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Overloading Operators in C: A Comprehensive Guide

Understanding Operator Overloading

Operator overloading allows you to modify the behavior of existing C operators for custom data types. By defining a function with the operator keyword, you can implement custom operations for your objects.

Overloadable Operators

Not all C operators can be overloaded. The generally overloadable operators include unary arithmetic operators (+, -), equality and comparison operators (==, !=), and assignment operators (=).

Implementation

To overload an operator, you define a function inside the class or structure that defines your data type. The function signature must follow a specific format: “`c operator_name(argument_list); “` where operator_name is the symbol for the operator, followed by the operator keyword.

Custom Behavior

Overloaded operators allow you to implement custom behavior for your objects. For example, you can define overloaded + and - operators for a complex number class to perform arithmetic operations on complex numbers.

Benefits of Operator Overloading

Operator overloading provides several benefits: * Improved code readability by using familiar operators for custom types * Increased flexibility by allowing custom operations for specific data structures * Reduced code duplication by eliminating the need to write separate functions for common operations

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