Which operator delete?

Question

Is there a difference between:

operator delete(some_pointer);

and

delete some_pointer;

and if so what is the difference and where one should use one and where the other version of this operator? Thanks.

Answer 1

Ironically, the delete operator and operator delete() are not the same thing.

delete some_pointer; calls the destructor of the object pointed to by some_pointer, and then calls operator delete() to free the memory.

You do not normally call operator delete() directly, because if you do, the object's destructor will not be called, and you are likely to end up with memory leaks.

The only time you have to care about operator delete() is when you want to do your own memory management by overriding operator new() and operator delete().

To top it off, you should also be aware that delete and delete [] are two different things.