Defining operator< for a struct

Question

This is quite an old question and as a consequence all answers here are obsolete. C++11 allows a more elegant and efficient solution:

bool operator <(const MyStruct& x, const MyStruct& y) {
    return std::tie(x.a, x.b, x.c) < std::tie(y.a, y.b, y.c);
}

Why is this better than using boost::make_tuple? Because make_tuple will create copies of all the data members, which can be costly. std::tie, by contrast, will just create a thin wrapper of references (which the compiler will probably optimise away entirely).

In fact, the above code should now be considered the idiomatic solution to implementing a lexicographical compare for structures with several data members.

Others have mentioned boost::tuple, which gives you a lexicographical comparison. If you want to keep it as a structure with named elements, you can create temporary tuples for comparison:

bool operator<(const MyStruct& x, const MyStruct& y)
{
    return boost::make_tuple(x.a,x.b,x.c) < boost::make_tuple(y.a,y.b,y.c);
}

In C++0x, this becomes std::make_tuple().

UPDATE: And now C++11 is here, it becomes std::tie(), to make a tuple of references without copying the objects. See Konrad Rudolph's new answer for details.

I would do this:

#define COMPARE(x) if((x) < (rhs.x)) return true; \
                   if((x) > (rhs.x)) return false;
COMPARE(a)
COMPARE(b)
COMPARE(c)
return false;
#undef COMPARE

In this case you can use boost::tuple<int, int, int> - its operator< works just the way you want.

I think the easiest way is to stick with the < operator for all comparisons and don't use > or ==. Below is the pattern I follow, and you can follow for all your structs

typedef struct X
{
    int a;
    std::string b;
    int c;
    std::string d;

    bool operator <( const X& rhs ) const
    {
        if (a < rhs.a) { return true; }
        else if ( rhs.a < a ) { return false; }

        // if neither of the above were true then 
        // we are consdidered equal using strict weak ordering
        // so we move on to compare the next item in the struct

        if (b < rhs.b) { return true; }
        if ( rhs.b < b ) { return false; }

        if (c < rhs.c) { return true; }
        if ( rhs.c < c ) { return false; }

        if (d < rhs.d) { return true; }
        if ( rhs.d < d ) { return false; }

        // if both are completely equal (based on strict weak ordering)
        // then just return false since equality doesn't yield less than
        return false;
    }
};

The best way I know is to use a boost tuple. It offers among others a builtin comparison and constructors.

#include <boost/tuple/tuple.hpp>
#include <boost/tuple/tuple_comparison.hpp>

typedef boost::tuple<int,int,int> MyStruct;

MyStruct x0(1,2,3), x1(1,2,2);
if( x0 < x1 )
   ...

I also like Mike Seymors suggestion to use temporary tuples through boost's make_tuple