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Friend Function in C++ AD

A friend function in C++ is an external function that has access to a class's private and protected members, but is not a member of the class itself. It can be declared in any part of the class and is invoked like a normal function, requiring an object to access member variables. The document also provides examples of friend functions and their characteristics, including their ability to interact with multiple classes.

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7 views8 pages

Friend Function in C++ AD

A friend function in C++ is an external function that has access to a class's private and protected members, but is not a member of the class itself. It can be declared in any part of the class and is invoked like a normal function, requiring an object to access member variables. The document also provides examples of friend functions and their characteristics, including their ability to interact with multiple classes.

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aaammm1522
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Friend function in

C++

Manoj Pawaiya
Lect.(IT)
IET davv, Indore
mob- 9926839606
Friend Functions
•A friend function is a function that is not a member
of a class but has access to the class's private and
protected members. Friend functions are not
considered class members; they are normal external
functions that are given special access privileges.
Friends are not in the class's scope, and they are not
called using the member-selection operators
(.and –>) unless they are members of another class.
The friend declaration can be placed anywhere in
the class declaration.
class Point
{
friend void ChangePrivate( Point p );
public:
Point( void ) : m_i(0) {}
void PrintPrivate( void )
{
cout << m_i << endl;
}
private:
int m_i;
};
void ChangePrivate ( Point i )
{ i.m_i++;
}
int main()
{ Output
Point sPoint; 0
sPoint.PrintPrivate(); 1

ChangePrivate(sPoint);
sPoint.PrintPrivate();
}
Characteristics of friend function
 It is not in the scope of the class to which it has declared
as friend.
 Since it is not in the scope of the class, it can not be
called using the object of that class.
 It can be invoked like a normal function without the
help of any object.
 Unlike member functions, it can not access the member
names directly and has to use an object name and dot
membership operator with each member name
( e.g. P.m_i).
 It can be declare either in the public or the private part
of a class without affecting its meaning.
 It has the objects as arguments.
A function friendly to two classes

class ABC; // forward declaration


class XYZ
{ int x;
public:
void setvalue(int i) { x = i;}
friend void max(XYZ, ABC);
};
class ABC
{ int a;
public:
void setvalue(int i) { a = i;}
friend void max(XYZ, ABC);
};
void max (XYZ m, ABC n) //definination of friend function
{ if(m.x>= n.a)
cout<<m.x;
else
cout<<n.a;
}
int main ()
{
ABC abc;
Abc.setvalue(10);
XYZ xyz;
xyz.setvalue(20);
max(XYZ, abc);
return 0;
}

Manoj Pawaiya
Lect.(IT),iet davv

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