Can you make custom operators in C++?

Is it possible to make a custom operator so you can do things like this?

if ("Hello, world!" contains "Hello") ...

Note: this is a separate question from "Is it a good idea to..." ;)

Yes! (well, sort of)

There are a couple publicly available tools to help you out. Both use preprocessor code generation to create templates which implement the custom operators. These operators consist of one or more built-in operators in conjunction with an identifier.

Since these aren't actually custom operators, but merely tricks of operator overloading, there are a few caveats:

• Macros are evil. If you make a mistake, the compiler will be all but entirely useless for tracking down the problem.
• Even if you get the macro right, if there is an error in your usage of the operator or in the definition of your operation, the compiler will be only slightly more helpful.
• You must use a valid identifier as part of the operator. If you want a more symbol-like operator, you can use _, o or similarly simple alphanumerics.

CustomOperators

While I was working on my own library for this purpose (see below) I came across this project. Here is an example of creating an avg operator:

#define avg BinaryOperatorDefinition(_op_avg, /)
DeclareBinaryOperator(_op_avg)
DeclareOperatorLeftType(_op_avg, /, double);
inline double _op_avg(double l, double r)
{
   return (l + r) / 2;
}
BindBinaryOperator(double, _op_avg, /, double, double)

IdOp

What started as an exercise in pure frivolity became my own take on this problem. Here's a similar example:

template<typename T> class AvgOp { 
public: 
   T operator()(const T& left, const T& right) 
   {
      return (left + right) / 2; 
   }
};
IDOP_CREATE_LEFT_HANDED(<, _avg_, >, AvgOp)
#define avg <_avg_>

Key Differences

• CustomOperators supports postfix unary operators
• IdOp templates use references rather than pointers to eliminate use of the free store, and to allow full compile-time evaluation of the operation
• IdOp allows you to easily specify several operations for the same root identifier

There's a method thoroughly explored in 'Syntactic Aspartame' by Sander Stoks that would allow you to use the following format:

if ("Hello, world!" <contains> "Hello") ...

In essence, you need a proxy object with the operators '<' and '>' overloaded. The proxy does all of the work; 'contains' can just be a singleton with no behavior or data of its own.

// Not my code!
const struct contains_ {} contains;

template <typename T>
struct ContainsProxy
{
    ContainsProxy(const T& t): t_(t) {}
    const T& t_;
};

template <typename T>
ContainsProxy<T> operator<(const T& lhs, const contains_& rhs)
{
    return ContainsProxy<T>(lhs);
}

bool operator>(const ContainsProxy<Rect>& lhs, const Rect& rhs)
{
    return lhs.t_.left   <= rhs.left && 
           lhs.t_.top    <= rhs.top && 
       lhs.t_.right  >= rhs.right && 
       lhs.t_.bottom >= rhs.bottom;
}

I've created the following two macros:

#define define const struct
#define operator(ReturnType, OperatorName, FirstOperandType, SecondOperandType) OperatorName ## _ {} OperatorName; template <typename T> struct OperatorName ## Proxy{public:OperatorName ## Proxy(const T& t) : t_(t){}const T& t_;static ReturnType _ ## OperatorName ## _(const FirstOperandType a, const SecondOperandType b);};template <typename T> OperatorName ## Proxy<T> operator<(const T& lhs, const OperatorName ## _& rhs){return OperatorName ## Proxy<T>(lhs);}ReturnType operator>(const OperatorName ## Proxy<FirstOperandType>& lhs, const SecondOperandType& rhs){return OperatorName ## Proxy<FirstOperandType>::_ ## OperatorName ## _(lhs.t_, rhs);}template <typename T> inline ReturnType OperatorName ## Proxy<T>::_ ## OperatorName ## _(const FirstOperandType a, const SecondOperandType b)

Then, you'd have just to define your custom operator as in the following example:

define operator(bool, myOr, bool, bool) { // Arguments are the return type, the name of the operator, the left operand type and the right operand type, respectively
    return a || b;
}

#define myOr <myOr> // Finally, you have to define a macro to avoid to put the < and > operator at the start and end of the operator name

Once a time you've set your operator up, you can use it as a predefined operator:

bool a = true myOr false;
// a == true

Warning

While this has been an interesting exercise, it merely demonstrates how bad is to have a macro–enabled precompiler. Adding custom operators like this can easily lead to a sort of metalanguage. Although we know how badly is C++ designed (most of all considering that it was first conceived as a set of extensions for C), we shouldn't be changing it. If you can't use standard C++, which is the only way to keep the code understandable by other people, you should just switch to another language that makes what you wish to do the way you'd like. There are thousands languages — no need to mess around with C++ to make it different.

SHORTLY: You just shouldn't be using this code. You should refrain from using macros unless when only used the same way as inline methods.