Question:
How do I overload the ++ operator to work with an enum variable? For example, I defined SuitType to be {Heat, Club, Diamond, Spade}. I want to use s++ (where s is a variable of SuitType) so that it will advance s from Hearts, to Clubs, to Diamonds, etc.
Answer:
I’ll give an example of operator ++. Overloading operator ++ for an enum type consists of the following steps.
First you check whether the enum variable has the highest enumerator value. In that case, you perform a rollover by assigning the lowest enumerator value to it. Otherwise, you simply cast the enum variable to an int, increment it, cast that int back to the enum type, and return the result.
Here is a complete example of overloading ++ for the days of the week:
enum Days {Mon, Tue, Wed, Thur, Fri, Sat, Sun};Days& operator ++ (Days& d) //overloaded operator{ if (d == Sun) return d = Mon; //rollover int temp = d; ++temp; return d = static_cast(temp); }int main(){ Days day = Mon; ++day; // day now equals Tue return 0;}