

[news.aioe.org]

Is it possible to overload increment(++) and decrement(--) postfix and prefix
operators for primitive datatypes such as int, char, short, etc. in global scope
(vs as a class member function where this is possibe)?

If there is a site that lists all operators that can't be overloaded (such as
the member access dot operator), please post it.

thanks

[mlimber]

On Aug 20, 5:16*pm, "news.aioe. org" <bigmur...@yaho o.comwrote:

Is it possible to overload increment(++) and decrement(--) postfix and prefix
operators for primitive datatypes such as int, char, short, etc. in global scope
(vs as a class member function where this is possibe)?

If there is a site that lists all operators that can't be overloaded (such as
the member access dot operator), please post it.

The only operators that can be overloaded globally are new and delete
(in all their forms). All other operator overloads must involve a
class, and even new and delete can be overloaded on a class-by-class
basis.

Cheers! --M

[news.aioe.org]

mlimber wrote:

On Aug 20, 5:16 pm, "news.aioe. org" <bigmur...@yaho o.comwrote:

>Is it possible to overload increment(++) and decrement(--) postfix and prefix
operators for primitive datatypes such as int, char, short, etc. in global scope
(vs as a class member function where this is possibe)?

If there is a site that lists all operators that can't be overloaded (such as
the member access dot operator), please post it.

The only operators that can be overloaded globally are new and delete
(in all their forms). All other operator overloads must involve a
class, and even new and delete can be overloaded on a class-by-class
basis.

Cheers! --M

Agreed, "involving" a class doesn't necessarily mean the operator has to be a
member function.

struct C
{
int i;
int operator++() { return i += 2; }
};

int operator+=(C& c, int x) { return c.i += x; }

[Bo Persson]

news.aioe.org wrote:

Is it possible to overload increment(++) and decrement(--) postfix
and prefix operators for primitive datatypes such as int, char,
short, etc. in global scope (vs as a class member function where
this is possibe)?

You can't write any operators for built-in types, because they are
already there. Predefined.
Bo Persson