How to check whether operator== exists?

Question

I am trying to create an example, which would check the existence of the operator== (member or, non-member function). To check whether a class has a member operator== is easy, but how to check whether it has a non-member operator==?

This is what I have to far :

#include <iostream>

struct A
{
    int  a;

    #if 0
    bool operator==( const A& rhs ) const
    {
        return ( a==rhs.a);
    }
    #endif
};
#if 1
bool operator==( const A &l,const A &r )
{
    return ( l.a==r.a);
}
#endif


template < typename T >
struct opEqualExists
{
    struct yes{ char a[1]; };
    struct no { char a[2]; };

    template <typename C> static yes test( typeof(&C::operator==) );
    //template <typename C> static yes test( ???? );
    template <typename C> static no test(...);

    enum { value = (sizeof(test<T>(0)) == sizeof(yes)) };
};

int main()
{
    std::cout<<(int)opEqualExists<A>::value<<std::endl;
}

Is it possible to write a test function to test the existence of non-member operator==? If yes, how?

btw I have checked similar questions, but haven't found a proper solution :
Is it possible to use SFINAE/templates to check if an operator exists?

This is what I tried :

template <typename C> static yes test( const C*,bool(*)(const C&,constC&) = &operator== );

but the compilation fails if the non-member operator== is removed

Answer 1

C++03

The following trick works and it can be used for all such operators:

namespace CHECK
{
  class No { bool b[2]; };
  template<typename T, typename Arg> No operator== (const T&, const Arg&);

  bool Check (...);
  No& Check (const No&);

  template <typename T, typename Arg = T>
  struct EqualExists
  {
    enum { value = (sizeof(Check(*(T*)(0) == *(Arg*)(0))) != sizeof(No)) };
  };  
}

Usage:

CHECK::EqualExists<A>::value;

The 2nd template typename Arg is useful for some special cases like A::operator==(short), where it's not similar to class itself. In such cases the usage is:

CHECK::EqualExists<A, short>::value
//                    ^^^^^ argument of `operator==`

Demo.

---

C++11

We need not use sizeof and null reference trick when we have decltype and std::declval

namespace CHECK
{
  struct No {}; 
  template<typename T, typename Arg> No operator== (const T&, const Arg&);

  template<typename T, typename Arg = T>
  struct EqualExists
  {
    enum { value = !std::is_same<decltype(std::declval<T>() < std::declval<Arg>()), No>::value };
  };  
}

Demo

Answer 2

Have a look at Boost's Concept Check Library (BCCL) http://www.boost.org/doc/libs/1_46_1/libs/concept_check/concept_check.htm.

It enables you to write requirements that a class must match in order for the program to compile. You're relatively free with what you can check. For example, verifying the presence of operator== of a class Foo would write as follow:

#include <boost/concept_check.hpp>


template <class T>
struct opEqualExists;

class Foo {
public:
    bool operator==(const Foo& f) {
       return true;
    }

   bool operator!=(const Foo& f) {
      return !(*this == f);
   }

   // friend bool operator==(const Foo&, const Foo&);
   // friend bool operator!=(const Foo&, const Foo&);
};

template <class T>
struct opEqualExists {
   T a;
   T b;

   // concept requirements  
   BOOST_CONCEPT_USAGE(opEqualExists) {
      a == b;
   }
};


/*
bool operator==(const Foo& a, const Foo& b) {
   return true; // or whatever
}
*/


/*
bool operator!=(const Foo& a, const Foo& b) {
   return ! (a == b); // or whatever
}
*/


int main() {
   // no need to declare foo for interface to be checked

   // declare that class Foo models the opEqualExists concept
   //   BOOST_CONCEPT_ASSERT((opEqualExists<Foo>));
   BOOST_CONCEPT_ASSERT((boost::EqualityComparable<Foo>)); // need operator!= too
}

This code compiles fine as long as one of the two implementations of operator== is available.

Following @Matthieu M. and @Luc Touraille advice, I updated the code snippet to provide an example of boost::EqualityComparable usage. Once again, please note that EqualityComparable forces you to declare operator!= too.

Answer 3

It's also possible to use only c++11 type traits to check the existence of the member:

#include <type_traits>
#include <utility>

template<class T, class EqualTo>
struct has_operator_equal_impl
{
    template<class U, class V>
    static auto test(U*) -> decltype(std::declval<U>() == std::declval<V>());
    template<typename, typename>
    static auto test(...) -> std::false_type;

    using type = typename std::is_same<bool, decltype(test<T, EqualTo>(0))>::type;
};

template<class T, class EqualTo = T>
struct has_operator_equal : has_operator_equal_impl<T, EqualTo>::type {};

You can use the trait like so:

bool test = has_operator_equal<MyClass>::value;

The resulting type of has_operator_equal will either be std::true_type or std::false_type (because it inherits from an alias of std::is_same::type), and both define a static value member which is a boolean.

---

If you want to be able to test whether your class defines operator==(someOtherType), you can set the second template argument:

bool test = has_operator_equal<MyClass, long>::value;

where the template parameter MyClass is still the class that you are testing for the presence of operator==, and long is the type you want to be able to compare to, e.g. to test that MyClass has operator==(long).

if EqualTo (like it was in the first example) is left unspecified, it will default to T, result in the normal definition of operator==(MyClass).

Note of caution: This trait in the case of operator==(long) will be true for long, or any value implicitly convertible to long, e.g. double, int, etc.

---

You can also define checks for other operators and functions, just by replacing what's inside the decltype. To check for !=, simply replace

static auto test(U*) -> decltype(std::declval<U>() == std::declval<V>());

with

static auto test(U*) -> decltype(std::declval<U>() != std::declval<V>());