How to correctly override literal operators?

Question

Ok, so I made my own class and I've overloaded an operator ""s so I can use it for my string formation.

BUT, I get an error when compiling and I have no idea what it means. Could someone explain the meaning of it and how to fix it?

my code:

PString operator"" s(const char* text, std::size_t len) {
    return PString(std::string(text, len));
}

my error:

error: ‘PString PString::operator""s(const char*, std::size_t)’ must be a non-member function
 PString operator"" s(const char* text, std::size_t len) {

What's unclear about the error message actually? It seems you try to override the literal operator as part of a class. — user0042, Dec 09 '17 at 13:07
What I'm unclear about is this part of the error message `must be a non-member function` as I don't know what it means - what is this so-called `non-member` — MG lolenstine, Dec 09 '17 at 13:31
It means you must create a free function outside the `PString` class. — user0042, Dec 09 '17 at 13:32
free function? What do you mean by that? A function named `free` or something else? — MG lolenstine, Dec 09 '17 at 13:50
No a function outside of any class declaration like `std::min()` or such. — user0042, Dec 09 '17 at 13:51
I don't quite understand... what would `std::min()` do for me in this case? It's not used anywhere. — MG lolenstine, Dec 09 '17 at 14:08
I didn't say it should do something for you, you should just make your operator overload outside of the class or make it a `friend` function. And no, I'm not going to chat with you about that. Read a book to get the basic terminology. — user0042, Dec 09 '17 at 14:09
I think I understand now... I need to overload operator outside of the class? — MG lolenstine, Dec 09 '17 at 14:12
Yes, exactly. That's what the compiler means with _`non member function`_. — user0042, Dec 09 '17 at 14:13
@JiveDadson I've already read that. What's wrong with my question? I can't see the problem. Title? Contents? Please tell me, so I can fix my problems next time. — MG lolenstine, Dec 10 '17 at 08:16

score 0 · Accepted Answer · answered Dec 09 '17 at 14:29

Ok, so prior to asking this question I've been confused about something. Because I've added other operator overrides inside of the class, I thought that I was supposed to add that operator"" s inside of the class as well. But apparently, that is not so.

I'm keeping this just as a reference to the answer @user0042 gave to me.

This is what solved the problem for me.

How to correctly override literal operators?

1 Answers1