Pointers to members (C++ only)

Pointers to members allow you to refer to nonstatic members of class objects. You cannot use a pointer to member to point to a static class member because the address of a static member is not associated with any particular object. To point to a static class member, you must use a normal pointer.

You can use pointers to member functions in the same manner as pointers to functions. You can compare pointers to member functions, assign values to them, and use them to call member functions. Note that a member function does not have the same type as a nonmember function that has the same number and type of arguments and the same return type.

Pointers to members can be declared and used as shown in the following example:

#include <iostream>
using namespace std;

class X {
public:
  int a;
  void f(int b) {
    cout << "The value of b is "<< b << endl;
  }
};

int main() {

  // declare pointer to data member
  int X::*ptiptr = &X::a;

  // declare a pointer to member function
  void (X::* ptfptr) (int) = &X::f;

  // create an object of class type X
  X xobject;

  // initialize data member
  xobject.*ptiptr = 10;

  cout << "The value of a is " << xobject.*ptiptr << endl;

  // call member function
  (xobject.*ptfptr) (20);
}

The output for this example is:

The value of a is 10
The value of b is 20

To reduce complex syntax, you can declare a typedef to be a pointer to a member. A pointer to a member can be declared and used as shown in the following code fragment:

typedef int X::*my_pointer_to_member;
typedef void (X::*my_pointer_to_function) (int);

int main() {
  my_pointer_to_member ptiptr = &X::a;
  my_pointer_to_function ptfptr = &X::f;
  X xobject;
  xobject.*ptiptr = 10;
  cout << "The value of a is " << xobject.*ptiptr << endl;
  (xobject.*ptfptr) (20);
}

The pointer to member operators .* and ->* are used to bind a pointer to a member of a specific class object. Because the precedence of () (function call operator) is higher than .* and ->*, you must use parentheses to call the function pointed to by ptf.

Pointer-to-member conversion can occur when pointers to members are initialized, assigned, or compared. Note that pointer to a member is not the same as a pointer to an object or a pointer to a function.

Related information

• Pointer to member operators .* ->* (C++ only)