Overload resolution failure when streaming object via implicit conversion to string

Question

Disclaimer: I know that implicit conversion to string should be avoided, and that the proper approach would be an op<< overload for Person.

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Consider the following code:

#include <string> #include <ostream> #include <iostream>  struct NameType {    operator std::string() { return "wobble"; } };  struct Person {    NameType name; };  int main() {    std::cout << std::string("bobble");    std::cout << "wibble";     Person p;    std::cout << p.name; } 

It yields the following on GCC 4.3.4:

prog.cpp: In function ‘int main()’: prog.cpp:18: error: no match for ‘operator<<’ in ‘std::cout << p.Person::name’ /usr/lib/gcc/i686-pc-linux-gnu/4.3.4/include/g++-v4/ostream:112: note: candidates are: std::basic_ostream<_CharT, _Traits>& std::basic_ostream<_CharT, _Traits>::operator<<(std::basic_ostream<_CharT, _Traits>& (*)(std::basic_ostream<_CharT, _Traits>&)) [with _CharT = char, _Traits = std::char_traits<char>] /usr/lib/gcc/i686-pc-linux-gnu/4.3.4/include/g++-v4/ostream:121: note:                 std::basic_ostream<_CharT, _Traits>& std::basic_ostream<_CharT, _Traits>::operator<<(std::basic_ios<_CharT, _Traits>& (*)(std::basic_ios<_CharT, _Traits>&)) [with _CharT = char, _Traits = std::char_traits<char>] /usr/lib/gcc/i686-pc-linux-gnu/4.3.4/include/g++-v4/ostream:131: note:                 std::basic_ostream<_CharT, _Traits>& std::basic_ostream<_CharT, _Traits>::operator<<(std::ios_base& (*)(std::ios_base&)) [with _CharT = char, _Traits = std::char_traits<char>] /usr/lib/gcc/i686-pc-linux-gnu/4.3.4/include/g++-v4/ostream:169: note:                 std::basic_ostream<_CharT, _Traits>& std::basic_ostream<_CharT, _Traits>::operator<<(long int) [with _CharT = char, _Traits = std::char_traits<char>] /usr/lib/gcc/i686-pc-linux-gnu/4.3.4/include/g++-v4/ostream:173: note:                 std::basic_ostream<_CharT, _Traits>& std::basic_ostream<_CharT, _Traits>::operator<<(long unsigned int) [with _CharT = char, _Traits = std::char_traits<char>] /usr/lib/gcc/i686-pc-linux-gnu/4.3.4/include/g++-v4/ostream:177: note:                 std::basic_ostream<_CharT, _Traits>& std::basic_ostream<_CharT, _Traits>::operator<<(bool) [with _CharT = char, _Traits = std::char_traits<char>] /usr/lib/gcc/i686-pc-linux-gnu/4.3.4/include/g++-v4/bits/ostream.tcc:97: note:                 std::basic_ostream<_CharT, _Traits>& std::basic_ostream<_CharT, _Traits>::operator<<(short int) [with _CharT = char, _Traits = std::char_traits<char>] /usr/lib/gcc/i686-pc-linux-gnu/4.3.4/include/g++-v4/ostream:184: note:                 std::basic_ostream<_CharT, _Traits>& std::basic_ostream<_CharT, _Traits>::operator<<(short unsigned int) [with _CharT = char, _Traits = std::char_traits<char>] /usr/lib/gcc/i686-pc-linux-gnu/4.3.4/include/g++-v4/bits/ostream.tcc:111: note:                 std::basic_ostream<_CharT, _Traits>& std::basic_ostream<_CharT, _Traits>::operator<<(int) [with _CharT = char, _Traits = std::char_traits<char>] /usr/lib/gcc/i686-pc-linux-gnu/4.3.4/include/g++-v4/ostream:195: note:                 std::basic_ostream<_CharT, _Traits>& std::basic_ostream<_CharT, _Traits>::operator<<(unsigned int) [with _CharT = char, _Traits = std::char_traits<char>] /usr/lib/gcc/i686-pc-linux-gnu/4.3.4/include/g++-v4/ostream:204: note:                 std::basic_ostream<_CharT, _Traits>& std::basic_ostream<_CharT, _Traits>::operator<<(long long int) [with _CharT = char, _Traits = std::char_traits<char>] /usr/lib/gcc/i686-pc-linux-gnu/4.3.4/include/g++-v4/ostream:208: note:                 std::basic_ostream<_CharT, _Traits>& std::basic_ostream<_CharT, _Traits>::operator<<(long long unsigned int) [with _CharT = char, _Traits = std::char_traits<char>] /usr/lib/gcc/i686-pc-linux-gnu/4.3.4/include/g++-v4/ostream:213: note:                 std::basic_ostream<_CharT, _Traits>& std::basic_ostream<_CharT, _Traits>::operator<<(double) [with _CharT = char, _Traits = std::char_traits<char>] /usr/lib/gcc/i686-pc-linux-gnu/4.3.4/include/g++-v4/ostream:217: note:                 std::basic_ostream<_CharT, _Traits>& std::basic_ostream<_CharT, _Traits>::operator<<(float) [with _CharT = char, _Traits = std::char_traits<char>] /usr/lib/gcc/i686-pc-linux-gnu/4.3.4/include/g++-v4/ostream:225: note:                 std::basic_ostream<_CharT, _Traits>& std::basic_ostream<_CharT, _Traits>::operator<<(long double) [with _CharT = char, _Traits = std::char_traits<char>] /usr/lib/gcc/i686-pc-linux-gnu/4.3.4/include/g++-v4/ostream:229: note:                 std::basic_ostream<_CharT, _Traits>& std::basic_ostream<_CharT, _Traits>::operator<<(const void*) [with _CharT = char, _Traits = std::char_traits<char>] /usr/lib/gcc/i686-pc-linux-gnu/4.3.4/include/g++-v4/bits/ostream.tcc:125: note:                 std::basic_ostream<_CharT, _Traits>& std::basic_ostream<_CharT, _Traits>::operator<<(std::basic_streambuf<_CharT, _Traits>*) [with _CharT = char, _Traits = std::char_traits<char>] 

How come the free op<<(ostream&, string const&) doesn't make it into the overload set? Is this due to a combination of the desired overload being a template instantiation and ... ADL?

Answer 1

14.8.1/4 in C++98

Implicit conversions (clause 4) will be performed on a function argument to convert it to the type of the corresponding function parameter if the parameter type contains no template-parameters that participate in template argument deduction.

Here you would like an instantiation of

template <class charT, class traits, class Allocator>   basic_ostream<charT, traits>&     operator<<(basic_ostream<charT, traits>&,                const basic_string<charT, traits, Allocator>&); 

to be deduced without providing explicitly any template arguments. So all of the arguments contain a template-parameter that participates in the template argument deduction and thus none of them can get its value from an implicit conversion.

Answer 2

It is because it is a template.

For this to work you would need to instantiate the template first, and use the conversion operator afterwards. That's the wrong order, so it doesn't work.

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It doesn't matter if you have used a specific operator earlier in the program or not. Each use is considered separately

The overloads considered as candidates are those where all the template parameters can be deduced from std::ostream, or those that are members of that class.

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What if we add a non-template operator?

#include <string>  #include <ostream>  #include <iostream>    struct NameType {    operator std::string() { return "wobble"; }  };    struct Person {     NameType name; };    void operator<<(std::ostream& os, const std::string& s)   // ** added ** { std::operator<<(os, s); }  int main()  {         std::cout << std::string("bobble");     std::cout << "wibble";       Person p;      std::cout << p.name;  }   

Now it works, and outputs

 bobblewibblewobble