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In computer programming, a dereference operator, also known as an indirection operator, operates on a pointer variable. It returns the location value, or l-value in memory pointed to by the variable's value.
The dereference operator ( * ) overload works like any other operator overload. If you want to be able to modify the dereferenced value, you need to return a non-const reference. This way *sp = value will actually modify the value pointed to by sp. pData and not a temporary value generated by the compiler.
The unary operator * is used to declare a pointer and the unary operator & is used to dereference the pointer.. In both cases, the operator is “unary” because it acts upon a single operand to produce a new value.
We can use the addressoperator to obtain its address, whatever it may be. This address can be assigned to a pointervariable of appropriate type so that the pointer points to that variable. The dereference operator (*) is a unary prefix operator that can be used with any pointer variable, as in *ptr_var.
If
*thisends up dereferencingthisto a string instead of aPerson, is there a workaround that maintains the usage of*as a dereference operator outside the class?
No. *this will be Person& or Person const& depending on the function. The overload applies to Person objects, not pointers to Person objects. this is a pointer to a Person object.
If you use:
Person p;
auto v = *p;
Then, the operator* overload is called.
To call the operator* overload using this, you'll have to use this->operator*() or **this.
You need an object of the class rather than the pointer to class object to invoke the overloaded * operator.
Person *ptr = new Person;
Person p1 = *ptr; // does not invoke * operator but returns the object pointed by ptr
string str = *p1 // invokes the overloaded operator as it is called on an object.
Same is the case with this pointer. To invoke * operator with this pointer, you will have to dereference twice:
std::string str = *(*this);
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