"<< / >>" Operators in C++

Question

So since I can't find anything on Google due to them somehow not accepting the search term ">>", I decided to ask here.

First of, no I do not mean the bitwise shift operator. This is different. I've seen it occur in some code and it would make no sense if it was a shift operator.

cout << a; would be an example. I know it prints out a, but what is the definition of "<<"?

Or in my case, I have a code similar to this:

for(int index=0;index<n;index++)
    inputFile >> StringArray[index];

What does it mean?

Answer 1

The bitshift operator is frequently overloaded to mean reading values from and writing to streams.

Edit: In slightly more detail, C++ lets you overload, or change the meaning of, almost any operator. The << and >> operators were chosen to be overloaded for writing/reading to a source or sink of data because they visually look like arrows or conduits. There is zero commonality with shifting bits except as to what operator is used.