Operating Overloading with Pointer Arguments

I am trying to implement a class x that has an overloaded operator(). This overloaded operator needs to have pointer arguments. Can this be done? Here is my code so far.

Code:

---

class X {                                                                                   
  friend ostream& operator <<(ostream &out, const X *ptr)                                     
  {                                                                                           
    out << ptr->l << " " << ptr->n;                                                           
    return out;                                                                               
  }                                                                                           
                                                                                               
  friend bool operator<(const X *ptr1, const X *ptr2)                                         
  {                                                                                           
    return ptr1->n > ptr2->n;                                                                     
  }

.....
public:
....
private:
char l;
int n;
....

---

The reason why I want to do this is because I call pointers of type X and they are pointing to some value. I need these values to sort my container. I know its a little vague but it would help me out a lot... if you have any questions about the requirements please do not hesitate to ask. Thanks.

You can overload the () operator just like any other operator. Just put the pointers as arguments just like any other method of the class.

BTW: Functors or Function Objects are classes that override the () operator and are used extensively in the STL.

I am sorry about being more confusing than I should be... I was wondering if my overloaded <() was legal. Thank you.

No, it's not legal. Operator overloads require that at least one operand be of class type. Since pointers are not of class type, your compiler should reject that code.

From the C++ FAQ Lite: http://www.parashift.com/c++-faq-lit...html#faq-26.10